New Year's Day Bird Race!

NEW YEAR'S DAY BIRD RACE

• King's Lynn • Castle Rising • Wolverton • Sandringham • Almer
• Flitcham • Hunstanton • Holme • Choseley • Titchwell RSPB

Penny Clarke and Eddie Myers

7.45am - started off with robin and blackbird in the garden. Stopped along the old Castle Rising road to attempt to see treecreeper by the Babingley River bridge, but no luck. Continued onto Wolverton and passed several cars of birders looking for golden pheasant - as we drove along the north east side of the triangle we stopped to look in a clearing on our right side and within seconds a stunning male golden pheasant appeared - if only the camera had been in the car instead of in the boot!

We continued on to the Sandringham bird table to find very little - no marsh tit or treecreeper to be found, in fact all we had here were blue, great and coal tit, wren, nuthatch and a jay! We had a better selection at the Sandringham Sawmill which produced a good tick of goldcrest, redwing, fieldfare, stock dove, common buzzard, egyptian geese, kestrel and common gull.

At Manor Farm we had house sparrow, starling and greenfinch and further along the road we had two grey partridge by a field entrance. At Amner we had several yellowhammers in the hedges and on someone's bird table we had chaffinch and brilliant views of a nuthatch on the table! In a ploughed field on route to Flitcham, we had an unusual find of a carrion crow, greater black-backed gull and a common buzzard feeding together on a dead rabbit! A sparrowhawk zoomed low along the hedge line.

10.00am - At Flitcham Abbey Farm we only saw a red-legged partridge - Abbey Farm was a complete waste of time, there was almost no water in front of the hide and I have never seen it so birdless!!! No sign of little owl, kingfisher or tree sparrows or anything else, oh apart from four common buzzards distantly.

10.50am - Hunstanton Cliffs - Oystercatcher, turnstone, fulmar, goldeneye.

11.30am - Holme Bird Reserves - Magpie, shoveler, wigeon, grey plover, redshank, linnets, barn owl, tufted duck, teal, coot, heron. Seawatching produced: cormorant, red throated diver, red-breasted merganser, great crested grebe, razorbill and a huge flock of bar-tailed godwits. On the way back down the Firs Road, Eddie was understandably furious when he discovered his passenger rear tyre was completely flat - but changed it much quicker than I would have done.

1.45pm - Choseley Drying Barns - Nothing!

2pm - Titchwell RSPB - Loads of birders looking at the feeders! Lesser Redpoll and Coues's Arctic Redpoll together in the Alder tree next to the visitor centre - thanks to Dave Holman for allowing me to look through his scope! Eddie found a frog! Water rail in the ditch. Got several ticks here including mandarin, yellow-legged gull, hen harrier. Walked to the end of the board walk and saw sanderling, knot, dunlin, long tailed duck. Walked back along the bank and into Parrinder hide to see a single avocet and mute swan. Stood by the Fen Trail path (off main path) and watched and waited - woodcock flew across us! This was the last bird of the day. Attempted to find a tawny owl but failed.

Had fish 'n' chips at Sunny Hunny and then went home.

Disappointingly, we did not see a single pied wagtail! We expected to see the following birds: great spotted woodpecker, treecreeper, eider, ringed plover, little owl, short-eared owl, snow buntings, stonechat, reed bunting, song thrush, mistle thrush, Cetti's Warbler, brambling, bullfinch, bittern.

Besides Eddie's very unusual find of a frog, we also saw a stoat, muntjac deer, hare, squirrel and a large bull with nose ring staring right in the hide window at Abbey Farm bird hide!


93 birds seen - listed in the order we saw them:

1. Robin
2. Blackbird
3. Woodpigeon
4. Mallard
5. Herring Gull
6. Collared Dove
7. Jackdaw
8. Rook
9. Pheasant
10. Hedgesparrow
11. Pink-footed Goose
12. Greylag Goose
13. Black headed Gull
14. Goldfinch
15. Curlew
16. Long tailed Tit
17. Golden Pheasant
18. Blue Tit
19. Great Tit
20. Coal Tit
21. Wren
22. Nuthatch
23. Jay
24. Redwing
25. Fieldfare
26. Goldcrest
27. Stock Dove
28. Common Gull
29. Common Buzzard
30. Egyptian Goose
31. Kestrel
32. House Sparrow
33. Starling
34. Greenfinch
35. Grey Partridge
36. Yellowhammer
37. Moorhen
38. Chaffinch
39. Greater Black-backed Gull
40. Carrion Crow
41. Sparrowhawk
42. Red-legged Partridge
43. Oystercatcher
44. Feral Pigeon
45. Turnstone
46. Fulmar
47. Goldeneye
48. Magpie
49. Shoveler
50. Wigeon
51. Grey Plover
52. Redshank
53. Linnet
54. Barn Owl
55. Tufted Duck
56. Teal
57. Coot
58. Heron
59. Cormorant
60. Red-throated Diver
61. Red-breasted Merganser
62. Great Crested Grebe
63. Razorbill
64. Bar-tailed Godwit
65. Lesser Redpoll
66. Coues's Arctic Redpoll
67. Water Rail
68. Marsh Harrier
69. Black-tailed Godwit
70. Little Egret
71. Shelduck
72. Golden Plover
73. Pochard
74. Pintail
75. Gadwall
76. Brent Goose
77. Scaup
78. Ruff
79. Snipe
80. Spotted Redshank
81. Mandarin
82. Yellow-legged Gull
83. Lesser Black-backed Gull
    
84. Canada Goose
85. Hen Harrier
86. Little Grebe
87. Sanderling
88. Knot
89. Dunlin
90. Long-tailed Duck
91. Avocet
92. Mute Swan
93. Woodcock