#british birds
Turnstone in Summer Plumage.. by Adam Swaine
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Tidal creek at Brancaster Staithe on North Norfolk coast ..The Turnstone can be spotted fluttering around large stones on rocky and gravelly shores, flipping them over to look for prey. It can even lift rocks as big as its own body! Although a migrant to the UK, it can be seen all year-round as different populations arrive throughout the seasons.
RSPB Titchwell North Norfolk by Adam Swaine
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Lovely Avocet a beautiful wader on the Norfolk Coast..
Common whitethroat @ Snettisham RSPB Norfolk by Adam Swaine
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A summer visitor with a scratchy song. Around one million of these birds head to the UK each year to breed..like this one on the Norfolk Coast AONB
Sanderling on the Beach @ Titchwell Norfolk by Adam Swaine
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Sanderlings breed in the Arctic, visiting the UK in the winter and passing through on migration during spring and autumn. The distance they travel varies, but individuals have been known to make 32,000 km annual round-trips to their breeding and wintering grounds.
Common linnet Norfolk by Adam Swaine
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The common linnet is a small passerine bird of the finch family, Fringillidae. It derives its common name and the scientific name, Linaria, from its fondness for hemp seeds and flax seeds—flax being the English name of the plant from which linen is made
Duckling Duo ..Little Mallards by Adam Swaine
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RSPB at Titchwell North Norfolk Coastal Reserve…
Mallard Duckling @Ttchwell RSPB Norfolk by Adam Swaine
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Titchwell Marsh..Located on the north coast of Norfolk, between the villages of Titchwell and Thornham, Titchwell Marsh is blessed with diverse habitats that include reedbeds, saltmarsh and freshwater lagoons where avocets, bearded tits and marsh harriers nest. There’s also a wide sandy beach here, which offers extensive views across The Wash.
Sedge warbler..West Norfolk by Adam Swaine
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In summer, the sedge warbler can be spotted singing from a reed or willow perch in wetlands across the UK. Males never sing the same song twice,
Sanderling on beaches all around the Wash. by Adam Swaine
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A small pale, almost ghostly, wader that is frequently seen running in the tide edge on beaches all around the Wash, rather like a group of clockwork toys. Its distinctive running action arises from the fact that, unlike other waders, it has no back toe, only the three forward facing ones.Sanderling are primarily winter visitors to The Wash, but the first birds can arrive back as early as July and some do not leave until May, so a few birds can be present almost year round..
Gregarious, graceful and grumpy!..The Avocet. by Adam Swaine
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With their distinctive black and white pattern, sweeping up-turned bills, and long blue legs, these unusual-looking, but beautiful birds, are fascinating to watch. They provide a spectacular show …
RSPB Titchwell Marsh..Avocet Norfolk. by Adam Swaine
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Avocets are such beautiful waders always a delight to see..
Sanderling Coastal @ Titchwell RSPB Norfolk by Adam Swaine
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The sanderling is the sandpiper most often encountered near where the waves crash. To make a safe identification of an adult sanderling outside of spring, note what the sanderling does not have: streaks, spots, or brown markings. Adults are smooth and silvery above and clear white below. Often, a blackish shoulder patch is visible
Bullfinch Norfolk Woodland..Pyrrhula pyrrhula by Adam Swaine
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Shy but striking. Bullfinches bring a brilliant burst of colour to the UK’s woods. The species depends on trees for much of its food, feeding on seeds and buds.
Sedge Warbler West Norfolk.. by Adam Swaine
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The sedge warbler is a small, quite plump, warbler with a striking broad creamy stripe above its eye and greyish brown legs. It is brown above with blackish streaks and creamy white underneath. It is a summer visitor, and winters in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. Its song is a noisy, rambling warble compared to the more rhythmic song of the reed warbler
Mallard Ducklings @ RSPB Titchwell Norfolk by Adam Swaine
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The ducklings stay in the nest for at least 10 hours while they dry and get used to using their legs. Then, usually in the early morning, the female leads them to water. Bad weather may delay this exodus, but the sooner the ducklings get to water to feed, the better their chances of survival. They cannot survive without their mother, and take 50-60 days before they fledge and become independent.
Whitethroat beside the Norfolk Coast Path by Adam Swaine
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The common whitethroat is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds throughout Europe and across much of temperate western Asia. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, and winters in tropical Africa
Feeding Avocets @ Titchwell Norfolk by Adam Swaine
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Norfolk, United Kingdom More information: Avocets have long legs and long, thin, upcurved bills (giving their scientific name Recurvirostra) which they sweep from side to side when feeding in the brackish or saline wetlands they prefer. The plumage is pied, sometimes also with some red. Members of this genus have webbed feet and readily swim. Their diet consists of aquatic insects and other small creatures. They nest on the ground in loose colonies. In estuarine settings they may feed on exposed bay muds or mudflats. The Pied Avocet is the emblem of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
RSPB Titchwell North Norfolk Coast AONB by Adam Swaine
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Godwits & Greylag Geese at the nature reserve ..The godwits are a group of large, long-billed, long-legged and strongly migratory waders of the bird genus Limosa. Their long bills allow them to probe deeply in the sand for aquatic worms and molluscs. In their winter range, they flock together where food is plentiful.. the greylag is the largest and bulkiest of the wild geese native to the UK and Europe. In many parts of the UK it has been re-established by releasing birds in suitable areas
Sanderling @ Titchwell RSPB Norfolk Coast.. by Adam Swaine
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Migration is not random. There is a pattern to the arrival of different species. First to arrive in Norfolk, in March, come the chiffchaffs, sand martins and wheatears. In April the floodgates open! Blackcaps and willow warblers arriving in huge numbers at the start of the month; followed in mid-April by swallows, house martins, whitethroats, garden warblers and cuckoos. The end of April sees reed and sedge warblers adding their voices to the dawn chorus. This is a good time Common tern carrying fish, by Trevor Round to spot them when, at areas such as NWT Cley Marshes amongst the still winter-brown reedbeds, newly arrived male warblers sing persistently and prominently throughout the day in their urgency to find mates. Our Norfolk coast is one of the best places to observe migration. By late April a full set of terns – common, Sandwich and little – will add their raucous calls to those of resident black-headed and herring gulls. On coastal wetlands, such as at NWT Holme Dunes, April is a brilliant time to observe passage wading birds. Birds such as godwits, knot, curlew, sandpiper and little stint have moulted from their much duller winter greys to take on brighter chestnut browns
Northern shoveler Norfolk by Adam Swaine
Via Flickr:
The northern shoveler, known simply in Britain as the shoveler, is a common and widespread duck. It breeds in northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and across most of North America, wintering in southern Europe Living up to its name, the shoveler has a large and distinctive shovel-like bill which it uses to feed at the surface of the water. It breeds in small numbers in the UK, but is widespread in winter.
Avocets @ Titchwell RSPB Norfolk Coast by Adam Swaine
Via Flickr:
Avocets have long legs and long, thin, upcurved bills (giving their scientific name Recurvirostra) which they sweep from side to side when feeding in the brackish or saline wetlands they prefer. The plumage is pied, sometimes also with some red. Members of this genus have webbed feet and readily swim. Their diet consists of aquatic insects and other small creatures. They nest on the ground in loose colonies. In estuarine settings they may feed on exposed bay muds or mudflats.
Streptopelia decaocto…Collared Dove by Adam Swaine
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The Collared Dove is smaller than a Woodpigeon and more delicate in shape and structure. Collared Doves are a creamy grey-buff in colour. When seen at close range, a black half collar on the back of the neck is clearly visible (in adults) he spread of Collared Doves across the United Kingdom has been very rapid. From the first breeding report (in Norfolk in 1955) the species was subsequently reported breeding in Kent and Lincolnshire in 1957, with birds seen as far north as Scotland at this stage. Two years later, Ireland was colonised and by 1970, there may have been as many as 25,000 pairs in Britain and Ireland. The BTO Common Birds Census revealed a five-fold increase in their population between 1972 and 1996
Sedge Warbler West Norfolk (riverbank) by Adam Swaine
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My focus on the sedge warbler is for two reasons. One is simply as it’s a new arrival from sub-Saharan Africa, a reminder of the miracle of migration. The second links, I think, with keen birdwatchers’ constant search for the new or different. Yes, they’re back – like seeing an old friend after many months of absence. I haven’t heard a sedge warbler for ages..Walking along the Nar Riverbank so tranquil and beautiful to hear and see in spring
Illustrations taken from ‘Coloured Figures of the Eggs of British Birds’ by Henry Seebohm, Richard Bowdler Sharpe.
Published 1896 by Pawson and Brailsford.
American Museum of Natural History Library.
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Decorative front cover, frontispiece illustration of a song thrush and a few illustrated pages taken from ‘Sketch-book of British Birds’ by Richard Bowdler Sharpe.
Published 1898 by SPCK.
American Museum of Natural History Library.
archive.org
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Local Doves @ Hunstanton.. by Adam Swaine
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Beautiful park on the coast @ Hunstanton..
Meadow Pipit by Adam Swaine
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Meadow pipits can be difficult to spot as their plumage often blends into surrounding vegetation. They have olive-brown upperparts, with broad black streaks on the head, mantle and back. The upperwing is darker with pale edges. Meadow pipits’ tails are dark brown with a green fringe, they have paler underparts, and the underwing is whitish. They have slender bills which are dark brown with a pale base. Eyes are dark brown, and their legs and feet are yellow-brown with a long hind claw. Male and female meadow pipits look similar while juveniles are browner with paler underparts. Their streaks are also not as dark
“Bird on a Wire”…Norfolk by Adam Swaine
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Meadow pipit..The meadow pipit is a common nesting bird of moorland, heathland and rough grassland. In the autumn and winter, it moves out of upland areas to lowlands where it gathers in small flocks and can be found on farmland and saltmarshes. In the spring, it performs a fluttering, ‘parachute’ display flight. There are 2 million breeding territories in the UK
Black-headed gull by Adam Swaine
Via Flickr:
Not really a black-headed bird, more chocolate-brown - in fact, for much of the year, it has a white head. It is most definitely not a ‘seagull’ and is found commonly almost anywhere inland. Black-headed gulls are sociable, quarrelsome, noisy birds, usually seen in small groups or flocks, often gathering into larger parties where there is plenty of food, or when they are roosting
Resting on the Cliffs @ Hunstanton by Adam Swaine
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Hunstanton Fulmars..on the beautiful coastal cliffs
Norfolk Mallard.. by Adam Swaine
Via Flickr:
Avery old looking Mallard in the coastal park @ Hunstanton
