The Arctic Birder: England 01.Nov.2011

tirsdag 29. november 2011

England 01.Nov.2011

The last day I went out birding with Ed was for me probably the best. Not due to that we got to see many rare birds, but because I have been bitten by the gull-bug. I tried for as long as I could to stay away from falling in love with these winged problem-ID's, but I am now stuck with them. The best bird for me this day was without doubt the Mediterranean Gulls (Svartehavsmåke) at Great Yarmouth. Thirty-or-so birds were just waiting for us to feed them with bread from a local shop. To get to see all three age-groups of these were also nice, given the fact that it is not a common bird in Norway. And after having spent some time with them I have to admit that it is among the prettiest gulls I know.
Also a location that stood out was Minismere. To be able to walk around in the Heather-covered hills and look at Dartford Warblers (Vinsanger), with a short walk to the seafront and the reedbeds, made a really nice end to the day. Long-tailed Tits (Stjertmeis) of the Brittish subspecies made nice balls of fluff to look at, and the Kingfisher (Isfugl) that did not want to move from its perch was a very welcome sight. Marsh Harriers (Sivhauk) and A single Hen Harrier (Myrhauk) gave great views, and it was also nice to get to hear and briefly see the Marsh Tit (Løvmeis) again.

The trips around to different birding-locations with Ed really was worth the time it took, nad I am very grateful that he bothered to go birding with a guy who is used to watching birds on the open tundra, and in icy fiords.

I can also mention in this post that I photographed two cr-ringed Mediterranean Gulls at Great Yarmouth, which both had originally been ringed in Belgium, but had been present at Great Yarmouth for several years. I am still waiting from the ringing-details from the Stonechat from the last blog-post, and from a Herring Gull.