"For now we are young let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see" Neutral Milk Hotel.

Wednesday 26 October 2016

Off Patch: Desert Wheatear at Gun Hill, 24th October 2016






Hunstanton Cliffs vis-mig

    Wednesday 26 October 2016


Counting period: 07:15 - 09:15
Count type: coastal vismig (landbased birds only)
Weather: wind SW2, cloud-cover 8/8
Observers: Andy Brown, Lee Locke, Gary Hibberd, John Baker, Richard Belter, Frank Branch, Robert Smith, Robin Jolliffe

SNSNSN
Little Egret  1  -  Starling  15893  -  Rock Pipit  4  -  
Lapwing  38  -  Blackbird  3  -  Chaffinch  278  -  
Mediterranean Gull  1  -  Fieldfare  31  -  Brambling  3  -  
Woodpigeon  35  -  Redwing  31  -  Greenfinch  61  3  
Jackdaw  2  -  Song Thrush  1  -  Linnet  5  -  
Skylark  7  -  Grey Wagtail  1  -  Goldfinch  17  -  
Shore Lark  1  -  alba wagtail sp.  5  -  Siskin  23  -  
Swallow  1  -  Meadow Pipit  20  -  Lapland Bunting  5  -  

Totals: 16470 individuals, 24 species, 2:00 hours

Bold = Remarkable observation (scarce or rare species or large number)
Comments: The chaffinch nos were very disapointing, starlings numbers increasing at last. 

Birds at Holme NWT, Tuesday 25th October 2016

Shorelark


Stonechat



Lapland Bunting


Migrant Starlings pausing to feed in the dunes


Heron


Sunday 23 October 2016

Jack Snipe at Holme Dunes

A Jack Snipe was sleeping and then feeding on the water's edge just in front of Hide 3 at Holme Dunes on Thursday 20th October.  While feeding it often stopped to do trademark bouncing sessions.



Tuesday 11 October 2016

A whole new sub-phylum and class for the patch

Star Ascidian, Botryllus schlosseri, Hunstanton, 10th October 2016


From our very own Phylum Chordata, the tunicates form the sub-phylum Urochordata, the ascidians being free-living or colonial representatives which in this species gather in groups, forming star shapes around a common gut within a common gelatinous outer casing or test. They tend to form thin crusts over rocks or see weds and, on being dislodged, are often to be found washed up on the shore.

A new slug for the patch

Tandonia sowerbyi, Hunstanton Cliffs, 10th October 2016

Brent, Grey Plover and a Mediterranean Gull

Brent Geese, Hunstanton, 10th October 2016



Mediterranean Gull first-winter, Holme NWT, 8th October 2016



Grey Plover, Hunstanton, 10th October 2016

The Wreck

The wreck, Hunstanton, 10th October 2016


Four great new species for the patch

The Leaf Beetle Chrysolina oricalcia, Holme NWT, 3rd October 2016


A Helcomyzid Fly, Helcomyza ustulata, Gore Point, 3rd October 2016


The huge Isopod Ligia oceanica, Thornham Harbour, 10th October 2016



The Chiton Lepidochitona cinereus, Hunstanton, 10th October 2016