WJHblk Bird & Mammal Report 2002 Tje naturai m«toby Museum 1 7 MAR 2005 EXCHANGED 50th Edition Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society Norfolk Bird Report - 2002 Editor: Giles Dunmore Editorial 94 Review of the Year 97 Wetland Bird Surveys 102 Norfolk Bird Atlas 106 Systematic List 108 Introductions, Escapes, Eerals and Hybrids 243 Earliest and Latest Dates of Summer Migrants 248 Latest and Earliest Dates of Winter Migrants 249 Non-accepted and non-submitted records 250 Contributors 252 Ringing Report 254 A History and Celebration of 50 years of the Norfolk Bird Report 266 Changes to the breeding birds of Norfolk in the last 50 years 272 The Marsh Harrier in Norfolk 276 The History and Development of Sheringham Bird Observatory 283 Pallid Harrier at Cockthorpe/Stiffkey - first for Norfolk 291 Norfolk Mammal Report - 2002 Editor: Mike Toms Editorial 294 Cuvier’s Beaked Whale in Norfolk 295 Nathusius’ Pipistrelle in Norfolk 297 Live decades of Norfolk Bats 298 BTO National Mammal Monitoring Schemes 302 Published by NORFOLK AND NORWICH NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY Castle Museum, Norwich, NRl 3JU {Transactions Volume 36 part 2 September 2003) Please note that the page numbering in this report follows on from part 1 of the Transactions published in July 2003 www.nnns.org.uk Keepsake back numbers are available from David & Iris Pauli, 8 Lindford Drive, Eaton, Norwich NR4 6LT Eront cover photograph: Skylark (Chris Knights) - Winner of British Birds Bird Photograph of the Year Competition 2003 Back cover photograph: Cuvier’s Beaked Whale (Graeme Cresswell) ^H£ fvfAf URAL iSTOftVMWSE'JM j 1 7 IWAR 2005 EXCHANGeO ocNERAL library 50th ANNIVERSARY A Golden Jubilee is an occasion on which to look back with pride at past achievements. This is made delightfully easy by Peter Allard’s fascinating history of the Norfolk Bird & Mammal Report in these pages. Acknowledgements by the Editors are made elsewhere for all the efforts and contributions which make this Report the success it is but 1 would like to express the particular gratitude of the Society to Giles Dunmore who has produced what is, in effect, a fully-fledged book in each of the last five years. Norfolk is still the only county to produce a combined annual bird and mammal report and we are grateful to Mike Toms who has joined the team as Editor of the Mammal Report. It is a great disappointment that once again it has not proved possible to include a systematic list of mammal records but every effort will be made to reinstate this feature next year. We are enonnously grateful for the generous grants made from the Sarnia Charitable Trust by our past-President, Dr Tim Peet which make it possible to enhance the quality of the report with colour plates, and to the photographers and artists, none of whom makes any charge for reproduction of their work. Having been intimately associated with the Norfolk Bird & Mammal Report throughout its life, the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society is now its sole publisher. The 134-year old Society, affectionately known as the ‘Norfolk Nats’, has a growing membership of over 500. Its major aim is the recording of the County’s wildlife. This Bird & Mammal Report is part of the Society’s Transactions (hence this is page 93!); the other part, known simply as ‘the Transactions’, comprises articles on all aspects of Norfolk’s wildlife, except birds and mammals. As part of their subscription of £12 per year, members of the Society receive a free copy of each of the Society’s publications. In addition to this Report and Transactions, these include a quarterly newsletter and Occasional Publications, the last of which was a 66pp book on the Dragonflies of Norfolk. So, if you paid the cover price for this Report, please consider joining the Society - for just a little more you will get all these publications by post and will, in addition, be able to attend the twelve talks and fifteen field meetings organised by the Society each year. For further details, contact me at 8 Lindford Drive, Eaton, Noi^hch NR4 6LT. David Pauli Chairman, Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists ’ Society’ 93 NORFOLK BIRD REPORT - 2002 Editorial On behalf of the Society I am pleased to present the fiftieth annual report on the Birds of Norfolk. To celebrate this special edition articles have been included describing the development of the Report since its original conception and also documenting the changes in breeding birds in the county over this period. To many these will be bygone days and it is hoped that they will find the articles both interesting and fascinating. I am also delighted to be able to include an extra four pages of black and white photographs depicting events of the earlier years. It is particularly pleasing to be able to reproduce photographs of county rarities of the time taken by the late Dick Bagnell-Oakeley in the 1950s and 60s when photographic equipment lacked the sophistication of today. Also included is another article in the series about various birding sites, this time Sheringham Bird Observatory, and together with ones on the spread of the Marsh Harrier and the first Pallid Harrier for Norfolk it is hoped that readers will find something to interest them as well as the systematic list, ringing details etc. Acknowledgements The Report continues to be very much a team effort and my special thanks go to: • Neil Lawton - co-recorder, • Julian Bhalerao - co-ordinating photographs and sketches, • Justin Lansdell - co-ordinating and checking articles • Peter Lindsley - for his major new role in the actual production of the Report However, without the help of many other people the Report in its present format would not be possible. My thanks also go to: • the inputters of the monthly records onto the new computerised recording system - Dave and Jacquie Bridges, Judy Dunmore, Vince Hanlon and Pat Wileman; • those who drafted sections of the Systematic List - Peter Allard, Andy Benson, Andrew Bloomfield, Dave and Jacquie Bridges, Andy Brown, Pete Clement, Keith Dye, Mark Eldridge, Mick Fiszer, Vince Hanlon, Phil Heath, Gary Hibberd, Ian Johnson, John Kemp, Justin Lansdell, Neil Lawton, Ben Murphy, Mick Saunt, Enid Stanford, Andy Stoddart, Peter Wilson and John Williamson; • members of the County Records Committee; • authors of the articles in the Report, who all responded favourably to my requests on particular subjects; • the artists and photographers who have made their work freely available; thanks in particular to Jane-Anne Walton for the use of her father, Dick Bagnall-Oakeley’s photographs and to Mary Dorling who took the ‘team’ photograph in 1982; • Moss Taylor for supplying details of the ongoing Norfolk Bird Atlas; • Steve Wakeham for the meteorological infonnation; • Mike Rogers, Secretary of the British Birds Rarities Committee; • all the many individual contributors and clubs/societies, and in particular Birdline East Anglia and Birdguides, who have contributed records; • finally my wife Judy without whose help, support and time the computerisation of records would never have happened; and also for her work with typing and layout of the actual Report. 94 The County Records Committee (Mick Fiszer, Steve Gantlett, Phil Heath, John Kemp and John Williamson) considered a total of 105 records in the year; 20 of these were rejected, mostly as a result of insufficient detail and not owing to an incorrect identification. At its annual meeting the Committee discussed particularly the question of fly-over Ring-necked Parakeets. to the Due problem of other similar species of parakeet, whether feral or escaped, it was felt that in many instances it was not possible to specifically identify birds as Ring-necked unless extremely good views are obtained. Observers are therefore requested to only submit definite Ring-necked Parakeets when other similar species have been specifically eliminated. It also reviewed the list of species needing submission of a written description or photographic evidence (and subject to acceptance) prior to publication and decided to add Taiga Bean Goose, away from the Yare Valley. The list is now as follows; Black-necked Grebe (at sea) Ring-necked Parakeet Cory’s Shearwater Dark-breasted Bam Owl Great Shearwater Bee-eater Balearic Shearwater Short-toed Lark Storm Petrel Tawny Pipit Night Heron Flava Wagtail (continental races except Purple Heron Blue-headed and Grey-headed) White Stork Bluethroat (White-spotted only) Taiga Bean Goose Aquatic Warbler (away from Yare Valley) Marsh Warbler Greenland White-fronted Goose Melodious Warbler ‘Vagrant’ Canada Goose Dartford Warbler American Wigeon Pallas’s Warbler Ring-necked Duck Chiffchaff {thstis race) Surf Scoter Woodchat Shrike Spotted Crake Raven Corncrake Rose-coloured Starling Buff-breasted Sandpiper Serin Grey Phalarope (in flight at sea) Common Rosefmch Sabine’s Gull Ortolan Bunting Ring-billed Gull Little Bunting Caspian Gull With regard to the submission of details, obviously the Committee would expect a far more detailed description of a species such as Ring-billed Gull (which is not only rare in the county but difficult to identify) than a species such as a White Stork. Written descriptions should consist of a brief note of the circumstances of the observation (weather, distance from bird, any other observers, etc), followed by a description of the actual bird(s) and details of any other species nearby for comparison. Written notes should state clearly how a bird was identified. Observers are also requested to include a note of their previous experience of the species and, if relevant, a brief outline of how any confusable species were eliminated. Copies of field sketches (however poor artistically) are often invaluable together with written field notes. It should be noted that on occasions observers may be asked for further details of species not contained in the above list - if records relate to unusual dates, localities, etc.