March 17th

Early this afternoon I latched onto two interesting raptors as they soared high, just east of our garden. I was washing up at the time and got a funny look from the other half as I exclaimed "They're Buzzards!", grabbed my 'bins' and ran outside. They were Buzzards, two Commons, and they continued to spiral for a while before levelling out and heading inland, slowly losing altitude. Ten minutes or so later a male Sparrowhawk gained height over the gardens and drifted off to the north.

March 16th

Today was simply glorious. The temperature reached double figures, a T-shirt was enough whilst working in the garden and a Peacock butterfly was on the wing in the village. I'd not been out to the Coast Watch side of the village for what felt like months so, bundling Ossie into the car, I headed over that way. I love this piece of Happisburgh and it always has a 'birdy' feel to it. Most of the fields out here remain as bare ploughland and I contemplated what may be grown this year; potatoes would be good perhaps for nesting Yellow Wagtails, sugar beet for Ringed Plover or even Oystercatcher and peas are always worth a scan later in the Spring for migrant Dotterel. Today though, an early Martin or the first Wheatear was far more likely. As it happened, I didn't see any proper Summer visitors but my walk was still most rewarding. Peering over the cliff, a Meadow Pipit flitted from the grassy face onto a bare ridge. Two other small birds joined it; another Meadow and a drab grey, more heavily under-streaked Rock Pipit, not yet showing any trace of a pink flush to it's breast, a feature of the Scandinavian race 'littoralis' often passing through coastal Norfolk at this time of year. It may even be that this race is the most regular wintering form of Rock Pipit in east Norfolk.


A few Corvids over on a westerly bearing were Rooks, and shortly after another passed through with a Jackdaw for company. I felt there ought to be a raptor or two on the move in such weather conditions and a searching scan back towards Walcott soon turned up a high passing Sparrowhawk following the coast south. Scanning back another, larger, bird had me thinking 'raptor' as it approached on motionless wings. Very quickly I was thinking Peregrine and, sure enough, that's what it was. It remained high as it got closer but then turned and headed inland, perhaps to cause havoc with the wildfowl at East Ruston.

March 15th

As I walked back towards the house from feeding our Bantams at around 07:50 I heard the soft murmurings of a Goose. I looked up and had a naked eye, rear on view of two smallish grey Geese heading north-westwards, but such views were too inconclusive to enable their identification. They were most likely a couple of Pink-feet, but the call could also have belonged to White-fronted Goose and I went indoors rather annoyed at myself for not having my binoculars within easy reach at that moment.

Things did pick up though, for I gave the dog a good walk out and we headed across the track to the Decca site, along the cliffs to the village and back via Lighthouse Lane. Spring was in the air and several Skylarks were announcing it to the world as they sang high above their invisible territories. Two Meadow Pipits were each staking out their own claim to a piece of Happisburgh with their much shorter song-flighting display. Few birds seemed to be actively moving through, although this may have been largely down to the fact that my walk wasn't exactly an early one. Despite this, a party of eight Siskins bounced low across a field as they progressed northwards. A clifftop field held two, perhaps a pair, of Ringed Plover and turning to scan the sea I noticed a distant adult Gannet slowly passing. The most notable sighting of the days was close to where I had left my car, for shortly after leaving for home I stopped to check out an interesting Partridge which turned out to be a male Grey. Even more notable was the fact that his mate was contentedly crouched beside him...

March 12th

Walking homeward along School Common Road this morning I was pleased to find a Woodcock in the emergent undergrowth in the more wooded section adjacent to Laurel Lodge. Upon seeing me it ran, only to stop after a few feet and still in full view. Having had good views of many already this year I didn't hang around and risk disturbing it further. I'm not sure what size of territory Woodcocks need for breeding, but I would imagine it is probably considerably more than is on offer here. This bird is probably one that is re-orientating back towards continental Europe and is no doubt increasing it's fat score before facing the gruelling flight ahead.

March 10th

On Sunday afternoon I took a phone call from my Mum and Robin who were in Witton Woods. They had been walking through the woods, enjoying the sunshine, in the hope of finding some Crossbills when they were lucky enough to come across a party of 10-12 feeding in a stand of Larches; the tree of choice, it seems, whenever Crossbills turn up at this site. Speaking to Robin that evening, he talked of one he had seen with white wing bars, and although unlikely, the possibility of it being a Two-barred Crossbill meant it warranted further investigation. Anyway, even if it wasn't one, the Crossbills, along with several Siskins and some Redpolls, would be worth seeing on their own merit. Some local birders spent the next few days looking at them and I managed to visit on Wednesday for about an hour. Walking up the track towards the favoured trees I heard the excited 'chip, chip, chip' calls of several birds as they took flight and on looking up, I could see a group of 25-30 quite bulky finches flying away. Positioning myself so as to be able to watch any returning birds, I waited. There was movement amongst the high branches but viewing against the cold grey sky, trying to get a clear view of small birds in the thick tangle of Larch twigs and clusters of small cones, wasn't easy. A male Siskin was atop one tree, singing his heart out, and a general twittering from other Siskins and at least one Lesser Redpoll filled the air. It was wonderful to experience but standing around, I felt rather cold. Two Goldcrests were noteworthy, they were almost absent from the coast last autumn and my first of the year, and Coal Tits were best described as abundant. Eventually a couple of larger birds drew my eye and I was pleased that some Crossbills had returned to feed. They remained silent as they fed and getting good clear views was difficult, but this small group were all Common Crossbills, males and females. All the finches occasionally took flight, seemingly spooked by something unseen by me, but they soon returned. I watched a couple of Siskins and a Coal Tit come to drink at a small puddle and had time been on my side, I would have staked out the puddle for longer as Finches, being seed eaters, need to drink regularly and in doing so they usually give good views. I didn't see the flock of 25-30 birds anymore but speaking this evening to another birder who visited today, I learned that perhaps as many as 40-50 Crossbills may be present.

A male (top) and female Common Crossbill, Witton Woods,
March 2010 © Bob Cobbold

March 7th

Sheringham was my destination this morning. I had to drop the girls off at the Little Theatre for the day and whilst there I thought it would be rude not to stop at the seafront and see if the juvenile Glaucous Gull was still around. It had already been reported from early on and a scan from the clifftop near the Esplanade enabled me to quickly locate it on the sea in the company of a few Herring Gulls, probably somewhere opposite The Crown PH. I spent a short while watching it on the sea and flying around a few times before it landed on a groyne post. Back in the 1970's-1980's an individual returned each winter for many years, scavenging the shoreline between Blakeney Point and Weybourne and earning the affections of locals who knew him either as 'Weybourne Willie' or, more latterly, 'George'. It would be nice to think that today's bird will return to this piece of coast in winters to come and earn it's place in birding lore.

This 1st winter Glaucous Gull is a popular attraction at Sheringham. © Bob Cobbold

Seeing scarce or rare visitors is always hugely enjoyable, but a greater thrill comes from finding your own good birds. As I was approaching Happisburgh on my homeward drive a movement over the 'allotment' at Whittletons Farm caught my eye. It was instantly recognisable as a male Hen Harrier and judging by its full adult plumage, a different bird to the one I saw at Cart Gap in February. For birding enjoyment, it just edged the Glaucous for me...

March 2nd

Following Sunday's miserable, grey rain we're now enjoying a welcome spell of sunny, more clement weather. The nights may be icily cold, and there's a layer of frost on the screen to contend with each morning, but the thought of Spring just around the corner lifts the spirits. Walking out beyond Moat Farm this morning I caught a snatch of song from a Reed Bunting. It was a male, singing from a low down bush adjacent to a reed filled dyke, and he had yet to fully develop his black head and bib of summer plumage. I paused for a short while, for although not a particularly awe inspiring bird in this guise, and with a rather monotonous song, Reed Buntings are never very plentiful in Happisburgh. One was present not too far from here in December, before disappearing on December 31st, and I wondered if it was possibly the same individual.

This Reed Bunting is beginning to show the black head feathering and white collar of summer plumage.
© Arthur Grosset

Yesterday, mid-morning, I happened to be in the garden, discussing some planned work on the house with a tradesman. The sky bore a sense of expectation; bright and mostly sunny but with enough billowy clouds as a background against which to pick out a passing raptor. I can't help sky-gazing on days like this and I suddenly found myself with an adrenaline flutter of excitement in my stomach that most seasoned birders feel as they spot a larger 'bop' ~ bird of prey. Soaring at a fair height just south of our garden was a larger, broad winged bird and I ran for my nearby binoculars. I'd already guessed what it probably was and, raising my glasses, I could see it was a Common Buzzard. It continued circling at height for a few minutes before abandoning it's thermal and gliding towards Eccles and the coast on fixed wings. March and April are prime months for Buzzards to pass through the county and several are recorded each year at this time. Separating true migrating birds from more local wanderers isn't easy, for the species benefits from a healthy population in east Norfolk. I have, however, often watched these birds soaring over and away from their territories, but they invariably return home after a short while. With today's bird heading for the coast, there was a reasonable chance it was a migrant...