Calm - at last

What great weather today - just about the first this year with little or no wind at all and, until early afternoon, bright and sunny. I bumped into Phil first thing and after a brief look at the sea (perhaps 8 summer-plumaged Great Crested Grebes, 2 Red-throated Divers, a drake Eider and a single redhead Red-breasted Merganser) and around us from Gore Point (about 200 Brent Geese on the shore, 2 Greenshank on Lavender Marsh and a Barn Owl hunting over the grazing marshes) we walked along the beach from The Saltings to the Harbour mouth, noting various creatures along the way. We found:

Whelk	Buccineum undatum
Sting Winkle	Ocenabra erinaceus
Blunt Gaper	Mya truncata
Horse Mussel	Modiolus modiolus
Edible Mussel	Mytlus edulis
Thick Trough Shell	Spisula solida
Edible Periwinckle	Littorina littorea
Slipper Limpet	Crepidula formicata
Common Cockle	Cerastoderma edule
Black/Variegated Scallop	Chlamys varia
White Piddock	Barnea candida
Dog Whelk	Nucellus lapillus
American Jack-knife Clam	Ensis directus
Baltic Tellin	Macoma baltica
Pullet Carpet Shell	Tapes corrugata
Banded Carpet Shell	Tapes rhomboides
Common Oyster	Ostrea edulis
and
Sea Urchin	Psammechinus miliaris

plus at least 3 species of Bryozoans, yet to be identified, and a large sponge of some sort.

Far offshore were two huge rafts of Common Scoter which we estimated, very approximately, held some 5000-7000 birds - by some margin the most we've seen all winter. A closer group of about 200 birds held at least three Goldeneye and one Velvet Scoter which obliged by flying along the shore as soon as I set my scope up on the flock. As we set of back, an adult Mediterranean Gull, already attaining the black head of its it summer plumage, flew over us towards the shoreline. We returned via the track above Broadwater (noting several Winter Stalkballs) and then along the main entrance track. I suggested we checked the wet splashes and pool edges for Water Pipits and as I set the scope up Phil said 'here's one !' . To our amazement, a well-marked Water Pipit gave great views (rare here, though the birds are likely to be much less rare than the few sightings suggest) until it flew off high, in silence, out onto the grazing marshes. It was companied by 3 Pied Wagtails - an amazing tally if we ignore last night's 34 which flew west over the pools, presumably towards an unidentified roost.

New Plants in flower were Common Chickweed and Alexanders and I identified a new (though extremely abundant) moss - Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus. A Chinese Water Deer was in its favoured spot in the field by the reserve entrance mid-afternoon. 

Springy Turf-moss Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus, Holme NWT, 10th February 2014

Water Pipit, Holme NWT, 10th February 2014

Water Pipit, Holme NWT, 10th February 2014

Alexanders, Holme village, 10th February 2014

Two unidentified Bryozoans, Holme NWT, 10th February 2014

Stonechat at last!!!

Finally after hundreds of attempts Andy & I finally connected with the pair of extremely elusive Stonechats on the Golf course this afternoon but within seconds of picking them up they soon vanished and despite searching not seen again! Are these the worlds most elusive Stonechats ever?!?  The fresh marshes continue to hold a plethora of bird life and of particular note Golden Plover and Dunlin!

A walk through the Pines turned up two new Fungi year ticks - first off was the Earthstar Geastrum triplex (Collared Earthstar) and secondly and more surprisingly the MEGA rare Rabbit sh*t Nail Fungus Poronia erici!!!

We finished off the day (after a out of patch visit to Titchwell 'shroom twitching) in the village.  Walking down Bakers Carr we booted 2 maybe 3 Woodcock and remarkable considering between us we could count this years sighting of Pied Wagtail on one hand between us 30+ went to roost nearby!!!  Where on earth did they come from?!?

Pied Wags galore!

A good mix of birds along the entrance track, c200 Curlew, c300 Golden Plover, c250 Lapwing with lots of Teal, Wigeon and a few Shoveler on the pools. We then stopped off again along the track for point blank views of a pair of Grey Partridge. We then headed for the shoreline for some seawatching but this was brief as we had c60 Snow Bunting fly along the shore. We marched off after them, eventually catching up with the flock towards Thornham point, we then had lovely views as they slowly tumbled along the dune edge towards us. After a circular walk back, we resumed our seawatching, c3500 Common Scoter were impressive in flight, if a little distant! Plenty of Great crested Grebe, plus a Kittiwake and a Goldeneye flew west, and 3-4 Red-breasted Merganser. 

We finished the day watching 4-5 Marsh Harriers and a Barn Owl hunting as the light faded. But perhaps most notable was a roost of around c25 Pied Wags, these have been hard to comedy until now on the reserve!

Mossin' about

Robert, Phil and I spent much of today looking for mosses and liverworts in Ringstead Downs, led in our quest by friendly local bryophyte expert Julia Masson. As we are at that early stage of learning when it takes about 1000 times as long to identify a species as it does to find one, we quickly amassed enough specimens for many, many hours of work. Sat at a convenient, if decidedly ill-placed table, given the windy conditions, Julia repeatedly guided us through the key and we clocked up a modest tally of species new to each of us. We confidently identified Common Feather-moss Kindbergia praelonga and Rough-stalked Feather-moss Brachythecium rutabulum as the abundant species of both grassy and rocky areas and of the many fallen logs at the west end of the reserve. We  also found a patch of Cypress-leaved Plait-moss Hypnum cupressiforme on a log, a large patch of Forked Veilwort, Metzgeria furcata on a sycamore trunk, Bifid Crestwort Lophocolea bidentata, on the chalk cliff (this liverwort smells strongly of earth), together with Many-fruited Thyme-moss Plagiomnium affine) and what were probably Capillary Thread-moss Bryum capillare and Creeping Feather-moss Amblystegium serpens on a rock at the base of the cliff. In the arable field we identified Bird's-claw Beard-moss Barbula unguiculata whilst on the open, south-facing downs we found Yellow Feather-moss Homolothecium lutescens, Neat Feather-moss Pseudoscleropodium purum and Common Pocket-moss Fissidens taxifolius. Colour was added by numerous flowering Common Field Speedwell and by a single flower of Ground Ivy.

Robert and I then looked, successfully, for the larvae of some mining fly that lives in Stinking Hellebores and unsuccessfully (yet again) for the Stonechats on the beach. 5 Snow Bunting were mixed in with about 30 Linnets on the salt marsh.

Forked Veilwort, Metzgeria furcata on a Sycamore trunk, Ringstead Downs, 8th February 2014

Signs of Woodpecker (presumably Great-spotted) activity in the Downs, 8th February 2014

Common Field Speedwell, Ringstead Downs, 8th February 2014

Neat Feather Moss Pseudoscleropodium purum, Ringstead Downs, 8th February 2014

Common Pocket-moss Fissidens taxifolius, Ringstead Downs, 8th February 2014

Ground Ivy, Ringstead Downs, 8th February 2014

Hazel Catkins, Ringstead Downs, 8th February 2014

Following this post made by Graeme on The Lyons Den Andy & myself checked a small patch of Stinking Hellebore in Holme village and instantly found the mines of our target Phytomyza hellebori.  If only everything was that easy!

Mines of Phytomyza hellebori on Stinking Hellebore

Shank Spotted

I was guiding a group, but an early morning visit & we had one of the Short-eared Owls down to just a few metres, it was seemingly tired & hungry as it was out hunting in pretty atrocious conditions! There are at least two birds, one has a central tail feather missing & has been seen in the last week, the other is fully tailed & looks a generally better plumaged bird. There is possibly a 3rd bird as well!

We visited Thornham harbour - no sign of the Peregrines that are often hanging out here but there were several "Scandi" Rock Pipit. The familiar "tchu-it" call alerted me to a flyover Spotted Redshank, the first of the year for me on the patch & pretty thin on the ground so far this winter.

Snipe Search

Spent 2 hours this morning searching Lavendar marsh had 15 Snipe in total but couldn't find the elusive Jack! The Short-eared Owl was up briefly & the usual mix of wildfowl & shorebirds were present!

Once "bittern" twice shy!

Guiding today & Holme served up some great birding! 6 Marsh Harrier, showing off nicely in the skies some display & some nest material carrying. Kingfisher female perching beautifully in fantastic light. A great morning was capped off when a Bittern was spotted walking in a dyke just in front of the hedgerow and we had great views before it flew back off to the main reed bed, my 2nd sighting but much better than the first! See pic below.

200+ Golden Plover on grazing marsh, c80 Snow Bunting in dunes. Point blank views of both Short-eared Owl & 3 Barn Owl, with one Barn owl 6'0 away from the minibus perched at Redwell!

Peregrine & a very fast & speeding Merlin towards dusk!

Fieldfare, Redwing, Song & Mistle Thrush all together in paddocks for first time this winter.

A warm but windy WeBS

Today was a WeBS day - warm and sunny for the most part, but with a stiff SSW wind. The roosts at the west end of the reserve held:

1655 Oystercatchers
167 Redshank
2 Curlew
3 Knot
191 Grey Plover
302 Sanderling
357 Bar-tailed Godwit
13 Turnstone
47 Ringed Plover
45 Dunlin
1 Cormorant
1 Shag
710 Herring Gulls
2 Great Black-backed Gulls.

Also on the beach were 2 Shelduck, 2 Mallard, 8 Teal and 75-80 Snow Buntings.
Close inshore were a Red-necked Grebe, 4 Great Crested Grebes, 4 Red-breasted Mergansers, 3 Long-tailed Ducks, 1 Eider, 60 Common Scoter, 2 Red-throated Divers with another west, together with a drake Goldeneye. Elsewhere during WeBS were 2 Little Egrets, 1 Greenshank, 2 Snipe, a Jack Snipe, 40 Teal, 4 Wigeon, 10 Shovelers, 2 Black-headed Gulls, and 81 Brent Geese. All the Rock Pipits seem to have moved on.

The non-avian highlight of the morning was a Peacock Butterfly on the wing on the south, sunny but windy side of the pines. No owls for me today, but several Marsh Harriers quartered the grazing marshes, though no display today.

Others had yet another Bonxie today, which flew west close inshore.

A glorious morning, quite Mediterranean

A glorious sunny morning until lunch, then the SW wind then prevailing & clouding over. I arrived early at the GC end of the dunes, for the high tide roost & then later moved up to Gore Point.

Nice flocks of c700 Oystercatcher, also c700 Herring Gull, plus c200 Sanderling & c250 Bar-tailed Godwit. Offshore I found  2 Long-tailed Duck, c12 Goldeneye, 30 Great Crested Grebe flew south & another c25 on the sea. Around 30 Red-throated Diver offshore but mostly flying south.

Of note were c15 Eider & 3 Shag sat along the shoreline. Searching a profusion of gulls eventually paid dividends with a new year bird, smart adult Mediterranean Gull. 

I bumped into Sophe & we shared lovely views of the Short-eared Owl hunting in the forestry.

I finished off looking in the NWT hides, best numbers thus far of Gadwall, c30 out on the islands. Also c250 Lapwing, lots of Wigeon & Teal, nothing unusual amongst them.

On the way back the geese had increased to c700 Brents in the winter wheat field, but I couldn't find anything amongst them!