April started well with the discovery of 30 waxwing still remaining in Norwich despite the absence of any of their favourite food stuff; berries. Although there was a reported influx of migrants on the south coast of England there was little evidence of spring in Norfolk with temperatures remaining cold and frosty. However, on a [...]
April started well with the discovery of 30 waxwing still remaining in Norwich despite the absence of any of their favourite food stuff; berries. Although there was a reported influx of migrants on the south coast of England there was little evidence of spring in Norfolk with temperatures remaining cold and frosty. However, on a sunny Saturday morning midway through the month, the chiffchaff were singing and whilst working on the construction of a tern nesting raft at a local fishing lake a flock of twenty to thirty swallows and house martins appeared briefly over one of the gravel pits adding two new year ticks. At the same a few days later a single arctic tern appeared, this bird was to be the advance guard, as the following day, large numbers of arctic terns were reported passing through East Anglia on their way to breeding sites in the Arctic circle all the way from their wintering grounds in Antarctica; the longest annual migration of any species. A singing male blackcap the following day added a welcome but common spring migrant to the list but still numbers of summer breeders seemed to be absent.
With easterly winds likely to push migrating birds onto the Norfolk Coast it seemed like a good opportunity for a bird ringing session at Waxham just north of Great Yarmouth. An early (03:50) start was the order of the day to ensure that the mist nests could be erected before dawn. At least two grasshopper warblers were heard on arrival with singing willow warblers and whitethroats in the bushes around the nets. A yellow wagtail was heard and seen flying over before the star bird of the day; a firecrest caught in one of the nets. Carefully extracted and put in a cloth bag for transport back for processing I was fortunate to ring it and take the biometrics as I had not previously ringed a firecrest.
Summer migrants continued to arrive steadily through the rest of the month adding to the yearly tally. A weekend trip to South London produced rose-ringed parakeets which are now very common and seemingly everywhere along the River Thames, nesting in tree holes. A visit to Barn Elms WWT on the Sunday morning was a little disappointing, very few birds of interest although a single swift was the first seen this year. Towards the end of the month two white storks near Great Yarmouth were an unusual and but welcome sight in the broads. White stork are a common breeder on the continent only a short hop over the North Sea but seemingly conditions in the UK are not suitable for this species which is a pity as they are such an iconic bird.
On the last day of April I went to a small village outside of Swaffham to see a woodchat shrike. Shrikes are my favourite group of birds, small and brutal, known colloquially as the ‘butcher birds’ for their habit of storing their prey on thorns and barbed wire spikes. Woodchat shrikes are a species originating from southern Europe and although an annual migrant to Southwest England they are very unusual in Norfolk with less than 10 recorded in the County - so a great bird to see. Unfortunately despite some unusual birds this month, my tally of 149 means I have dropped to last place; 20 species behind the lead. Time to take things more seriously in the coming months and get out to do some more birding.
