April 2nd

A reasonably early morning circuit to the south-east of the village in a chilly westerly breeze turned up little of note, and migrant passage was very limited with three 'alba' Wagtails - Pied or White - heading north along the cliffs and single Meadow Pipit, a few Linnets and Starlings heading south. Offshore, a lone Dark-bellied Brent Goose passed west and a dozen or so Gannets were slowly milling southwards.

March 30th

Yesterday had been really rather disappointing and a morning walk down to Cart Gap, up Doggetts Lane and along the cliffs to the village was unproductive. All I noted was a 26 strong party of Linnets feeding in some rank grasses along a field edge. The weather has turned somewhat cooler and this has had an effect on bird movement. I carried on to the Coast Watch, following the track inland to Blacksmiths Lane then walked the churchyard, onto Whimpwell Street and Lighthouse Lane before tracking across the fields and home. South of the lighthouse were six more Linnets but not a single summer migrant was to be found. Even Sunday's Sand Martins appeared to have deserted. Taking a different tack this morning, I decided to stick to walking Ossie along our home lane, as far as the paddocks to see if the cover here was sheltering anything interesting. Birds that stop actively migrating because of poor weather, tiredness and hunger, or because they find themselves confronted by a natural barrier such as the North Sea, will seek out cover to provide shelter and a source of nourishment - somewhere to rest. From the air, the paddocks and surrounds must appear as a small oasis on the edge of the rather barren looking fields with no more than grassy banks separating them, and this morning I soon chanced upon a cracking male Firecrest busily feeding in a Hawthorn hedge, occasionally giving out short snatches of it's high pitched song. A real jewel of a bird, I missed out on seeing one last year, so was pleased to once again catch up with what is often a favourite amongst birders. If you don't know what a Firecrest looks like, Google Image search it and you'll soon see why!

March 28th

With the clement weather continuing, I drove slowly past East Ruston Common this morning, window down listening for birdsong, noting the song of at least two Chiffchaffs. I did the same at Briggate where I could hear another. A Common Buzzard overhead, low down, was no doubt as local as I to this part of Norfolk. My good lady and I walked Ossie along the beach later in the morning but little appeared to be passing through, save for a couple of Cormorants and a few groups of Gulls, many of which were immature Commons. It was nice, however, to hear once again the buzzing calls of a Sand Martin as three of them were back prospecting the nesting burrows at the clifftop colony. A birding friend, Jim, who often visits the area, contacted me during the evening to say he had seen three Swallows along the cliffs here this afternoon and that two female Black Redstarts were once again flycatching close to the Beach Road pay & display. Incidentally, it was on this date in 1999 that a Great Spotted Cuckoo made it on to the Happisburgh list when one, which had originally been found at Waxham and was tracked northwards, was watched in the gardens along Rollesby Way and near the Decca site.

March 27th

Spring marches on and there come continued sightings of many summer species from around Norfolk and with Swallow, House Martin, Willow Warbler, Ring Ouzel and Osprey all being reported. Many fortunate observers had also been enjoying two or three of a mini UK invasion of several Alpine Swifts that have stopped off in the county in recent days. Work committments meant that Ossie's walk had to wait until later in the afternoon, so we headed out across Rollesby Way towards the lighthouse sometime after 4pm. Not long after heading out along the grassy track I was treated to a surprise reminder that Spring isn't all about summer migrants arriving as two large, brown birds suddenly sprang up from behind the low bank and flew out over a barren field; they were both Short-eared Owls. I tracked one to my right and it dropped down on the bank surrounding another field where it sat, turning it's large round head, checking for danger with large, yellow eyes. Scanning back, the second bird was soon relocated sitting 150 yards or so distant, in the open of the big field. It too sat there just looking around so after a while I left it undisturbed. A Sand Martin was over the fields a little further on and a small party of resting birds just south of Upton Way were 11 Golden Plovers, one of which was a handsome, black-bellied male. As we headed back, I could see neither Owl but then, just as we reached the place from where they had originally erupted, one flew out from behind the bank again. It obviously preferred the cover offered by the emergent vegetation to sitting in an open field, and I followed this one until it dropped out of sight close to where the other had landed. As with most Owls, the Short-eared hunts mostly at night, but it is one of the more regular of our native Owls to be seen hunting in daylight hours. Short-eared Owl's usually occur as a passage migrant within Happisburgh, most often in the Autumn when they can sometimes be seen flying in from the sea, and I've no doubt that todays birds were two outbound birds waiting for the right time to head back out across the North Sea.

March 26th

I walked out to the Coast Watch this afternoon in the hope that there may possibly be a Black Redstart there. The remains of the old wartime radar and coastal battery sometimes hosts them, and the semi-permanent muck heap no doubt helps with the attraction. Two had been reported from the car park in the village two days previously but I'd had no luck with them there yesterday. On reaching the clifftop, I had to turn back somewhat disappointed as there was nothing of note to see. On the way out, the paddock I'd passed had appeared empty, but on my return a small bird atop the stables looked interesting. It was my hoped for quarry; a female Black Redstart. She sat quite still for a while before flitting down to the grass to seize a hapless insect and then moved on to the wooden railings that border the paddock. Another movement just beyond was, pleasingly, another Black Redstart in an almost identical plumage and both contentedly fed by dropping to the grass and flying back up to the fence to eat their capture before, with quivering rusty tails, seeking out more. Black Redstarts are now a very limited breeding species in the UK with perhaps less than 30 confirmed breeding pairs, and most that are seen are migrant birds passing through. In the early 1940's the species found that the huge number of bomb damaged buildings, left behind in the aftermath of WW2, were ideal nesting sites, and numbers significantly increased, only to fall again as our towns and cities were rebuilt. More info on the species' history in the UK can be found by following this link.

Black Redstart, Happisburgh - 26th March 2010

March 20th

After a brilliantly sunny start cloud cover soon increased and although remaining quite temperate, the weather tried to catch us out at times with some showers that became more frequent towards the days end. Ossie and I had a nice long walk today taking in Doggetts Lane, up along the cliffs and then through the village, returning to take the track across the fields south of the lighthouse via Lighthouse Lane. I'm sure an earlier start would have produced much more in the way of visible migration but even late morning it was apparent that a few Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits were heading west. Heading for the village from the Decca site the wide grassy strip is always worth a careful scan and this morning it had attracted, as I was hoping for, a male Wheatear. In recent days there have been a few sightings of this summer visitor at watchpoints around the coast and mid-March is prime time for seeing the first returning birds. I watched him closely for a while, as I always do with the first one of the year, relishing the feeling that better birding days are not too far away now. Pressing on, we reached the village and I was a little surprised to see a Stoat scurrying along the cliff edge, it's black-tipped tail held aloft as it raced for cover. In the background a Chiffchaff gave a brief burst of song to further enhance the 'Spring is in the air' feel.

I'd taken some video of the Wheatear but, due to a technical hitch, had wiped the file so I returned in the afternoon to try again. Heading up Doggetts Lane a male Reed Bunting dropped onto the path where he rested for a few minutes before strongly flying off west. Also present, which hadn't been there on my earlier passage, was a flock of 20 or so Meadow Pipits, avidly feeding on the turf and marram in one of the gardens. On arrival at my destination, a Wheatear immediately showed, but it was a female. A couple of people walking the beach disturbed her and she flew to one of the huge boulders where the original male suddenly appeared on the sand, and over the next half hour I managed to take some more footage from the top of the cliff.

March 19th

A relatively mild - for March anyway - south-westerly had me hoping for something to indicate that the winter was inevitably losing it's grip on us and I was rewarded with three Sand Martins hawking westwards as I strolled along the clifftop by the Coast Watch. A few were reported around the county yesterday, but I'd had to wait a little longer for a bird that often marks a watershed in the birding year; the first summer migrant. Little else was apparently moving. Offshore, Gulls were 'milling around' at best and a couple of Red-throated Divers passed westwards. Interestingly, a single Cormorant flying to the east was the first I had seen in Happisburgh this year. Familiar garden birds are often forgotten when it comes to talk of migrants, but six Great Tits which flew out of the hedges near The Forge and gained height as they flew off west were no doubt just that. Mechanised farming operations were underway in the fields just behind the Coast Watch and four Pied Wagtails attracted to the resultant disturbed soil were accompanied by two male White Wagtails which, like the male Pied, had yet to acquire absolutely full summer plumage.

I almost had a collision with a Sparrowhawk this afternoon as I drove a narrow back road into Ingham. It shot through a gap in the hedge to my left and, with a deft wing flick, missed my nearside and continued flying very low to the road only three or four feet in front of me, totally unperturbed it seemed. For those few privileged seconds it almost felt as though I was riding on the little hunters back...