MEGA DOUBLE TWITCH – PACIFIC SWIFT in Suffolk & ROLLER in Norfolk!!!

PACIFIC SWIFT & BIRDERS

Trimley Marshes SWT

The craziest, most exhilarating, nail-biting, euphoric day's birding (ok Twitching) EVER!!!

PACIFIC SWIFT TWITCH!
Last night I made the risky and crazy decision to go to Trimley Marshes for first light and just hoped and prayed that the Pacific Swift had made the sensible decision to wait for me! I couldn't see the point of waiting on news on Sunday morning. It seemed much more sensible to drive down in the peace of tranquility of the night with no traffic problems, rather than the stress of traffic in daylight hours, the stress of a two hour journey knowing the bird might fly off on route and then the big walk from the carpark.

The time just ran away last night and I realised that I hadn't got time to go to bed – I had a shower and got into new set of birding gear, made flasks and sandwiches etc and with no sleep whatsoever, I left my house at 2.45am. Crazy, crazy bird! It was fascinating the things I saw on route – from youths walking through the streets of Lynn with cans of beer in their hands to several foxes, including two running from people's gardens carrying I presume food items from bins and also another large animal that ran across the road that I couldn't identify! I still can't believe now that I managed to drive and do what I did today on no sleep, but I got away with it!

I arrived at the carpark at Trimley Marshes in very good time (smile) at 4.20am. There were a few other cars here already. I arrived at the same time as Neil Glenn and his wife (I presume). It was a very long walk indeed, but was a doddle compared to walking Blakeney Point! On route I heard Nightingales singing and saw several whitethroats zipping about. It was a beautiful walk and the early morning sun was welcoming. It was amazing to be this close to the massive cranes at Felixstowe Ferry and I really wished that I had taken some arty, farty pictures of these now. There was a hide adjacent to the visitor centre and I nipped in here quickly to see if any birders had got the swift before we continued to walk further on – no birders in here, so carried on. Further along the path we could see around thirty birders, mostly standing on the lower path and a few on the high sea bank. I climbed up on the bank to join Norfolk birder Stuart White. I could see why people were standing on the lower path as it was bl**dy freezing and very windy up here, although exhilarating! The waters of the River Orwell were immediately below the bank and it was exciting to be here. The skies were filled with Common Swifts, so many hundreds and in reality probably thousands, an unbelievable sight. I have never witnessed so many swifts, it was a real spectacle! But it was like a needle in a haystack trying to search for the one with the white rump! My eyes were sore with searching for this mega bird, it was nigh on impossible! What I couldn't quite believe was the fact that at least half the birders here were chatting and not even looking for the bird and one was even asleep on the bank! We needed alot more people looking if we wanted to have any chance of re-finding this mega bird. I tweeted, blogged and sent messages with a plea for more birders to help us to look and that there was no news up to 6am. Other birds seen on the river were: 3 Common Terns, 2 Sandwich Terns, 2 Mute Swans, several Cormorants, 4 Carrion Crows and a Herring Gull tucking into a crab. Very sadly Stuart had to leave to be back in Norwich by 7.30am. The clock ticked by 6am, 7am and I was getting seriously cold standing here. Suddenly the pager bleeped up with news the Pacific Swift was being watched from the hide (the one I looked in earlier) by the visitor centre. OMG it was actually still here!!! The mad dash then began. I walked and ran as fast as I could. Every person you pass can make all the difference, there is only so much body space in one hide! I managed to squeeze in at the back of the hide and at 7.52am, although very distant, I saw my first PACIFIC SWIFT!!! I couldn't quite believe my luck. My crazy decision to be here at first light had paid off!!! I sighed with both relief and exhaustion! I left the hide as did most people as now we knew where it was, we realised we would have better views from the high bank. The bleeps of people's pagers were flying now! There was a massive buzz of excitement and relief from all! Telephone's were going and lots of chat and directions to birders on route.

I climbed back up onto the bank to join others and watched the Pacific Swift again, but still distantly. I phoned a few people and sent a few texts as you do and then climbed back down to the lower path. I walked back to where I was standing earlier, as there were lots of birders standing back up on the bank viewing the swift still distantly, which is also dead opposite a hide overlooking a lagoon.  As I got nearer to them I could hear the volume of voices getting increasingly louder and more excited. I could hear the words 'coming closer', 'over the fields now', 'coming closer' and then the shout of 'now over the lagoon' and 'over the hide now'. I didn't waste a second and was in that hide like a shot and was the first person in there! Here was the Pacific Swift was skimming over the lagoon in the sunshine and I had it all to myself for just a moment in time. It wasn't too many more seconds before the hide door opened and a familiar voice said 'where's the bird then Penny?' – it was Coventry birder John Jennings, a really nice man, who I have bumped into on various twitches over recent years. He was joined by several other birders and the hide was packed in under a minute! Fabulous views of this mega bird, but terrible for photographers with 300mm lenses. There was of course several lottery (as I call them) lenses, capable of taking far superior shots than I possibly could at that distance. There was also a brief ruckus in the hide between two photographers which I won't go in to on here! John and a few others left later on. Someone called a Red Kite just above and outside the hide, so we rushed out to see that as an added bonus. Other birds seen here were: Canada Geese, Avocets, Shelducks, a single Pintail, Reed Buntings, Reed Warblers, 77 Oystercatchers, Marsh Harriers, Herons and Little Egrets.

I stayed in that hide for most of the day. I was waiting for the moment that the Pacific Swift might actually fly across the reeds in front of the hide to give me a chance of getting a good picture. My record shots improved as the day went on, but I never got anything prize winning as the swift never came close enough sadly.  Spending so long with this bird, you soon picked up its flight pattern amongst the common swifts. The one mistake I made was only bringing half my lunch with me. I had to ration things out from midday. Andrew Allen very, very kindly gave me a packet of shortbread biscuits to see me through the afternoon when he left – they saved me I can tell you, so thank you very much indeed Andrew! The Pacific Swift seemed to be showing less and less as the afternoon went on. A text from Connor read 'Nearly at Trimley! Fingers crossed'. Luckily for Connor he and his father Billy arrived just in the nick of time to bag the swift! Sitting in this hide was the perfect place to photograph the crowds – I reckon there was at least a couple of hundred birders lining the high bank for most of the day and I got lots of photographs of people standing there from the hide including Julian B, Duncan, Connor, Billy etc etc! (see pictures below). There was a really nice photographer sitting to my right for the whole afternoon, don't know who he was but very helpful and very good at getting people onto the bird aswell. There was another one who I didn't like at all, who smirked at the possibility that I might get a good picture with my tiny little lens – this attitude which I have come across several times before, just makes me dig my heels in more and stay even longer to try and get a good picture!

I had just about run out of food, I had one short-bread biscuit left and I was really hungry, having been up for what seemed like two days. I then had a phone call at just after 4.30pm which created another even bigger twitch!!! The phone call was from Connor – the conversation went something like this 'Penny I just phoned to let you know that a ROLLER is about to go on the pager for Norfolk'....... My reply 'You're joking?' 'OMG' 'Nooooooooo'. Roller, my dream bird was back in my home county, I just couldn't believe it. The Roller was at Edgefield just outside Holt and was found by local birder Pete Colston. My immediate thoughts were, why the hell did I leave Norfolk and that will teach me to twitch outside the county. I gathered my stuff together in seconds and was off. I couldn't run, it was incredibly hot now and I still had tons of layers of clothes on from early this morning. As I walked along the lower path I let all the birders know on the bank about the Roller in case any of them were from Norfolk or wanted to go and see it, wherever they were from. I so wanted to run, but I was so hot and with heavy bag and nearly 3 miles to cover to get to the car, the best I could do was speed walk. Put it this way, I walked back to my car quicker than I had walked out here this morning! Back at the carpark I removed loads of layers of clothes, took heavy boots off and put on light weight walking trainers. Put camera in bag ready, looked at map and went. This was not an ideal situation at all after no sleep, but it was a Roller so I had to go. I left at 5.30pm.

ROLLER TWITCH!
On route I phoned a friend for quickest way to Holt from where I was. The huge disadvantage of twitching alone with no sat nav, you have no choice but to look at the map occasionally, but in this case I couldn't as I was driving much too fast. I annoyingly missed the turning I wanted whilst talking to Eddie about the bird on route (hands free) and so had to go via Mundford, Swaffham, Fakenham and then on through Holt to Edgefield. Phoned Pete S. who hardly looks at his pager, so did him a favour and also Andy W.

I arrived on site at 7.05pm (yes my journey was pretty quick, won't say anymore about that on a public blog!). Slung the car in nearest available space. Out of the car the panic set in as the Roller had not been seen for a while. Loads of people walking back from watching the bird. I ran along the grassy path, passing people on route, down the hill, over the stile, across boggy terrain, up hill, not really knowing where I was supposed to be. No sign of Pete or Andy who I was hoping to find to help me to see this mega bird, they had bagged and gone home I heard. Found Eddie thank goodness and then Steve G. and Richard M. who said the bird had flown round the corner of the path into the valley. So off we went to search. I was frantic and felt a huge sadness overwhelming me, I had a very bad feeling that I wasn't going to see this bird. I must have sounded like a spoilt child when I declared that 'I have to see this bird' - well I did, I couldn't possibly miss a Roller in my home county and after the insane drive I had just undertaken aswell. I felt ill with exhaustion from the entire day and my BP must have been sky high. Around the valley and up over another hill with loads of other birders, many new arrivals who had also not seen the bird yet. I offered a big box of chocolates to whoever re-found the bird, I was desperate to see this. James MaCallum arrived on site which gave me some hope with his record of finding rares and I almost pleaded with him to find the roller! The light was going and there were so little time left. James, Eddie and I went off in a different direction to locate the roller in vain.

We couldn't have been any further away, when the pager bleeped up that the Roller had been re-located on the other side of the road where the cars were parked. That long walk seemed to take forever, up hills and down, around the dragonfly pond, through the squelchy mud (wish I had kept my boots on), over the stile and then along the long grass track. Steve G. reversed his car up to me and very kindly gave me a lift, sped up the track to deliver me at the spot and to the Roller - thank you Steve! I rushed across the road and looked through someone's scope to view a stonking turquoise ROLLER sitting on a dead pine tree (7.50pm). I can't really put my thoughts into words at this point. I felt so happy at seeing this bird I could have cried! The best Norfolk bird I have seen by far! The light made the Roller look stunning, but with the dark pine belt behind and late evening, made it impossible for photography. Lots of Norfolk birders here to enjoy this mega bird. At the end there was only James M., three others and myself. Two Woodcocks flew over whilst standing here. The Roller moved to a very tall dead pine stump in the middle of the clearing and I took pictures of it's silhouette sitting on a branch against orange light – even as a silhouette it looked beautiful. Later on after it moved again, I photographed a Nightjar on the same tree!  I stayed with the roller until I couldn't see it anymore at just after 9.30pm! I left at 10.15pm.

I don't know how I got home, it was the adrenalin that got me there I think – arriving home at 11pm after driving so many miles. Beyond shattered, too tired to blog, never mind think about pictures.

One of my best birding day's ever!!! Thanks to Connor for the Roller call, others who helped to re-find it, Steve G. for the lift, Eddie et al for helping me to find it and all the fantastic people I met and spent time with today! 'Roller'coaster of a day – one hell of a ride!!!

Massive congratulations and thanks to local birder Pete Colston who found the Roller and has made so many people extremely happy!

Pictures of the ROLLER from Steve G. HERE

MORE PICTURES TO BE ADDED