gobirding.eu Birding Diary: Summer birding (or lack thereof)

In July I did very little birding away from the local area - well, like none really! Apart from a Red Kite near Lenwade all my bird records in July are from North Elmham, either home or Cathedral Meadows. The clear highlight at home was hearing a Turtle Dove purring in next door's garden early on 19th July, a new bird for the house and one I wasn't really expecting now that they're so hard to find anywhere. I heard Siskins calling a couple of times around then too which is something I've not had in the summer here before. I heard Little Owl calling here too, and regular Green Woodpecker and Bullfinch.

At the Cathedral Meadows I also heard Little Owl, had numerous records of Green Woodpecker and Bullfinch, a Treecreeper and a pre-roost gathering of 30 Swallows over the river.

Long-tailed Tit, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 2nd July

August started the same way with Little Owl, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and Treecreeper at the meadows.

Blackcaps, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 4th July

Starlings, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 6th August

Then on 6th August I was surprised to hear the Turtle Dove singing again in next door's garden, this time in the middle of the day. I managed to locate it sitting on top of one their trees. My first attempts at photographing it were with the DSLR, but it was too far and looking into the sun...

Turtle Dove, North Elmham, 6th August

I erected my scope but the usual eye-piece was away for repairs and the replacement I was loaned in the meantime, good as it was, didn't fit my camera adaptor, so too wobbly for digi-scoping and when I did eventually get a vaguely sharper picture it had its back turned...

Turtle Dove, North Elmham, 6th August

So not a photographic success but a great bird to see from the bedroom window, especially now that they have become so rare.

I had to visit Titchwell to collect my repaired eye-piece from In-focus on 11th August. It would be cherlish not to visit the reserve while I was there. There were 6 Spoonbills, 2 Green Sandpipers, 2 Common Sandpipers, Turtle Dove and some Bearded Tits. Also heard Greenshank and at least 2 Whimbrel.

Green Sandpipers, Titchwell, 11th August

Ruff, Titchwell, 11th August

House Martins, Titchwell, 11th August

Pied Wagtail, Titchwell, 11th August

One or two visits to the Beetley/Bittering gravel pits produced nothing better than a single Common Sandpiper.

Other birds seen, or mostly just heard, from the garden included Grey Wagtails, a Yellow Wagtail on 21st (another very decent garden record!), and Barn Owl.

The meadows continued to produce similar birds - regular Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Green Woodpecker; also Little Owls, Kingfisher and, on 26th, 2 Spotted Flycatchers.

Towards the end of August a flock of hirundines (mostly House Martins - up to 25) became regular at the meadows and it was probably no coincidence that I started to get regular sightings of up to 2 Hobbies for a short while.