Once again it was that time of year when madness sets in, and with Mike and I both finding a suitable date, which was almost exactly a year to the day of last year’s record-breaker. As the week progressed, the strong south-westerly wind (not exactly promising for migrants) had not filled us with much encouragement, but with the forecast suggesting the wind dropping on Friday night and Saturday as sunny, we decided that south-westerlies or not, it was game-on!
One minute to Midnight and Mike pulled up outside my house. The clock struck and we were in the car and off, eagerly hoping that an Owl would tear across our path and not that of the many drunks we were sharing the road with! A very brief stop outside Audley End to listen for Owls had us listening to… silence, except for the din of the motorway! We noted that the wind had subsided exceptionally, and with that in mind, we headed to Wicken Fen which had been kind to us the previous year.
Wicken Fen. We arrived at around 00:40 and stepping out of the car, we were greeted by two hoots from a distant Tawny Owl. Strike! The game begins. A singing Sedge Warbler whirred into action, and a Pheasant croaked. We started walking and past the first cottages the first Reed Warbler of the day was ‘chunter-ing’ away. Out onto the Lode Bank and we were confronted by the din of countless singing Acros! Hearing anything over such noise was extremely difficult, but it wasn’t too long before we started to tune into a reeling Grasshopper Warbler way out across the marsh. Our key target for this site, and one we were pleased to get out of the way in the first hour! Moving on around to the Baker’s Fen area we listened to Greylag Geese honking in the distance, as Lapwings displayed nearby. A Moorhen clicked, a Redshank yelped and a Mallard quacked. This area had produced some real bonus birds for us the previous year, but none were in evidence today! A Canada Goose calling out on the Mere, and then a strong sound of paddling feet as a Mute Swan took off were as good as it was going to get. Not the amazing start that we all hope for, but a decent foundation for the day with a couple of good birds pleasingly notched off.
Brecks time. We stopped at Fox Holes where no Woodlark was singing. The Stone Curlews still recognise my car and refused to betray their presence until I had made some hideously unrealistic Stoner like-calls. The Curlews laughter at the poor impression echoed across the heath, and onto the list they went! Down the road and we wound down the windows as we drove along the Lackford access track, being blasted by Nightingale song as we did so! A short walk to trawl for Water Rail came up blank, with just calling Coot and a disturbed Woodpigeon adding to the tally. Back out across Fox Holes, we headed to Brandon avoiding the many Fallow, Roe and Muntjac deer that kept appearing at the roadside! Skidding into the first lay-by south of Brandon, we listened to a take-away van’s generator making somewhat Nightjar like noises, but over and above that we could hear the distant churring of real Nightjars coming from the adjacent clear-fell. Moving on and a short wander at Santon Warren refused to give us an early roding Woodcock, or anything else for that matter, so we made for our pre-dawn stop.
East Wretham Heath. A Little Owl calling on our arrival was a serious bonus. A Little Grebe trilled in the background, as Curlews bubbled overhead. We made for the woods where a few calls and wing-beats indicated the presence of Rooks in the adjacent rookery. A Gadwall quacked, shortly followed by a Shelduck and then the bubbling of displaying Tufted Ducks. Our early arrival meant that we were a little early for the stars of the show, so we sat and listened to the antics of the waterfowl calling in the moonlit darkness and a Nightjar in the distance. 03:46 and we were deafened as a Redstart belted out the first notes of the day’s dawn chorus. Target scored! We rushed back across the heath, noting the first singing Skylarks of the day and a couple of Oystercatchers.
Santon Warren. We returned and walked the track as Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin and Cuckoo shouted their presence at us. We hadn’t gone far when the sharp ‘clicks’ of a Woodcock overhead had us rapidly scanning the sky for the roding bird that was over the woods nearby. A couple of Nightjars churred away, but a quick look for Tree Pipit was unsuccessful, with just a male Yellowhammer singing at us. Previous years had seen us staying at Santon and doing the dawn chorus first, but we made a bold move to head to Lakenheath for dawn, noting a Tawny Owl flying over the road en-route.
Lakenheath. We were putting our faith into Lakenheath delivering at dawn and boy did it! Magpie on the road in. Out of the car and singing Wren, Whitethroat and Reed Bunting were expectantly noted. We made our way to the Flood Bank and instantly fell backwards as we were blasted by the booms of a Bittern. The usual Great Crested Grebes out on the flash, were followed by Mike picking up a Barn Owl hunting the distant banks. Result! Being the first in the car-park, we opted for a fast pace down to the best area to knock off a few goodies before the masses arrived. Two Egyptian Geese flew past, a pair of Shoveler were on the flash, and we then flushed a pair of Teal. The Jackdaw roost in the plantation was as active as ever. Lots of Grey Herons along the riverbank, but no Purple! Between the plantations we had a surprise squeal from a Water Rail, followed swiftly by a second! Bitterns continued to boom, and we marvelled as a pair did a crippling fly-past. A calling Stock Dove, a pair of Common Terns and a flyover Pied Wagtail kept the mundane ticks a-coming! Golden Orioles singing from both plantations were slightly less mundane! A Chaffinch sang, followed by a Dunnock, then Willow Warbler, Carrion Crow, Goldfinch, Garden Warbler and Blackcap in quick succession! Past the second plantation and a tiny perched Common Buzzard resulted in some discussion, as many Marsh Harriers danced over the reeds. A Kingfisher was so keen to be seen it did two flypasts, whilst flyover Swallow and Cormorant received less of a reaction! Deciding that we should be returning shortly, we both turned round instantaneously and shouted "Crane"! as one of these mighty birds completed a spectacular flypast. We made our way back along the back, notching up a calling Green Woodpecker, two flyover Collared Doves, both Blue and Great Tits. A first-summer Common Gull made a flypast, followed by a number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Stopping to listen to a reeling Grasshopper Warbler, I made declaration that a Hobby had to be perched up somewhere and proceeded to put my ‘scope right on one! We turned round and scoped a party of three (two drake) Garganey out on the flash, and then a party of six Black-headed Gulls filed past. Lakenheath had done what was required, and we headed back to the woods, noting several Starlings by the railway station.
We cruised slowly through Brandon, noting a few common species - Greenfinch, Swift and House Sparrow, before heading back to Santon Downham. A quick stop by the church revealed a singing Mistle Thrush, and then a Chiffchaff. We parked by the railway line and instantly were into birds. Mike spied a Treecreeper, as we noted that a Nuthatch was using the same nest hole for a third year running! Even more unexpected than that was a party of Crossbills in the roadside trees - part of a flock of 40 or more birds that were roaming the site. A Great Spotted Woodpecker called, and moments later, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker appeared on a branch above our heads! We made for the river footpath, and watched a pair of distressed Grey Wagtails along the river, before our first Marsh Tit of the day flitted past. Further beyond and a pair of Linnets, and then several Siskins kept the pace moving. A quick look for Willow Tit and Spotted Flycatcher proved unsuccessful - though a Jay called as some consolation. We returned to the road where a Goldcrest was singing, and a Feral Pigeon flew over. A Woodlark was found in display flight over the heath nearby, but there was no sign of Tree Pipit. A thorough search of the roadside scrub revealed no Bullfinches, but we did belatedly locate a pair of Long-tailed Tits for the day.
Lynford Arboretum. We scoured the arboretum for Firecrest and Spotted Flycatcher, but we drew a complete blank on these species - calling Coal Tit did at least give us an addition for the day!
We headed northwards towards the coast, fluking a flyover Sparrowhawk shortly after leaving Mundford. Our eyes were set on a few bowl-ups. Unfortunately our regular Tree Sparrow site was not to provide this! After a good 10-15 minutes of searching, we found ourselves drawing a blank! A pair of Red-legged Partridges on the track were little consolation. Driving out, we decided to check the back of the building from a different vantage point, and after a couple of scans, suddenly we were thrilled by the appearance of a Tree Sparrow on the roof! Result! Moving on, we notched up our first House Martins of the day in South Creake, and then headed further towards the coast and stopped at the regular Montagu’s Harrier site where a ringtail bird in view on arrival, along with our first Kestrel of the day. As we watched the pair of Montagu’s Harriers over the oilseed rape fields in front of us, we were chuffed by a Grey Partridge that stuck it’s head above the crops at a very fortunate moment, and then a Lesser Whitethroat rattled from the distant hedges.
Holkham Freshmarsh. Good to us last year, pretty mediocre this! We scanned from the A149, and quickly noted Herring Gull, Avocet and Little Egret for our tally. A few Pink-footed Geese were still present.
Cley. We parked up at the Windmill with most of the rest of Norfolk and set out to scan Blakeney freshes for the reported Red-rumped Swallows. No sign of the birds whilst we were there, and some serious stringing of Sand Martins by some of those present! A flock of Brent Geese flew past in the distance, and despite our dipping, we jammed some luck as our only Pochard of the day whizzed past. We moved round to the Visitor Centre and scanned the reserve pools. A large flock of Black-tailed Godwits were noted, followed by a displaying Little Ringed Plover and then a flypast Whimbrel. A Greenshank fed in a closer pool, whilst the height provided by visiting the old visitor centre enabled us to add Dunlin, Sandwich Tern and several Great Black-backed Gulls to the day’s tally. A Gannet flying past at sea was a surprise, but not as much as the Turtle Dove that breezed past over the reed-bed - our only one of the day.
Weybourne. We stopped here to look for the Dotterel which had already departed! That news was somewhat offset by the birders who pointed out a superb Great Grey Shrike perched on bushes adjacent to the car-park. A very late and much appreciated bird! Scanning from the car-park, we noted a Wheatear and then a perched Whinchat. The hill obviously deserved closer inspection! A quick scan of the sea and we both simultaneously heard an arriving Yellow Wagtail, before our first Meadow Pipit of the day came past. Scanning out to sea and a real bonus in the guise of an Arctic Tern flying west, before two Little Terns flew east! We ambled over and found a party of five White Wagtails and a quick scan found 13 Wheatears in a small area! We were really getting into the migrant action when suddenly Mike looked up and shouted as a Red-rumped Swallow cruised overhead! As the bird disappeared, it seemed that a second hirundines with it was also a red-rump, but we couldn’t get quite enough on it - vindication though soon arrived when the birds were re-found in Weybourne village that evening.
Flushed with our success so far, we made for Kelling Heath. A short walk and I was standing scanning in the right place as a Dartford Warbler sang from the gorse from where I stood. Mike had wandered further along the track, but returned with the DW still singing, and with a tip-off from another birder, we headed to the far side of the railway line where a male Stonechat revealed itself. Another Sparrowhawk flew over - always a difficult bird on race days, but our second today!
Heading back to the coast road, we stopped very briefly at Cley East Bank where Bearded Tits pinged across the reeds. Heading to Stiffkey, we walked down to the Fen where a group of five Pintail and a Common Sandpiper were our rewards. There was no sign of the Temminck’s Stint which was seen there shortly after we departed! We stopped again at the top of the hill and walked down to check out the roadside pools, but Mike got us in on the bonuses instantly as he found a ringtail Hen Harrier over the adjacent fields. Unfortunately the bird appeared to have a shotgun wound in one wing, but did at least provide superb views as it lazily drifted overhead. Our run down to the roadside pools produced little on the pools themselves (a lone Greenshank the highlight), but a Bullfinch called just once to find it’s way belatedly onto our day’s list!
An excruciatingly painful drive to Titchwell following the slowest moving traffic in Norfolk, and we were out on the reserve by 5pm. The pools were unfortunately quiet, and we had hard work to note a pair of Wigeon, a Ringed Plover, lots of Grey Plovers, a Sanderling, many Turnstones and a spanking summer-plumaged Spotted Redshank. The sea produced a pair of Common Scoters, whilst three Eider loafed on the beach. A drake Red-breasted Merganser was a surprise, as was a flypast Guillemot. Back through the reserve, and one final piece of fortune as we returned near the visitor centre and a Cetti’s Warbler exploded into song by us, long after we had given up seeing one.
With the day coming to a close we had a few final stops to make before we could call it a day! Racing up to Choseley, the ever reliable Corn Buntings perched on the wires overlooking the concrete pad. Then down to Hunstanton, where a minute was all it took for Fulmar to glide past and onto the day list. We opted to take the long walk out to Snettisham, where we struggled up to the Rotary Hide. A pair of Mediterranean Gulls were amongst the large gull colony on the pit. A Bar-tailed Godwit was on the shoreline, and many hundreds more were out on the mudflats along with huge numbers of other coastal waders including Knot. We returned to the car, noting an adult Yellow-legged Gull. A flock of 250 Pink-footed Geese, hunting Barn Owl, three cracking Whinchats and a male Greenland Wheatear were also noted.
We ended the day doing a scoot of the Wolferton scissors, but no Golden Pheasant dared call, and then driving to Roydon Common where we birded out the day with a Hobby, two Whimbrel and a Barn Owl but no last minute song from a Tree Pipit as we had hoped!
It has been an excellent day, but had been very much more ‘birdy’ than last year’s race - having achieved 151 species in 2008, the pressure seemed off slightly. Therefore it was incredible to find that we had recorded 150 species by the time we finished at about 20:30. Breaking the 150 barrier two years running is beyond what we could ever have hoped for, and it was an incredibly good day bird-wise. It also reveals that on a ‘good’ day when the wind is in the east and the breeding birds perform, that the potential of 160 is there. In 2008, such species as Wood Sandpiper, Temminck’s Stint, Ruff and Black Tern were easy to come by. Notable omissions from this year’s tally were undoubtedly Little Gull and Tree Pipit. The former being probably the first time I can ever remember a May trip to Norfolk not producing this species, and the latter seemingly in a freefall decline and getting harder by the year.