Facebook page advertising dead whale’s teeth from Old Hunstanton is condemned - Crime - Eastern Daily Press

Facebook page advertising dead whale’s teeth from Old Hunstanton is condemned - Crime - Eastern Daily Press

NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!

Birding by Bus!!!!

I was cooking so late last night, that I couldn't get up and then when I did get out of the house, I missed the Coasthopper I had intended on catching! So not a good start to the day. Got on a service bus along Wootton Road to Hunstanton and had 20 minutes to kill before the Coasthopper bus left to go to Cley. I walked across the green by the Golden Lion Hotel and watched 44 Turnstones feeding along with a good number of starlings. Caught the 12.07pm bus to Cley. At the Titchwell RSPB bus stop Simeon, James and Joseph got on the bus to go to Cley too! I slept most of the journey as I don't travel well on buses and the best tonic is to shut my eyes. I luckily stirred when going past a whole flock of pinkfeet grazing in a field east of Burnham Overy Staithe.

Arrived at Cley at the respectable time (ha ha) of 1.20pm and went to the Visitor Centre for lunch with Eddie. Well I say lunch, Eddie had cakes and I had a cheese jacket potato and salad. Went to Teal Hide and saw the Western Sandpiper (my second viewing) and a Peregrine that scattered everything in sight. Went into Avocet Hide to see if the sandpiper had relocated closer - it hadn't. Nice surprise of Pete S. and Graham - Happy New Year to you both.

Drove back home via the Sandringham bird table to stock it up for the morning and someone already has! Thanks! Back in King's Lynn this evening and preparing for our Bird Race tomorrow.

I am in the fatbirder top 50 this evening - not been that for a while!!! No. 49! Must be because of Pete's shrike video!

Enjoy your festivities this evening and good birding tomorrow and throughout the coming year. Thank you to all my friends and 'blog followers' for your support.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Video of the Great Grey Shrike near Fakenham

Pete Snook kindly allowed me to link to his fabulous video of the Great Grey Shrike near Fakenham, Norfolk.

GREAT GREY SHRIKE
Near Fakenham, Norfolk

Discussion on the shrike here:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=219205

Busy Bee, baking cakes!

Cycling to work and back in the rain is getting rather boring now!

Spending the evening cooking – making a Fruit Cake, Banana Cake and Honey Flapjacks!

Off birding tomorrow by bus!

Getting Excited!!!

Cycled to Tescos straight from work last night to get a few bits of shopping and also bought a Kelly Holmes Weighted Gym Ball with all good intentions to get fit. It was a workout in itself to get the thing blown up!!!!! (pump provided in kit) I then discovered that this gym ball is the perfect height and the best EVER foot/leg rest for my sofa - ha ha ha!!!!!!! Obviously what it was intended for really!!!!! I can see it being used more for a luxury foot rest than anything else!

I'm getting excited about January 1st Bird Race - how many birds will I see this time? But this year it will be "We" as in Eddie and I. Now we should see more with two sets of eyes, BUT will Eddie, who will be driving, be as speedy as Penelope Pitstop between ticks? We shall see!!! Hopefully we will beat my last year's race of 87 species!

I am hoping that someone fills up the 'Sandringham Bird Table' with lots of goodies as this is the best place to start the day's list - I usually tick Nuthatch, treecreeper, woodpigeon, jay, hedgesparrow, robin, blackbird, chaffinches, greenfinches, blue/great/coal/marsh tit etc, at this spot!

Earthflight - BBC1 - 8pm Thursday 29th December

First of a six part series. Looks like its going to be spectacular looking at the pictures here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2011/dec/20/bbc-one-earthflight-in-pictures

Spoon-billed Sandpipers a WWT Slimbridge!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-16243751

Important Bird Feeding Advice and Tips from the RSPB

http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/300504-dont-cause-bird-fatalities

Boxing Day - Whale of day!!!

Old Hunstanton - Sperm Whale
Eddie and I went to look at the remains of the Sperm Whale at Old Hunstanton Beach. It had been pulled and prodded and part of its jaw was missing* and not many teeth were left!!!!! I don't quite understand how someone could hack this animal about - I mean I know its dead but for goodness sake - let it rest in peace!!! Loads of people and dogs yelping all over the place. Not exactly a joyous seen, poor thing and the stench if you stood the wrong side was enough to make you 'whale'!! (John F.'s fault - its catching!) Update: * here.

SPERM WHALE
Old Hunstanton.

Titchwell RSPB
Several robins surrounded our car as soon as the sandwiches came out! Eddie was not amused at me giving away one of his mince pies to some very happy robins - well it is Christmas - poor robins!!! The bird feeders by the centre held a good number of the usual birds including greenfinches, house sparrows, robins, blackbirds, fat wood pigeons etc and a nice surprise of a Brambling. Walking along the main path Eddie found the Coues's Arctic Redpoll for me at 12.30pm, feeding in the alders along with 2 Mealy Redpolls and 3 Lesser Redpolls!!! The light was bad, twigs were in the way and the distance, did not enable me to get any good pictures, sadly. Several goldfinches also feeding alongside the redpolls and a treecreeper. Water Rail feeding in the ditch. John Furse greeted us along the path and we all walked to the seawatching platform and watched 3 Long-tailed Ducks sitting on the sea, along with 1 Scaup, 11 Golden Eye (flew west) and also 1 Slavonian Grebe on the sea. John entertained us as usual!!! Some linnets landed on the brackish marsh on the way back.

Holme Marsh Bird Reserve
From the first hide we saw a Sparrowhawk and a Water Rail along with the usual tufted ducks, mallard and teal. A wren very amusingly peeped around the corner of the hide flap opening and looked in at us!!!

Work tomorrow afternoon (bank shift) and then back to work as normal on Wednesday and for rest of week, then Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. Somebody I know very well has two weeks off!!!

CHRISTMAS DAY!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

I have eaten sooooooooo much today - a lovely Christmas day and the sun was shining too!

Used my new oven for the first time - very impressed. Saw all of my family today which was lovely. One of the highlights of the day was mother's Sherry Trifle was I am sure was well over the legal limit!!!

I have not been birding for two weeks, so looking forward to a full day's birding tomorrow!!! I have serious withdrawal symptoms now. I am hoping to catch up with the Coues's Arctic Redpoll tomorrow.

Christmas Eve!!!!

After a difficult week, I had a nice snooze in this morning - lovely! I spent the rest of the day cleaning the house and doing really boring stuff like ironing and going to Tescos! Had to go into town to go to the bank and decided to buy a few christmas presents. Eddie came over in the afternoon and also delivered my amazing new "Rolser" Shopping Trolley, which I have bought from "Bakers and Larners" of Holt so that I can walk to get my food shopping for the next three months. I wouldn't want to risk locking my cycle up outside Tescos!!! It is the most amazing piece of equipment - its lime green and is really trendy looking, not like the typical, tarten trolley aimed at the older generation (no disrespect to any older people reading!) All Rolser trolleys are 100% Waterproof and it looks very robust. See reviews here

Watched a brilliant film last night called 'The Bourne Identity" - a brilliant action thriller and along with a few measures of brandy (in one glass) and munching on crisps, I at last felt quite chilled!

A very busy week and more mishaps!!!

The electrician came round Tuesday evening and told me my electricity WAS earthed and pointed out the cable to me!!!!!!! He installed the new oven and it looks so much better than my old one! Only annoying thing was, that when I was trying to adjust the cheap, plastic, screw-in feet underneath the bottom of the oven to raise it, I noticed that there was something hanging down - on closer inspection there was three strips of insulating stuff, covered in a type of silver foil and taped together - part of this was ragged and hanging to the floor - what's all that about!!!!???

Wednesday lunchtime I ripped into Curry's on the phone and pointed out that my electricity was earthed and demanded that they come out and collect my old oven (which they did the following day) and that my £55 installation fee was refunded - quote "you will have to go into the shop where you bought the oven to do this" - great, that's a bl**dy long way on a bike!!!!

Wednesday night I walked with a sack barrow to Tescos and bought a Microwave and some food shopping - got some funny looks walking home, but hey ho!!! Yeah I could have got a taxi - but it didn't kill me to walk! In fact I spent Thursday and Friday night, walking with that sack barrow getting in food shopping for the weekend. But Thursday didn't quite go to plan!!!

Thursday - I finished work and went to get my bike - had loads to do as it was late night shopping and needed to go into town and also to the supermarket. My bike is locked with two locks - one locks the removable seat to the back wheel and the other stronger, thick cabled lock goes round the frame, front wheel and to a set of external metal stairs in the grounds of the hospital. As I put the key into the front wheel lock, it broke clean off in the lock!!! The word 'bother' came to mind, well not quite that word - shorter word ending in 'k'!!! It was pouring with rain and proceeded to walk home which takes 35 minutes and dumped work rucksack. Walked into town with sack barrow, got shopping and bought a new cycle lock and walked home. Shattered when I got back and like a drowned rat. What has life come to - I am nearly 47 years old (god that sounds scary) and here I am walking with a bl**dy sack barrow to get food shopping!!!!! I thought life was supposed to easier when you got older!!!!!

Friday - phoned the estates dept. at the hospital as I walked into work and asked someone to cut through my cycle lock - which they kindly did. Tough last day at work and then flew into town on my bike to get essential christmas dinner ingredients for christmas dinner.

A Very Stressful Week!!!

That's an understatement really!!! Sad News and Exciting News!

I hate making big descisions, but was forced to with the bad news that my beloved Hyundai Coupe was going to cost a bomb to fix it for the MOT. I just simply couldn't invest any more money in this car, even though it broke my heart to give it up. Every night this week I sat working out figures, looking at cars on offer around local garages, looking at new car deals etc etc. I decided that I was totally fed up with car bills full stop and decided to buy a new car on finance. Could I afford it? Well no, not really, but I could if I worked a single shift every Sunday, extra to my full time job - which I have being doing for years anyway. Also delaying delivery of a new car until 1st March will help me financially, with no car insurance and no petrol for 3 months! Birding by bus will be the new trend - well for a few months anyway! I suppose its probably the best time of year not to have a car for 'rares' - I will just have to hope that no first for Norfolk's turn up before March!!!

I took Friday afternoon off as holiday to look for cars and to trade in my car. I went to Marshalls Ford Garage in King's Lynn and was very unimpressed with their service. A sales lady dealt with me and basically she didn't know the finance side of things at all or anything much really and every time as I asked something different, she left me sitting at the desk whilst she trotted off to the other end of the showroom to ask a salesman in an office behind closed doors - very personal service indeed - not! In any case I couldn't afford any of the new Ford Cars, apart from a KA but the boot was much too small for all my gear! I went to the shop where I bought my recent new car radio and they kindly took it out for me, so if anyone wants to buy a virtually new JVC KD-R311 CD/Radio for £70 ono then please email me!

With time disappearing fast I ended up making the hopefully sensible decision of going back to Walkers of King's Lynn and trading my car in for £500 and buying a Skoda. The salesman who I have seen each time here was very good at his job and made you feel that you had all the time in the world to make a decision, ask questions etc - an excellent service. I was so exhausted I was too tired to make my mind up properly in the end. I couldn't decide between a petrol or diesel basically. Left my car there as MOT ran out at midnight and went home. I decided to wait until Saturday before making my final decision and signing paperwork.

SATURDAY
I had to wait in to receive my new oven - yep that's been dying for ages too, along with the car, so ordered a new one (my first new oven - wahoooo!) from Curry's. I requested as early as a delivery as possible and guess what, they turned up at 2pm! The bad news was that the electrician refused to disconnect my oven as my electricity is not earthed!!!!! I knew my electric was dodgy, but didn't realise how bad - my heart sank, here I was with a lovely new oven, now sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. I rang an electrician who is a relative of a colleague at work and thankfully he can come out Tuesday to 'put a spike in' - connect new oven and then on another day, put in a new fuseboard (mine is so old, you wouldn't believe it), hopefully before christmas - more expense! Then of course I will have an old cooker sitting outside which Curry's would have taken away for nothing had they been able to disconnect it!

Got the bike out of the shed - not looked at it for a year - to find both tyres flat which was to be expected really. Pumped tyres up, but the front one stayed flat - bother! It was now 4pm and the Skoda garage shuts at 5.30pm. Walked to Surf55 bike shop, which is not far from me and they put a new inner tube in for me straight away which was good of them. Flew up to Hardwick to the garage and made it there by 5.10pm.

Bought a Skoda Fabia SE 1.6 TDI CR 75PS in Petrol Blue with Telephone preparation GSM II Bluetooth (means I can phone someone/answer phone, play music via my iphone through car speakers, handsfree - how cool is that! The car will be delivered in early March, so I will be ready for spring migration. I can't believe I have signed on the dotted line for a brand new car with 42 months finance - oh well, too late now!!! No MOT for 3 years, no services costs (included), no car breakdown costs (top RAC package inc.) and 3 years full guarantee. Can't go wrong really!

Huge thanks to all those people that emailed me/posted on my blog to advise me.

So, no birding exploits today, but hope to be out soon either on the bus or with Eddie over the Christmas period! Working all next week - finish end of Friday 23rd December.

Update: Eddie said he and several others saw a Black Guillemot this morning at Coastguards, Cley along with bonxies and several other good birds (can't remember them all now). He also found 5 Waxwings at the bottom of Old Woman's Lane.

Urgent car decisions and advice please?

I have been massively stressed this week about my car, what to do, auction it, leave it on the drive for while and declare it SORN, while I take more time to find another car. It will cost £709 to sort my car out and that's with a second hand CAT which the garage would have to source - dead money. Trade it in for a new car etc etc. I am seriously thinking of buying a very, very, boringly, sensible NEW car - a Skoda, Fabia 1.6 TDI CR 75PS on a Personal Contract Plan and they have offered me £500 pounds trade in for my car, better than the estimated £200 max in the local auction or £105 offered from buyanycar.com!!! I am not in a hurry for another car, I can wait, but I am in a massive hurry to do something with the Hyundai!!!! The offer on a new Skoda sounds good to me - free service for 3 years, no MOT, top of the range car breakdown for 3 years, no car tax for the first year and only £20 for the 2nd and 3rd year and full guarantee for 3 years. I test drove the car on Sunday and I was pleasantly surprised - quite sporty looking interior, although nowhere near as nice as my Hyundai, but excellent for a Skoda! The car was nice to drive and actually had more welly than my sports car! Just need to choose the colour - sounds like I am buying it doesn't it! Also allows me to save on insurance and petrol costs, whilst I walk or bike to work as I have to wait for the new car in approx. 9 weeks time. I don't want to buy another older, second-hand car and pay out more repair bills - spent so much on my car over the last year, its sickening thinking about it. Any advice please will be very helpful?

Murder and Mystery!!!!

Our work's Christmas bash this year was 'Murder, Mystery Dinner' at The Stuart House Hotel in King's Lynn. Food was fantastic, couldn't fault it, excellent service. It was nice to see us all dressed up in our finest glitz and glitter, as normally we are in boring uniforms and hair up all week. The actors were placed randomly and seated at our tables and we were able to question each one to find out who the murderer was. It was set in roman times and the dress attire of the actors was togos and was highly amusing. We worked quite hard at playing detective initially, but the novelty wore off as the evening progressed and we all became tired. Our team didn't win, but all good fun. Thanks to Sarah B. who organised the whole evening. It was good to catch up with Donna P. again who I worked with at the Lynn News for seven years - thanks for a fab evening Donna!

Police warning after cars targeted by thieves at West Norfolk beauty spots - Crime - Eastern Daily Press

Police warning after cars targeted by thieves at West Norfolk beauty spots - Crime - Eastern Daily Press

"Little Mix" win X Factor!!!!!!!

Congratulations to Little Mix - Wahoooooooo!!!!!!! and to their mentor on the show, N-Dubz member Tulisa Contostavlos.

Little Mix are crowned this year's X Factor winners, making them the first group to win the singing contest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16132047
http://xfactor.itv.com/

Rubbish Day!!!

As expected, the car failed its MOT miserably. I will be given a quote on Monday for the work to get it re-tested, but it looks bad news for my beloved Hyundai Coupe. Yes I know its only metal, but I LOVE this car! The day continued to get worse, including dipping on the Coues's Arctic Redpoll, basically because I got there far too late.

Dropped the car in at the garage at 9.15am and was told it would be ready by 11am. So I mooched around the town, window shopping and watched people doing their christmas shopping. My heart sank when I found out it failed, I knew it would, but didn't think it would fail on major things, after all the money spent on it in the last year.

"Offside rear (under sill) suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded."
"Rear (cross member) Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened"
and the emissions were "4 CO high at fast idle."

So with welding, labour and a new catalytic converter, you're talking at least £500, if not more. I laughed my head off when I input my car into www.webuyanycar.com - it offered me £105.00!!!!!! How sad!!!! I have only very recently, put two new tyres on the car that cost more than that!!! I was also told that I wouldn't get more than £200 for it at auction. The MOT runs out on Friday, so I have 5 days to do something with the car.

I would probably get a alot more for the car if I traded it in. I did something crazy and went into the SKODA garage to ask how much it was cost to buy a new Skoda Fabia SE 1.6 Turbo Diesel and pay for it monthly. It was very, very tempting. No MOT for 3 years, free services for three years, free roadside recovery for 3 years, no car tax for first year and £20 for second year! I didn't have time to test drive it, but when I sat in the driver's seat, it felt good! But can I afford it? No, not really. So my coupe could be in the local auction on Wednesday. Very, very sad.

Its Friday!!!!!

Its 5 'o Clock and its CRACKERJACK!!!!!!!!

Only anyone over 40 years old, will have a clue what I am going on about!!!

My appraisal was today and its all over for another year, thank goodness. Now I can concentrate on other jobs.

Whilst driving out to see a patient today I was travelling at exactly 60mph and a pheasant ran out into the road, stopped dead centre in front of the car and looked at me - dozy bird!!! There was no way I was going to brake and swerve at that speed, it was the bird or Zoe and I - I am glad I choose the right option! Had the pheasant carried on running, he would have made it. I think this is the first bird I ever killed, I have always managed to avoid hitting any birds. They say things happen in threes. The second incident was someone pulling out of a side road in front of me when I was travelling at 60mph and pulled out slowly out aswell, don't some drivers just wind you up! The third incident was a person breaking in front with no brake lights - great!!! We got back in one piece!!! Stressful day!

MOT tomorrow morning. If the car passes, I will eat my hat! It never does! If it costs alot to put through, it will be left at the garage and I will be buying a bus pass. Ohhhps no, I am not quite that old yet, but I will be birding on public transport - oh what fun that will be, not!!! You can't get anywhere early from Lynn, not early enough for a mega at dawn anyway! I found that out to my cost, when I had no car for about two months when doing my 'Surfbirds' county list in 2009. Not having a car cost me several ticks! Might buy a lottery ticket for Saturday night. X-Factor Final Saturday and Sunday evening - looking forward to that - hope 'Little Mix' win.

VOTE for "Little Mix"!!!

I don't know how people can afford to run all these christmas lights, although there certainly are not as many around my estate as there normally are at this time of the year. If the car passes tomorrow I may venture over to Titchwell RSPB to see the Coues's Arctic Redpoll, but staying local, as weather forecast not good and also need to sort my bird tables and drinking baths out and tidy the patio.

Western Sandpiper still at Cley today, which is good for those that have not seen it yet. Also at Cley a massive number of 57 Little Auks!!! a Short-eared Owl, Water Pipit and the Green-winged Teal remains. 4 Tundra Bean Geese south of Brancaster with pink-footed geese. A Greenland White-fronted Goose between Stanhoe and North Creake.

David Attenborough - Wonderful World

Rare Bumble Bee discovered in US - last seen in 1956!

http://newsroom.ucr.edu/2805

BREAKING NEWS: Judge rules against Norfolk incinerator legal challenge - Environment - Eastern Daily Press

BREAKING NEWS: Judge rules against Norfolk incinerator legal challenge - Environment - Eastern Daily Press

Windy Day in Norfolk!!!

Very windy here today in Norfolk and lashing down with rain late afternoon, but nothing compared to what's going on in Scotland!
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/update_east_coast_flood_alerts_likely_for_suffolk_but_environment_agency_says_norfolk_will_not_be_affected_1_1149023

Update on Weather for East Anglia at 10pm: http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/flood_alert_flooding_is_possible_around_suffolk_1_1149393

The Western Sandpiper remains at Cley along with the Green-winged Teal. Here is another video Gary White has taken:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s4M3JMFqeg&feature=g-all

A possible Coues’s Arctic Redpoll has been found at Titchwell RSPB and the Yellow-browed Warbler remains in the picnic area.

8.30pm - Winds picking up this evening, much stronger than earlier.

Storms rage across the UK!!!

Winds of 165 mph were recorded today in Scotland, only 8 mph off the UK record!!!

A wind turbine spins so fast that it catches fire!!! - see picture here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/8943507/Parts-of-Britain-are-battered-by-gale-force-winds-and-storms.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-16079849

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/12/08/uk-britain-weather-scotland-idUKTRE7B71H920111208

Earth-like Planet Discovered!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16040655

Conservation progress on River Nar - Environment - Lynn News

http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/news/environment/conservation_progress_on_river_nar_1_3296038#.Tt043gvgfkM.blogger

Eight Snowy Owls!!!

This stunning picture was highlighted on Birdforum: and see: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1122515

I would love to see a Snowy Owl – one of my dream birds to see – one day!

Also see: http://host.madison.com/news/local/environment/378fab8e-1c8c-11e1-9d46-001871e3ce6c.html
with news of 'A rare sight: More than 100 Snowy Owls seen across Wisconsin'

No birding on Sunday sadly as hard at work doing a double 11 hour shift. Keep falling asleep as I write this! Early night this evening I think! My house seemed chilly when I walked in the door tonight and the heating is on!

The WESTERN SANDPIPER remains in Cley today.

WESTERN SANDPIPER - MEGA - My First!!!

1 Western Sandpiper, 1 Sandwich Tern, 1 Green-winged Teal, 40 Barnacle Geese and a Ginger & Pear Cake slice for me!!!

Wow – What a Day!!!

WESTERN SANDPIPER - CLEY NWT
There was an unusual amount of traffic on the road this morning as I made my way to Cley in the dark - arrived in the NWT carpark just after 8am. Good to see someone checking membership cards! I could have parked on the 'triangle' at the bottom of 'Old Woman's Lane' but changed my mind after phoning Eddie, who saw the bird fly from Dauke's Hide towards Bishop's Hide. Also the sun was about to come out, so Bishop's Hide most definately looked the best bet as the sun would be behind the bird. Power walked to Bishop's Hide and Eddie walked in the hide with G. Etherington shortly after me. Annoyingly the Western Sandpiper had flown back to 'Simmond's Scrape' - typical! As I sat in the hide I could see loads of birders in 'Teal', 'Dauke's' and 'Avocet' hide with scopes and bins all looking in the same direction, almost jostling for space - this scene reminded me of Steve Gantlett's picture (might have been Sue's actually?) of the all the birders packed into the hides like sardines in a can, when watching the Great Snipe in May this year!!! The Western Sandpiper was most definately somewhere on 'Simmond's Scrape', but I couldn't see it from Bishop's! A Water Rail was seen fairly close to the hide and also a Sparrowhawk flew across. Quite a few Avocets, loads of Golden Plover, a pair of Pintail, teal, wigeon etc. I stubbornly stayed in the hide, hoping the Western Sandpiper would return as there were only a few people here - I just didn't fancy being jam packed into a hide. But as time went on and Connor kindly informed me a couple of times, that it was still showing from Dauke's, I gave in and power walked round to Dauke's hide with Eddie! Had fabulous views through Eddie's scope of my first WESTERN SANDPIPER at 9.30am!!! Not long after this, the bird was flushed with dunlin by a marsh harrier and flew off to the other side of 'Teal Hide' on 'Pat's Pool'! It was rubbish for photography - I only ever saw the bird distantly - well, cracking views through the scope, but a smudgy dot through my 300mm lens and there was no point in even bothering putting the teleconverter on at that distance. Went back to 'Bishop's Hide' again and had fabulous views of the Green-winged Teal in the sunshine! Eddie left before me for his VC cup of tea! I waited for a while longer in case the sandpiper appeared - it didn't! A Cetti's Warbler burst into a few melodious notes as I left the hide and walked back along the path to the visitor centre. It was nice and warm in the visitor centre. I ate my cheese scone alone - it was scrumptious!

One of the most boring lunches ever - a cheese and cranberry roll and cup of semi hot soup standing outside my car.

Cley Coastguards
Not too bad a seawatch really - the best bird being a juv. Sandwich Tern which I photographed flying west, as I stood at the water's edge photographing a juv. gannet on the sea and a guillemot! Other birds seen: A Shag on the sea, 1 Little Gull going west, a few Goldeneyes flying west, a couple of Red-throated Divers, several Gannets, a few Guillemots and auk sp's, and several flocks of Common Scoter. Note: the Sandwich Tern was seen by several people over the course of the day.

Sandwich Tern, Coastguards, Cley.

Dauke's Hide NWT
Spent the rest of the afternoon here, in hope that I might actually got a half decent photo of the Western Sandpiper - no chance!!! Watched the Western Sandpiper on and off up to 3.45pm – it was nearly always distant, feeding along with dunlin. It tended to feed in a hurried manner and nearly always with beak down, probing for food as it moved. It moved around in a scampering fashion in half circles and was quite flighty at times. It was easy to pick out, as much smaller than the dunlins. It was quite fiesty too - almost butting a dunlin out of the way when it barged in too close! It tended to favour the far left hand corner of 'Simmond's Scrape'. I managed a very poor record shot only. A Merlin appeared on the island in front of 'North Hide' which looked beautiful in the orangy glow, as the sun started to set at 3.30pm. A Water Rail was seen and heard right in front of the hide along with all the usual waders on the scrape: teal, wigeon, shelduck, avocets, godwits, black headed gulls, huge numbers of golden plover etc etc. A fantastic surprise of 40 Barnacle Geese flew over 'Pat's Pool' and landed on 'North Scrape' at dusk!!! Fantastic end to the day. Stopped at the Picnic Fayre in Cley and bought a scrummy piece of Ginger and Pear Cake! Consumed lots of healthy food today!!!!!

Bought vege burger and chips from my favourite Holt fish 'n' chip shop, drove home and ate them watching the X-Factor Semi Final.

Note: Some of the best pictures I have seen so far of the Western Sandpiper are here

MORE PICTURES TO BE ADDED

'The Hide' - Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctWvMJ0Rw4o

MEGA - WESTERN SANDPIPER!!!

The Semipalmated Sandpiper that was found in Cley on Monday has now been re-identified as a WESTERN SANDPIPER which is a first for Norfolk!!!

Lets hope it doesn't do a Friday night bunk, which is what has happened several times this year with rare birds! Although I am not really looking forward to cramming into a hide first thing Saturday morning! Lets also hope that permits will be issued to all people that are not NWT members.

See discussions and pictures here:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=59348&page=572
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=217441
http://www.birdingworld.co.uk/Cley%202011.1.htm