A 1-day Winter Birds & Owls tour today. It was a misty and slightly chilly start, down to 1C, and then a rather grey and cloudy day. The winds were light, particularly in the afternoon when it felt a bit milder than the heady heights of 3C that the mercury touched! We spent the day in North Norfolk.
It was an early start this morning, to try to catch some Barn Owls still out hunting, before they headed in to roost. A Tawny Owl was hooting in the trees in the car park as we arrived. It was only just starting to get light as we set off.
We stopped by some grazing marshes where the Barn Owls have been hunting recently in the early mornings. It was a rather misty and grey morning, not ideal weather for owls. We heard Pink-footed Geese calling and looked over to see several large skeins coming up from the marshes beyond the village and heading off inland to feed. Several Curlews flew in and landed on the wet meadows. A small group of Mute Swans flew in and circled low over our heads, listening to the sound of their beating wings (one did call to the others to turn back too – they are not entirely Mute!).
We were just starting to feel like we might be out of luck this morning, when we turned to see a Barn Owl flying in over the reeds behind us. It came right past us and across the road but instead of going over to the meadow to feed, it turned and headed straight for some nearby trees. The Barn Owl was flying very determinedly and we had a good idea why, as it flew straight over towards a barn on the edge of the village. At the last minute, it swooped up, closed its wings and disappeared directly into a hole in the wall, pursued by a couple of Jackdaws. It had presumably been hunting elsewhere this morning and had flown straight back in to roost.
A good start, but we would have liked to see a Barn Owl hunting. There was still no sign of any over the meadows, so we decided to try the other side of the village. We hadn’t gone far though before we spotted a Barn Owl flying in from the direction we were just heading. It started hunting over the grassy field which we had just been looking at from the other side. We pulled off the road and piled out of the minibus again.
The Barn Owl worked its way away from us round the edge, hunting, over to the side where we had just been standing. It turned along the far edge and then dropped into the long grass. We could just see the top of its head through the scope. Given the length of time it stayed down for, it probably had caught a vole. After a while, it came up again and resumed hunting.
It dropped into the grass again over the far side, then when the Barn Owl flew again it turned and headed straight for us across the middle of the meadow. Great views now as it came across right in front of us. Dropping down into the grass again, it stood there for a second looking round. It seemed to see us and realise it was being watched now, then it flew up again and worked its way away from us along the field edge.
We watched the Barn Owl hunting for a while. It seemed to have enough of the grass it had been flying over and flew back the way we had seen it come earlier. There are some more meadows beyond and disappeared round behind the hedge out over the first of those. But before we had time to pack up, it flew back again. This time, we could see it had a vole in its talons and a Magpie chased after it briefly, presumably sensing a potential free meal. The Barn Owl made straight for some nearby farm buildings, presumably heading in to roost where it could eat its breakfast in peace.
Moving on, we took the minor roads inland through the fields. We stopped by some recently harvested sugar beet fields, where several hundred Pink-footed Geese were now feeding. They were clearly nervous of our presence, with their heads up, so we couldn’t get out of the minibus but we watched them for a minute. A Common Buzzard was perched on a hedge on the side of the field and when it took off and flew towards the geese it was enough to spook some of the closer ones.
Our next target was Tawny Owl. We parked at the end of the footpath and walked in round the fields. The hedges and wood beyond were rather quiet this morning, so we walked straight round to check the hole in the tree on the other side. We were delighted to find that the Tawny Owl was perched in the entrance to the hole, dozing. It didn’t disappear in as soon as we walked round the corner, so we assumed it would therefore stay there, like it normally does when that happens.
We set up the scope and the first couple of people had a look. Then suddenly the Tawny Owl dropped back down into its hole. It will come back up again at some point, but it might be some time and it obviously knew we were here now. Frustratingly, not everyone had seen it, so we decided to try somewhere else instead.
First, we headed down to Blakeney quay to use the facilities. While we waited, we scanned the harbour. There were a couple of Brent Geese close in on the edge of the harbour channel, then an out of control dog further out ran out to flush a much larger group from the edge of the saltmarsh. Most of the geese flew off, but a small party of six Brent Geese landed in the middle of the channel. We could see one of them had clearly paler flanks.
Thankfully, the small group swam straight towards us, down to the near corner, and when they turned to feed on the bank we could see the paler-flanks of the one more clearly. A Pale-bellied Brent Goose, this is a regularly returning bird which is paired to one of the Dark-bellied Brents. Most of the Brent Geese which spend the winter here are Siberian Dark-bellied birds. Pale-bellied Brent Geese breed on the arctic islands to the north, across through north Greenland and Arctic Canada, and winter mainly in NW Britain, Ireland and down the Atlantic seaboard of North America.
Resuming our journey, we headed inland and west. Little Owls have become worryingly scarce in recent years, the local population at least appears to be really struggling. On our way, we tried a couple of sites where we know they are still present, but it was not really the weather for them today. They like to perch up in the winter sun, but there was precious little of that today. We did see a few Brown Hares in the fields, and plenty of Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges still waiting to be shot.
Dropping back to the coast road, we made our way over to Titchwell. On our way in from the car park, scanning under the trees, we found a Woodcock. It was asleep at first and hard to see, so we got it in the scope so everyone could have a look. Eventually, it probably realised it had been rumbled and woke up, walked back through the tangled branches before disappearing behind a mass of tree trunks, out of view.
It had been an early start now, so we stopped at the Visitor Centre for a break for a welcome hot drink and a snack at the cafe. Afterwards, we walked round on Fen Trail. The Tawny Owl was in its usual tree, trying to hide in the ivy. We got it in the scope, and like a magic eye puzzle, once you could finally see it, you could see its eyes and bill between the leaves.
Continuing on to Patsy’s Reedbed, there were a few ducks out on the water, mainly Gadwall and a single Little Grebe was diving in between them. Further back, there were several Coot and a pair of Shelduck. Scanning the cut reeds down at the front, we found three Common Snipe asleep.
Cutting back round on Meadow Trail, a Water Rail ran up over one of the piles of cut reed on the edge of the meadow. Just beyond, we found another Woodcock sleeping under the sallows. This one was much more out in the open, but unfortunately it heard us as we stopped to look and quickly scuttled in out of view. At the junction with the main path, we stopped to watch a small group of Long-tailed Tits working its way through the bare branches.
Walking out past the reedbed, it was all rather quiet today. A single Marsh Harrier flew across between the bushes towards the back. There were more ducks back on the Reedbed Pool, including several Common Pochard today, which we stopped to look at in the scopes.
There were lots of Brent Geese chattering away on the first compartment of the Freshmarsh as we passed, and a single drake Pintail upending in front of them. We stopped to scan by the end of the bund. Five Avocets were still braving the cold and a single Turnstone was flicking the mud over on one of the islands in the next compartment. There was a single Golden Plover on here, but a larger group further back, beyond the bund. In amongst the Teal and Wigeon over the back, we found several Dunlin feeding on the islands, as well as a few Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits.
There had been six Spoonbills seen on the Tidal Pool earlier, but as it was now several hours after high tide we presumed they would most likely have gone out to feed already. However, we looked up now to see them flying up. They flew over Volunteer Marsh and started to drop down towards the back of the Freshmarsh, before changing their minds. Turning towards us, they flew almost right over our heads, giving us great views of their distinctive spoon-shaped bills from below, before disappearing off out over the saltmarsh. There are normally only one or two Spoonbills which are hardy (or foolish!) enough to stay here right through the winter, so it is unusual to see six together here at this time of year.
As we didn’t have much time, we pressed on towards the beach. Scanning the channel on Volunteer Marsh, we managed to get a Black-tailed Godwit, a single Ringed Plover and two Grey Plovers all the same scope view. There were fewer birds on the Tidal Pool than there have been recently, but we did find a nice group of godwits, four Black-tailed together with a single Bar-tailed Godwit, giving a nice comparison alongside each other. Four more Pintails, two drakes and two females, were upending close to the path, the former showing off their long pin-tails.
On to the beach, the first thing we noticed was the small raft of Scoter just offshore, looking a bit like a small oil slick on the surface of the sea. Looking through them, we were disappointed to see they were all Common Scoter and there were no Velvet Scoter with them today. We were just about to say as much when we looked up to see six ducks flying in low over the sea from the west. Their distinctive white wing flashes confirmed they were Velvet Scoter.
The Velvet Scoters landed on the sea on the edge of the Common Scoters. As they were separate to the rest of the raft, they were easy to pick out today and we had a great view of them, the two white spots on the faces of some, and the white in the wing appearing as a white line on the flanks of others.
A smart drake Goldeneye was diving just offshore behind the remains of the ruined watchtower. Several Red-breasted Mergansers were much further out in the mist and harder to see. While we were watching them, a small grebe popped up briefly in front of them. We assumed at first it would be the Slavonian Grebe which had been seen off here the last day or two, but on closer examination, when it stayed on the surface long enough, we could see it was actually a Black-necked Grebe. Much scarcer here although there has been one wintering in recent years in the channels off Brancaster. A very nice bonus!
The mussel beds were still covered by the tide but there were a few waders on the beach too, feeding along the shoreline. We could see several Sanderling running in and out of the waves. There were Oystercatchers and a couple of Grey Plover too. Before everyone got too cold, we decided to head back.
With the promise of a hot drink back at the Visitor Centre, the return pace was significantly faster than the way out! Several of the group had already disappeared round the corner as the rearguard scanned the ditches under the trees. It didn’t take too long to find a Water Rail feeding in the water in the bottom.
The advance party had already settled into the cafe and ordered the soup of the day. Several of the rest of the group thought that was a very good way to warm up too. Winter vegetable – apparently it was delicious! Several cold packed lunches went largely uneaten.
After lunch and once everyone had warmed up again, we decided to head back to Warham Greens to finish the day. As well as the usual raptors, we were really hoping to pick up on some owls, particularly a Short-eared Owl with one or two seen here on and off in the last couple of weeks. There is often a Barn Owl around too. The real prize for most of the other people heading here is normally the returning female Pallid Harrier, which is back roosting here for its 3rd winter, although it can be erratic in its appearances.
We were already walking down from the car park to the edge of the saltmarsh and had not noticed the message, so we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Pallid Harrier was in early this evening. As we got out of the bushes, we could see it perched on one of its favoured perches, the armrail of the footbridge out in the middle. There were a couple of people already watching it, as we set up the scopes. Good views now.
A couple of Carrion Crows flew in and landed on the bridge next to the Pallid Harrier. We couldn’t hear what they were saying to it, but presumably they were trying to persuade it to fly off. They shuffled towards it and around it and eventually the Pallid Harrier took off, with one of the Crows in pursuit. It easily shook the Crow off its tail and landed back on the footbridge. It stayed there for sometime longer. None of the raptors seemed to have any great inclination to fly round this evening, presumably as it was now quite still. The Pallid Harrier did eventually take off again, and disappeared off to the back of the saltmarsh further east.
There were some other raptors here too. A Merlin flew in and landed on a post just beyond the bridge where it perched for as while before flying off east. A little later, another Merlin appeared further back. There were a couple of Marsh Harriers perched out on the saltmarsh and a Common Buzzard on a distant bush. A ringtail Hen Harrier flew across a short distance and landed again right towards the back. It was hard to see in the gathering gloom, but when it started preening it flashed its white rump patch which stood out.
We sometimes have to wait for the Pallid Harrier to appear, so we had been spoilt this evening. But what we really wanted to find were some owls. A Barn Owl appeared off to our left, but flew off west hunting over the grass. It dropped down a couple of times, before disappearing round behind the pit. There was still no sign of any Short-eared Owls. We decided to try walking along the coast path further east to see if we could find anything off that way.
As we set off, we heard a large group of Brent Geese calling behind us, so we stopped to watch. They came in over the trees chattering loudly and were about to come over the path when they saw all the people there. The chattering stopped instantly and they diverted course a short distance away from us before turning again and heading back out towards the saltmarsh. As soon as the resumed course, the chattering started up again.
There was no sign of any more owls. We continued until we had a clear view all the way to the whirligig and stopped to scan. It seemed to have gone rather quiet. As we walked back we heard Pink-footed Geese calling now distantly behind us. We looked round to see a thousand or more Pinkfeet in several large skeins flying in over the fields away to the south-east, over the path and out across the saltmarsh.
It looked like we were out of luck with the Short-eared Owls – they can be erratic in their appearances and it was not our lucky afternoon. The light was starting to go now, so we decided to call it a night. Then just as we were about turn onto the drove, one of the group who was in front saw something that looked owl-shaped fly through the trees to the west, chased by a Magpie. There was no sign of it though and it seemed like it might have headed off inland over the field behind.
We were thinking it might be worth scanning over the field from the other side of the hedge, but before we could get there we noticed something through a gap in the hedge. A bird was perched on the top of a bush over beyond the far side of the field, and it did indeed look owl-shaped. Quickly setting the scope back up, we could see it was Short-eared Owl!
The Short-eared Owl stayed where it was looking round. After we all had a good look at it, we resumed the walk back to the minbus. What a great way to end the day!
Final Score: Barn Owl 3, Tawny Owl 2, Short-eared Owl 1 – and a lot of other winter birds too.
