April 16th

I see a few Common Buzzards in Happisburgh most years and this afternoon, as I let Ossie onto the garden, I wasn't surprised to notice a brown, medium sized raptor with obvious pale windows towards the end of each wing circling overhead. It was a Common Buzzard and I watched it for a few seconds before scanning for anything else that may be overhead. I immediately saw another, a quick check through the binoculars confirming it as a second Common. When I scanned with the naked eye again, I was quite shocked to see a stack of Buzzards circling quite low, just beyond the end of our garden over Lessingham. Bins raised, I counted; six, seven, plus the original two... that's nine. Bins down, there were more! In total, I counted 13 of them, all soaring and gaining height. I had never witnessed such a large flock in the county before, my previous best being six on an April evening at Ebridge Mill whilst out with my Dad and Keith Bailey back in the 1970's. There was quite a lot of low, scuddy cloud around, as there has been on and off for several days, into which some of the Buzzards soon began to disappear. It seems that they then topped out of this particular thermal, for they followed a westward glide until some half mile west of our house where they found another and began to spiral up once more. Again, some of them vanished at times into the cloud base, but I'm fairly certain that all 13 of them drifted off to the north-west. As to their origins, I don't believe for one second that they were 'local' birds, although it is possible that a minority were, so it is likely that they were true migrants that may have got lost in the low 'sea-scud' and drifted across the North Sea before re-orienting northwards. It will be interesting to see if any further significant Buzzard movement is noted over the weekend.

April 9th

Todays highlight came as I was walking Ossie homewards just after 10:00am when an overflying Gull seemed just a bit too white to be a Black-headed. The penny dropped after a couple of seconds; it was a near adult Mediterranean Gull, complete with full, jet black hood, a scarlet bill and a small dark mark towards the very tip of each wing. Meds are regularly seen at Walcott but this was the first I had seen inland here and it appeared to be purposefully passing northwards quite high over the fields. If there can be a downside to watching a pristine adult Med Gull, it has to be the fact that I was just a few hundred yards along the lane from my home and the bird, having passed almost directly over, would have made a good addition to the garden list!

April 7th

Three Carrion Crows and a Grey Heron overflew School Common Road on an easterly bearing this morning and six Fieldfares at the paddocks were feeding up in preparation for their Spring migration. The duskiness of winter plumage has mostly left their bills, the dark tip now contrasting strongly with the banana yellow of the remainder. Back home, a Sand Martin flew south across the garden.

April 5th

At 6:20am, Ossie and I were striking out towards the lighthouse along the track known as Rollesby Way. We'd already seen a local Barn Owl hunting the verges but with cloudy skies and iminent rain borne on a chilly westerly, I didn't hold out much hope of any decent visible migration. As it turned out, I was pretty much spot on, but a couple of surprises made our hour and a half worthwhile. Walking across the Decca site, a large bird with quick wingbeats drew my attention. It was a Marsh Harrier, probably a couple of hundred yards offshore and well above the height of even the higher cliffs at Happisburgh. It was flying slightly less than parallel to the shore and upon reaching the broken end of Beach Road, it turned and flew inland over the lighthouse. Was it a bird that had left the Stubb Mill roost and was moving north or was it completing an overnight crossing of the North Sea? That will remain a mystery, but it was an interesting sighting nonetheless. Whilst watching the incoming Harrier, a Grey Wagtail flew south, calling as it passed, my first through Happisburgh this year. Also along our way I noted three 'alba' Wagtails, five Meadow Pipits and a couple of flocks of Woodpigeons (17 & 11) heading north and the Sand Martin count at the colony had risen to 13. The large field south of Upton Way was playing host to two smart, black-breasted male Golden Plovers but these didn't stay long, the calls of two more passing overhead luring them, and all four flew off to the west. Later in the day, Chiffchaffs were noted in song dotted around the parish, and a slippery Weasel was seen briefly along Blacksmiths Lane. A short stop at Walcott seafront early pm was quiet although there were 25 Turnstones resting on one of the groynes.

Elsewhere in north-east Norfolk this afternoon I recorded my first Blackcap of the year in song whilst watching a female Tawny Owl, live on 'nestboxcam', as she incubated her precious clutch in the warm afternoon sun. At Honing, a brief stopover in likely looking habitat soon turned up the 'pitchoo, - pitchoo' of Marsh Tit, and a pair were watched close to the road. Also here were Chiffchaff, two Treecreepers (including a singing male) and a pair of Long-tailed Tits gathering nesting material. Another brief stop at East Ruston treated me to my first Swallow of the year and a fine adult male Marsh Harrier which was hunting over the allotment reedbed. A fearless Muntjac was also seen as I drove through East Ruston, showing complete disregard to my slowly passing car as it browsed the verge.

April 4th

Another early start saw Ossie and I heading down to Cart Gap at 6:30am. On the way there, a chacking call was heard which turned out to be that of a Fieldfare which flew low across the fields, possibly one of the last I shall see this Spring. At the south end of Doggetts Lane some 40 Linnets were busily feeding in the edge of a field, occasionally bursting forth as one noisy unit to perch on the overhead lines. They seemed fairly settled here, but six flying south kept going so were likely passage birds. Again, there was little evidence of much passage and two 'alba' Wagtails south and nine Meadow Pipits north were all that I noted in the hour I was out.

I spent some time after lunch doing jobs around the garden, and my work was interrupted at about 3:20pm as I paused to watch a Common Buzzard pass high south, it's glide occasionally broken by a slow flap of the wings.

April 3rd

An early fine start soon turned to rain which persisted until very early afternoon. I had to nip to North Walsham before 1pm and as I drove through East Ruston the last few raindrops were falling as the cloud gave way to blue skies. A Sparrowhawk was wasting no time as he spiralled upwards over Mown Fen. Approaching North Walsham, the thought of 'there ought to be Buzzards up today' coincided with the sighting of a large bird high over the south-east of the town, and a Common Buzzard is what it proved to be. The homeward journey was interrupted at Witton by two more, circling in the warm sunshine, and I saw another, precariously perched in a twiggy treetop, at East Ruston allotment as I stooped to see if anything was on the open water there. Aside from the Buzzard, a Chiffchaff was in song and an unseen Cettis Warbler gave a megaphonic blast from the denser waterside scrub.

I'd not walked Ossie this morning as we'd missed the early fine weather and I was hopeful for another fine spell later. Besides, it was my birthday, and it was nice to spend the morning with the family. Our walk was pretty uneventful, but a Grey Heron heading towards the coast was noteworthy. It may have been an outbound migrant, and as they are not all that regular in the parish, I focussed on it to watch it pass. I soon refocussed though, as also in view, but much more distant, was another Buzzard, circling high with a Carrion Crow, another Common for the day. Just to add the full stop and an underline to my earlier premonition, a mid afternoon trip into Stalham was interrupted as yet another Common Buzzard was watched circling low over Moat Farm Barns on the Happisburgh/Lessingham boundary.

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.