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Warm summer attracts an abundance of birdlife


Monday 16 December, 2013


You would think that a bird called a rose-coloured starling would be colourful, perhaps with hints of pink and red, in their plumage. And you’d be right, as adult rose coloured starlings in their summer plumage, are indeed incredibly pink. Their young though are pale brown. The rose-coloured starling breeds mainly in the east of Europe, but several turn up in the UK every year. A juvenile spent a few days at Horsey munching blackberries. They are rather partial to fruit. The fact the bird spent so many days at Horsey was a little surprising as every time it flew it was pursued vigorously by swallows. Perhaps they did not recognise the creature or thought it was a bird of prey, but they hassled it, often only relenting when it dived for cover.

I would have thought nothing further, but on the walk back through Winterton Dunes I came across a pale brown swallow. Although I had never seen one this hue before, a few have been seen in Norfolk this summer. Its colouration coincidently nearly matched that of the rose-coloured starling and would you believe it, it was being mobbed by the ‘normal’ looking swallows too.
 
With the warm dry summer, many insects seemed to do very well. The southern emerald damselfly is a recent colonist from Europe. In Norfolk, just the odd one or two have been seen most years at Winterton Dunes. This year the highest count was seven, a new record and perhaps a precursor to them colonising other locations nearby. They like pools that have a tendency to dry out over the summer.
 
Swallowtail butterflies seemed to be in abundance at their Broadland marshes. This summer, several of their large caterpillars were found on many reserves. More common species such as small tortoiseshells, peacocks, large whites and painted ladies were in profusion. There was even a large influx of clouded yellows. This was in sharp contrast to the last two summers, which were wet and not conducive to butterflies.
 
In July there was a remarkable influx of two-barred crossbills into Norfolk; this species is normally only an occasional vagrant from Siberia and Scandinavia. The males are bright red with white wing bars. Several were found including up to five at Lynford Arboretum, a male at NWT Cley Marshes, a female and juvenile at NWT Holme Dunes, and six at Weybourne.

During the last week of August there was a massive fall of migrants along the Norfolk coast, which included several hundred pied flycatchers, redstarts and whinchats. With such an arrival it was inevitable that some rare birds were found. There were double figure counts of wrynecks, with up to 15 on Blakeney Point, and one was even inland at Strumpshaw Fen.

There were as many as three booted warblers, which is a very rare small pale brown warbler from the east. Three in one autumn is exceptional! There were also a clutch of icterine warblers (with birds at both NWT Cley Marshes and NWT Holme Dunes), a couple of citrine wagtails and barred warblers, and three greenish warblers, as well as a common rosefinch and a bluethroat.

At Norwich Cathedral the male peregrine was still regularly present ensuring his territory will be available for breeding next year. Two out of the four young fledged this summer survived and occasionally pop back to their birthplace.

Robin Chittenden

 

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