I think spring finished early this year

On the last Saturday in May I headed up to Burnham Overy in the hope of finding some late spring migrants.  A Spoonbill flew off from the staithe as I arrived (there were 2 Spoonbills feeding in the pools later on) and a Common Sandpiper was in the channel.  A Cuckoo was calling somewhere and it was good to see 3-4 Pochard ducklings in the dyke.

Pochards, Burnham Overy, 28th May

A short spell watching the sea resulted in two flock totalling 53 Dark-bellied Brent Geese flying east and a flock of about 40 Knot east.  A single Swallow moved east, and later one moved west, and that, I'm afraid to report, is the sum total of passage migrants I found all morning.  

Still an enjoyable morning though - love birding here even when I don't see anything of real note.

Little Tern, Burnham Overy, 28th May

Spoonbill, Burnham Overy, 28th May

Saturday gone I was up at the coast again, this time with the group at Titchwell.  Plenty of migrants around this time, but only of the micro moth variety - hundreds of Diamond-back Moths everywhere.  We headed down to Patsy's Pool first where we found 6 Red-crested Pochards (4 males).

Red-crested Pochard, Titchwell, 4th June

With the murky conditions (it was bright and sunny inland but the coastal strip was shrouded in mist) the Swifts were flying low.  I still didn't manage to get any sharp photos though... these were the best of my feeble efforts.

Swift, Titchwell, 4th June

There are some Black-headed Gulls nesting on the roof of Island Hide and one of the chicks had made it down to the ground (or just fallen off).  It's parent was feeding it as we went in to the hide, though seemed more reluctant to do so once the hide was full.

Black-headed Gull chick, Titchwell, 4th June

The 2 Little Gulls were in the mist from the hide but by the time we ventured further up the path it was bright enough (and it was close enough) for us to see one of them a bit better.

Little Gull (right, with Black-headed Gull), Titchwell, 4th June

From the central hides we enjoyed watching a new-hatched Avocet chick.  Apparently it was Titchwell's first this year and had only hatched that morning.

Avocet and chick, Titchwell, 4th June

Two pairs of Moorhen were engaged in some sort of stand-off for a while, after chasing each other round for a bit:

Moorhens, Titchwell, 4th June

Then they turned their backs on each other and started flashing their rear ends at each other, though with their backs turned they can't have seen eachother's displays.  Quite good impressions of lekking Black Grouse, don't you think?

Moorhens, Titchwell, 4th June

Other birds of note on the scrape were a summer plumaged Spotted Redshank (unfortunately right over at the very back, and usually out of view) and a Little Ringed Plover.

Gadwall, Titchwell, 4th June

Common Tern, Titchwell, 4th June

Linnet, Titchwell, 4th June

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening looking for moths, but managed to see or hear a few birds too, including Stonechat, Tree Pipit, Hobby, Woodcock and Nightjar.

On Monday morning I saw a Red Kite over the road at Sculthorpe on my way to work.