220 for 2022 – June Update

Welcome to my 220 for 2022 – June Update. Time can be a strange phenomenon; sometimes a friend, sometimes a foe. It becomes both during exercises of this nature, whether it’s conducted over a day or a year doesn’t seem to alter this basic fact. At commencement, when you are fresh and raring to go, you have the whole day/month/year ahead of you, stretching towards an horizon where, between you and that hazy, far off end point, anything is possible. By the half way mark (such as we are now at), everything seems to have ground to a stuttering halt, leaving you significantly short of your target and floundering. Where is that next tick coming from? In this vein, and as I expected, June has proven a difficult month for new sightings. However, it’s not been totally bare, and those few additions to the year list have been high quality, which somewhat alleviates the slow grind towards the target. Without further ado then…

10th June 2022 – We have an American visitor in the shape of a Spotted Sandpiper. This lost soul has been trotting around the freshmarsh at RSPB Titchwell for a little while, so it was time to go and pay a visit. The bird was not initially easy to see, tucked as it was into the lee of an island. Eventually, it began to probe towards us, neatly blending into the background of light brown and grey mud. It never came close, but through the scope it proved to be a handsome beast indeed: boldly spotted breast, underbelly and flanks, an obvious white supercilium, with a bright orange bill and yellow legs. Overall impression of a compact, quite small and neat typical sandpiper, not dissimilar to our more familiar Common Sandpiper, but quite distinct in its summer garb. A winter plumaged individual would have given more identification problems I feel.

Other year list birds on this day were Bar-tailed Godwit and Little Tern, both species I assumed would feature at some point, but good to see them and tuck them away. A most unusual encounter occurred as we approached the brackish marsh when a Spoonbill glided over the path, landed and commenced to feed just a few yards from where we stood. In my experience these birds are not renowned for their tolerance of humans, so this was quite interesting behaviour. Are they losing their fear of mankind?

13th June 2022 – Another excursion to the seaside for fish & chips/ice cream/amusement arcade, put us within striking distance of Cley Marshes where fortuitously a Quail was calling loudly by the coast path. No chance of actually seeing the bird of course, but down on the list it goes.

19th June 2022 – A weekend sojourn to the fair county of Kent. Ostensibly this was to find butterflies, and you can read about that element of the trip here, however there was a surprise in store of the very best avian kind. As we were motoring home, I casually glanced out of the window (I wasn’t driving), to see a harrier cruising low over a field of wheat. I instinctively knew it was something unusual, the thought process went something like….harrier, not a Marshie, too small and dainty, long wings, bouyant flight…STOP THE BLOODY CAR! Once we had screeched to a halt, I grabbed my bins and scrambled out with all the grace of a well fed Jabba the Hutt. And there it was, a glorious female Montagu’s Harrier, sleek, graceful and all mine. Cars had difficulty squeezing past, there was, I’m sure, many a curse, but who cares. The bird stalled briefly as it saw movement below, revealing the narrow crescent shaped white rump patch and gloriously rufous streaked underparts, before it glided away and out of sight. Judging our parking to be less than ideal, we moved to a safer spot, yet despite an hour scanning the fields the bird didn’t reappear. Nonetheless elated we moved on, and it was only then I realised that while I was watching the harrier that a Corn Bunting was singing in the bush across the road. I’d logged it subconsciously with my senses focussed on the main prize.

21st June 2022 – one of the worst kept secrets of the birding world broke cover thanks to Chris Packham and Springwatch. With the obvious blessing of the RSPB, he announced that Bee-eaters were nesting in Norfolk. Anyone who has been a regular reader of this blog, (and the Eastern Bushchat incarnation) or has purchased my book, will know that Bee-eaters are my favorite group of birds bar none. Nothing for it but to pay them a visit after, you guessed it, the traditional fish & chips at Sheringham (Dave’s – you should try it if you’re in the vicinity). Trimingham is only a few miles along the coast, and once we had been separated from a £5 note, we were able to have a good look at the birds from a well positioned look out point. I must say hats off to the organisers of this facility; the RSPB, local bird club and the landowner, it was first class, complete with loos and staff on hand to inform and guide. A good number of folk good naturedly enjoyed the antics of the 6 birds present that afternoon as they ‘thripped’ around the sky, devastating the local populations of flying insects. It seems at least one pair is almost certainly breeding and maybe more; we watched a pair mating on the telegraph wires where the birds spent most of their time. They never came too close, although infrequently one would fly above the crowd in search of prey. Only scruffy pics I’m afraid, but what a delight to have these gems setting up home in our county. Let’s wish them every success.

27th June 2022 – Following a CoVid postponement, Ros and I caught up today with a walk around Minsmere. The scrapes were very dry and littered with the corpses of gulls and the odd goose. Presumably these were casualties of avian flu and it was all a bit depressing. We saw a Carrion Crow tuck into one dead body, will it catch the virus?, and witnessed a Common Tern in great distress, disoriented, uncoordinated and being blown every which way by the stiff southerly breeze. That poor unfortunate was also being attacked by its own kind, a not uncommon trait in nature that is intolerant to aberrations that may weaken the purity of a species. A surprise was a sizeable flock of Common Scoter towards Southwold, but despite detailed scrutiny later on the PC of the shots I took, no Velvet Scoters to bring a smile of satisfaction. That aside, and excepting the pleasant company, there was little else to excite. A short trip to Sizewell however soon changed that with the sighting of a delightful Black Redstart foraging on the rabbit nibbled grass by the power station. Lovely to catch up with this beauty, so we sat down and hoped it would come closer. It didn’t. At one point I pondered aloud whether Peregrines nested here ‘You mean like that one?’ she said, as one soared above our heads. ‘Yep, just like that one’.

After the bounty of May, the doldrums of June has resulted in the table becoming a little more stretched, but only a little. Darren has produced a blow by blow account of his birding month, including his own very profitable trip to Bempton, which you can read here. Tim has had a slow, but steady month together with Sean, who considering he has no transport of his own, does exceptionally well to record such a high score. A summary of his birding month can be found here.

This brings us to, what would in footballing terms, be the relegation places, but in this friendly contest we have no such negativity, so lets just say the bottom three. Allan has had a tough time during June, but I’m sure is simply pacing himself for an assault on the top spots over the coming months. Elizabeth has added a few good birds, but has struggled because of the season, however what she has missed in Spring she is sure to get in Autumn, so watch this space. And then we come to the dark horse, namely Ros. This lady has added 28 species during June, knocking the rest of us for 6. She has plans during July for a trip to some set of far flung islands where monsters dwell, but which are also exceptionally good for birds. Her friendship with two of the most accomplished birders to inhabit those barren rocks will ensure anything that turns up will be brought to her attention, so I expect great things over the next 31 days. A planned visit to Loch Garten and the Cairngorms won’t hurt either.

That concludes the 220 for 2022 – June Update, tune in next month to discover the twists and turns experienced by our rugged (not the ladies) band of tickers.

Participant	Overall score	5K Challenge	Garden List
Tim Oxborough	190	63
Barry Madden	189	76	31
Darren Archer	184	106	46
Sean Locke	158
Allan Archer	141
Elizabeth Dack	139
Ros Burrough	130	55	42