Norfolk Birders

1st July

With my garden badly needing some attention I set about sorting out my Broad Bean plants as they needed weeding and some guide lines erecting. Overhead I could hear a Buzzard calling. I looked up and it was wheeling around above me. Unfortunately it wasn't long before there was a short shower of rain that forced me back inside. Having picked a tub full of Raspberries yesterday, excess to what I could eat fresh, I made a few pots of jam. Luckily Raspberry jam is one of the easiest jams to make so it didn't take me very long and the rain had also stopped by the time I had finished. I went back outside and started to trim my hedges when I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling. I sat down and watched the Silver Birch trees and it flew to my Cherry tree. After lunch I had a major clear-up job to do and after mowing the lawns my little Robin was very appreciative of all the insects and grubs that I had disturbed.

2nd July

3rd July

With my pond needing some TLC I was up early once again to put my washing out and to get on with sorting out my pond before the start of Wimbledon this afternoon. It took a while to trim back my plants that had grown so much in the pond since the spring so that I could get the netting off and get out much of the muck that had accumulated since I had last cleaned it out. I had put on my oldest clothes as cleaning out a pond is always a very mucky,smelly activity. As I was cleaning out the muck I caught a few young fish that I didn't even know that I had! A newt or two ended up on the compost heap before I rescued them and put them back in the pond. Sadly I did not find any dragonfly exuvia probably because of the netting that I now have to use because of a heron's visit a few years ago that ate all my fish. As I was cleaning out the pond I heard Common Buzzards calling. I looked up and saw three in the air together before one drifted off. A Kestrel also came to see what I was up to and hovered for a while before it too departed. My Pied Wagtails that visit every day must surely be onto a second brood by now as they are still visiting and departing with food that they obtain from my lawn.

I sat down on my picnic table to have some lunch in the sun before carrying on my with my task. After finishing I did a spot of gardening before exhaustion set in and I sat down to watch the tennis. My timing was perfect as Sue Barker and John McEnroe welcomed not only some of the previous champions onto Centre Court but Cliff Richard who entertained the crowd with his rendition of 'Summer Holiday'. Now what other singer could entertain a Centre Court crowd without any music and remain in tune throughout to the amazing raptuous applause that he got? A star indeed who has more than lasted the test of time! This leads me on to my up and coming summer holiday in a very remote part of the world..................now where's my suitcase?

After watching the tennis and entertaining a friend for a cup of tea, I felt in need of a walk as the sun had reappeared. I did a three mile walk around the lanes noting Swifts and House Marins all catching the evening insects. The House Martins were coming down to the ground and chattering to each other. After calling in to one of the local hostellries for a drink I counted sixty-two Jackdaws all sitting in one tree at the back of Congham Hall. It was a beautiful evening for a walk and I really appreciate being able to walk so many different routes from my home along little lanes and tracks admiring all the wildlife around.

4th July

It was an interesting day today at work as contractors arrived to make some alterations to the welcome hub. We are going to add some decking to the front of it. Lee and I welcomed visitors as usual including David Gray who is a famous singer apparently (not that I have a clue who he is!) 

Very sad news continues to come from Scolt Head as 173 adult Sandwich Terns were picked up dead yeasterday with another 107 picked up dead on Thursday. There are also many dead and dying chicks too. This is devastating news but the other worry is that the highly pathogenic avian influenza is transmissable to seals and dogs. Our seal colonies are also at risk. I will never understand why people continue to bring dogs onto our beaches. Don't they care about their own dogs...........let alone the terrible impact that these animals have on our beach-nesting birds and chicks? It's not the dogs fault but what I want to say to owners is unprintable here!!!!!

5th July

With such dreadful news coming from Coquet Island where all the Sandwich Tern chicks have died and 75% of Sandwich Tern chicks died on Scolt Head with over 500 adult birds too and knowing that the highly pathogenic avian influenza is transmissible to seals, foxes and dogs, responsible tourist boat operators have cancelled all landings and trips to the various islands around the coast that host these wonderful birds each summer. Why is it then that some brain-dead dog owners continue to take their dogs to beaches? Words fail me! Even some media outlets are promoting dog-friendly beaches, even during nesting season still. For goodness sake ...........................

6th July

The packing of the suitcase begins again......................................... oh no.............I have lost so much weight my birding trousers don't fit! Apparently I need to pack for extreme cold and hot and sunny too!

7th July

With most of my packing now done, I set about some more jam making with my plethora of Raspberries before meeting up with my financial advisor who is trying his best to sort out my 5 different pensions. Why is it just so complicated? We are both drowning in the amount of paperwork. One of them involves a 53 page document which has been given to me in triplicate!!!! Is that really necessary? After a few hours I needed a break and so John and I went for a walk nearby around a Barley field in the hot sun. It had been left with wide field margins specifically for wildlife. We enjoyed watching the butterflies and dragonflies. We watched Meadow Browns, Ringlets, Essex Skippers, Large Whites, Commas, Gate Keepers and Small Whites as well as Brown Hawkers and Ruddy Darters. It was nice to just amble and clear my head of facts, figures and box ticking of various options available.

8th July

With news that the White-rumped Sandpiper was already roosting on the pits at Snettisham Jim rang me and soon picked me up. We collected Tim en-route and together walked down past the first hide and joined Dave who had located the White-rumped Sandpiper on an island in the middle of the pit, as it was impossible to see from either hide. I needed to be a foot taller to see over the bank with my scope. Jim kindly sorted out my scope so that I could see it standing on tip toe. It wasn't easy as the heat haze was just too much. I attempted a phone-scope photo but I don't suppose my photos will make the front pages of any birding magazine! The bird ran around and it was very difficult to see as it kept hiding behind Dunlin and Knot that were present. A few Common Terns acted as markers as we tried to show other passing birders. Out in The Wash there were a few Mediterranean Gulls amongst the Black-headed Gulls, Common Terns and Sandwich Terns. I was back in time to watch the tennis semi-final and still found time to make a few more pots of jam from all the fruit that I picked from my garden! Phew its been a hot day!

This evening I met up with Edward Cross to find out how the Stone Curlews were doing not far from my home. It would seem that they are doing well! We watched 3 Little Owls sitting on different posts frequently flying off to catch food. A young Marsh Harrier sat and squawked whilst two adult birds flew around. We walked down the lane and listened to Linnets and Long-tailed Tits as we discussed how butterflies were doing as well as a few rarer birds present. Walking back to the car I watched two Green Woodpeckers on a telegraph post. The juvenile tried to keep up with its parent and it was fun to watch them both interacting with a jackdaw.

9th July

I joined the moth group at the Visitor Centre and enjoyed a cup of tea and a huge Bakewell tart before returning home for my final packing. 

As I will be travelling to a very remote part of the world where phone signal and wi-fi may be non-existent this could be my last posting for sometime! 

10th July

John, Chris and I drove down to Heathrow for a night in the Radisson Hotel.

11th July

After a 3am wake up John, Chris and I boarded a taxi to Heathrow airport where we caught a plane to Istanbul. From here we flew to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia for the start of our adventure.

12th July

With no sleep John, Chris and I arrived in Ulaanbaartar early in the morning where we were picked up by and driven 50km to our hotel nestled in the mountains of Mongolia. This was to be our last night of civilisation for a while. Whilst we waited for our hotel to open we birded the grounds watching many Long-tailed Rosefinches and Azure Tits. As I intend to write a trip report my diaries will be brief. The scenery was stunning and the air quite cold but after breakfast we drove the surrounds of the hotel along a very bumpy track. Here we watched Azure-winged Magpies with Black Kites and an Amur Falcon mobbing them at every opportunity. White-cheeked Starlings had bred in a nest hole as Red-billed Chough flew around.

We drove along the side of the river watching Ruddy Shelducks with their young swimming on the river as Daurian Starlings sat on the roof of a building. Daurian Redstarts had bred and were flitting in the bushes as Carrion Crows and Ravens were in abundance as we drove along to the lake. Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Whooper Swans with young, Pochard were all added to the list. On the way back to the hotel we watched Horned Lark before lunch taken at the hotel.

We were now all very tired and went looking for Yellow-breasted Bunting after lunch but failed miserably adding Citrine Wagtail and Richard’s Pipits to our list. Exhaustion kicked in as we all fell asleep as we motored back to the hotel for our evening meal. We soon made our way up to bed and a well-earned sleep with our body clocks well out of synch!

18th July

After an early breakfast we set off for Lake Khar, a two hour drive away. It was already very hot and we were soon down to t-shirts and shorts. Blyth’s Reed Warblers and Paddyfield Warblers were in the reeds as we scanned the lake edge. Temminck’s Stints, Greater Sand Plovers, Kentish Plovers were all noted along with White-winged Black Terns, Black Terns and Gull-billed Terns. Vega Gulls, Pallas’s Gulls were in abundance as we enjoyed watching Spoonbills and many Red-crested Pochards. Black-throated Divers with chicks were a delight to see close by. I will write about more birds seen in my trip report but we did enjoy a Steppe Eagle on the way home to our ger.

19th July

We set off after breakfast for the Bumbat Mountains. The route was interesting as no roads were involved! We used some tracks but mainly drove wherever headed in the direction that we wanted to go......streams, riverbeds, boulder-fields and steppe. It was a good job that we were in a 4x4 vehicle!

Once we arrived Black Redstarts were everywhere in Builaas Valley intersperced with Mongolian Finches, Rock Sparrows and goodness knows how many Black Kites soaring overhead. A Bearded Vulture and a Booted Eagle added to the scene as we watched a Greenish Warbler feeding a chick and a Godlewski’s Bunting singing from the cliffs high above us. Down in the stream numerous Twite and a Grey-necked Bunting bathed in the water whilst two Grey Wagtails flitted around.

Once again the scenery was stunning. Upon our return the ger erection team had arrived and we watched in great fascination as it was put up.

 We had our evening meal in the ger and put on our fleeces as the wind had got up. We will need the fire lit in our ger tonight!

20th July

We set off across the Jargalant Mountains and headed for a series of lakes where we spent the day birding. On the way we watched an Asian Desert Warbler flitting around a small bush on the steppe. We watched Demoiselle Cranes, and Red-crested Pochards whilst Hoopoes, White Wagtails (personata) and Yellow Wagtails ran around us. A Tekek Sandpiper fed on the edge of the lake whilst Kentish Plovers, Temminck’s Stints and Black-winged Stilts also fed running along the edge. Vega Gulls, Common Terns and many White-winged Terns flew around but we could not find any Relict Gulls.

At lunchtime a young Swallow alighted on the car door and then sat on Chris’s scope. It was not a bit frightened of us during the heat of the day and sat with us for ages as we took photos of it. Eventually we had to ask it to leave so that we could drive back to camp.

The goat herd had arrived as we got back and a thunder storm appeared out of nowhere. It’s interesting in our ger with an open roof! The generator that we have on for a few hours each day is also intermittent and so drying my hair is also interesting at times!

22nd July

We had 3 hours of birding before breakfast around Lake Khar-Us. After a bit of a drive over the bumpy terrain we stopped and watched Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler, Paddyfield Warblers and Bearded Tits all singing. Black-winged Stilts seemed to be everywhere as the youngsters now fully grown were adding to much confusion before we got a scope on them and looked properly. I spotted a snipe in the long marshy grass but after showing John we could not relocate it before it crouched down and disappeared from view.  We watched Yellow Wagtails with grey heads and a Little Owl perched on a cattle pen. A Marsh Harrier flew along as we drove back to breakfast.

After breakfast we drove along another section of the lake but I was unfortunate that I could not see very much as I was sitting the wrong side of the vehicle. As all the birding was out one side of the vehicle for several hours I was getting very frustrated and eventually I asked if it could be a bit fairer and turn the vehicle around at the next stop so that I too could participate. Bino our Mongolian guide,  soon responded and at the next stop he made sure that I could see.  It was nice to see a big flock of Pallas’s Gulls along with Vega Gulls and Black-headed Gulls but we once again failed to find a Relict Gull. Grrrr... At one stop we all got out of the vehicle and scanned the enormous lake and Chris located two family parties of Swan Geese. Bingo! Result!

We stopped at an observation tower where Bino spotted a very distant eagle sat on a mound and so we drove much nearer to the bird as we were challenged by heat haze and distance. By getting closer we could see it was a White-tailed Eagle. It eventually took off and joined another White-tailed Eagle with which it interacted.

23rd July

We spent the day birding around the vast lake of Khar-Us where we watched 28 White-headed Ducks , a number that e-bird doesn’t like as they don’t believe that so many are here! We also re-saw the family party of Demoiselle Cranes and many wader species. The small pools in the marshes at the edge of the lake are alive with waders, a real treat for someone that would appreciate wader watching!

The day was very hot and after lunch we watched birds for a few more hours before making our way back to the hotel for an evening meal.

24th July

It was our last day in west Mongolia before we fly to east Mongolia for the next part of our adventure and our quest for some new mammals and birds staying in a community ger camp once again. We have enjoyed our couple of days in Khovd town staying in a hotel to catch up with ourselves and attend to a few domestics.

We spent the morning up in the mountains still searching for a Koslov’s  Accentor. We stopped at several sites on the way up but drew a blank. On the top we found a singing Blyth’s Pipit which was nice to see well. Black Kites and Steppe Eagles were flying overhead as Daurian Shrikes, Chukars and Rock Sparrows hopped around us. We were at the point of giving up when all of a sudden Bino our guide, spotted a Koslov’s  Accentor right in front of us hopping around a small bush. We were delighted. Goodness knows how many hours we have put in for this bird?

We drove to the airport and waited for our flight which had been delayed. After several hours of waiting our flight never arrived and we were taken to a nearby ger camp where we spent the night.

25th July

We set the alarm for 3.30am and were taken by our driver to the airport where after a bit of confusion we boarded our flight back to Ulaanbaatar. After buying a few beers at the airport Yumchin picked us up and drove us to our next ger camp after stopping in a village for our tracker who was hopefully going to show us a Pallas’s Cat site. After a bit of a drive across the steppe along tracks we arrived at the ger camp near Altanbulag where we caught up on some sleep in the afternoon before having a drive at dusk where we saw some Wapit and Argali, two new mammals for us.

26th July

27th July

So our adventure in Mongolia continues but not always according to plan! With a mixture of unexpected rain giving us a soaking, a puncture and a vehicle stuck in deep water today we have had some fun having to do very bumpy diversionary routes due to flooded roads to get to see the cranes but have come out smiling and seen some wonderful wildlife and birds thanks to the tenacity of our guides and driver. It has been a stunning day full of excitement, worry, elation and exploration.

The scenery continues to be amazing and the birding fantastic. Yellow-breasted Bunting,a bird on the edge of extinction, Meadow Bunting, Daurian Partridge, White-naped Crane, a bird on the ICUN red list, Pallas's Reed Bunting and an Eastern Marsh Harrier were all seen today as well as Mongolian Marmots, Corsac Fox, Mongolian Gazelles and the wild Przewalski's Horse at Hustai National Park. I was pleased to see the Yellow-breasted Bunting in summer plumage as although I have seen this bird many years ago in Hong Kong it was nice to see one again given their critical status.

Let the adventure continue!

28th July

It poured with rain all day today in Mongolia and due to circumstances beyond our control, with no vehicle available to us, we ended up staying in our hotel room for most of the day. By 3pm the rain had stopped and so John, Chris and I went for a walk behind the hotel along the river where we saw a Green Sandpiper, a Hoopoe, hundreds of Tree Sparrows, Chough and a Black Kite. Let's hope for a better day tomorrow!

29th July

John and I went for a pre-breakfast walk where we watched Choughs, an Amur Falcon, Black Kite and a host of Tree Sparrows. After breakfast we waited for our guides to return from looking from Pallas’s Cat in our hotel and had an early lunch. After a hearty lunch we drove to Altanbulag and spent the afternoon scanning for Pallas’s Cat without success. We were seriously hampered by rain. We watched Koslov’s Accentor and Pallas’s Reed Buntings whilst we were searching besides Mongolian Larks.

We drove to the ger camp where we had an evening meal before setting out once more in the dark. We drove around until 3am with the rain pouring down and the wind howling around us. It was no wonder that we did not see the Pallas’s cat. The vehicle kept stalling and we had to bump start it several times, not good when in a remote area with no phone signal! We retired to the ger camp where we slept in our clothes.

30th July

We woke up o a glorious morning with bright sun blazing. It was already very hot. Such a shame that we did not have clear weather last night! However our vehicle was in bits with the driver underneath it taking the gearbox apart! Luckily we also had two cars available to us and so after breakfast we set off in both of them and scanned every hillside for Pallas’s cat. Cinereous Vultures and Upland Buzzards soared overhead and Mongolian Larks flashed their white wings at us. However we failed to find any Pallas’s cats. We returned to camp, packed up our belongings and piled into the van that now had its gear box back in place. We drove back to Ulaanbaatar and our hotel for the night.

We had a wonderful evening meal, said goodbye to our drivers and packed up ready for our flight early tomorrow morning.