Norfolk Bird & Mammal Report 2.“1 S . <P THE NORFOLK & NORWICH NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY (Reg Charity No 291604) www.nnns.org.uk The county’s senior natural history society. It has for its principal objectives the practical study of natural science, the conservation of wildlife, the publication of papers on natural history, especially those relating to the county of Norfolk, arranging lectures and meetings and the promotion of active field work. Specialist groups cover most aspects of the county's flora and fauna. Annual Subscription Rate: Publications: Individual/Family £12 Transactions Affiliated Groups £15 Bird & Mammal Report Overseas Members £18.50 Quarterly newsletter “Natterjack' Secretary: Membership Secretary: Dr R Carpenter D L Pauli 33 Low Street 8 Lindford Drive Wicklewood Eaton Wymondham NR18 9QG Norwich NR4 6LT © Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Application for permission should be addressed to the publisher, the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, Castle Museum, Norwich NRl 3JU. Front cover photognipir. Little Egrets (Julian Blnilerao) Back cover photograph-. Harvest Mice (Mike Toms) NORFOLK BIRD REPORT - 2004 Editor: Giles Dunmore Editorial Review of the Year Wetland Bird Survey 2004 - The Complete Wash Wetland Bird Survey 2004 - North Norfolk Coast Maximum Monthly Counts 2004 - Breydon and Bemey Norfolk Bird Atlas 98 Systematic List 100 Introductions, Escapes, Ferals and Hybrids 233 Earliest and Latest Dates of Summer Migrants 237 Latest and Earliest Dates of Winter Migrants 238 Non-accepted Records 238 Non-submitted Records 239 List of Contributors to Systematic List 240 Ringing Report 242 The RSPB Bemey Marshes Reserve 254 The Little Egret in Norfolk - its Status Past and Present 262 Bearded Tit and other reed-swamp passerine populations in the Hickling Broad complex 1980-2004 273 Richard Richardson’s List of Norfolk Bird Names 282 Grey-cheeked Thrush near Thetford - an addition to the county list 286 Alpine Accentor at Overstrand - the second record for Norfolk 288 Pine Bunting at Choseley Bams - the second county record 289 NORFOLK MAMMAL REPORT - 2004 Editors: Mike Toms and Dave Leech Editorial 291 Systematic List 292 The fourth national Otter Survey of England, 2000-2002: results & trends for the Norfolk sites 306 Why should birdwatchers be interested in mammals? A mammal monitoring update 314 ISSN 0375 7226 {Transactions Volume 38 part 2 September 2005) Please note that the page numbering in this report follows on from part 1 of the Transactions published in August 2005. Keepsake back numbers are available from David & Iris Pauli, 8 Lindford Drive, Eaton, Norwich NR4 6LT 85 NORFOLK BIRD REPORT - 2004 Editorial On behalf of the Society I am pleased to present the annual report on the Birds of Norfolk. Apart from the Review of the Year, Systematic List, Ringing Report etc a variety of articles are included. The first relates to the history of the RSPB reserve at Bemey Marshes, followed by two detailed papers, one on the colonisation of Norfolk by the Little Egret, the other relating to Bearded Tit populations at Hickling Broad. Three articles concern county rarities - Grey-cheeked Thrush, Alpine Accentor and Pine Bunting. Last, but not least, is a list of Norfolk bird names compiled by Richard Richardson and recently discovered by Richard Fitter. 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, • Justin Lansdell - commenting on and proof-reading articles, • Peter Lindsley - for his major 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 into the computerised recording system - Dave and Jacquie Bridges, Megan Crewe, Judy Dunmore, Vince Hanlon, Neil Lawton, Christine Stean and Pat Wileman; • those who drafted sections of the Systematic List - Andy Benson, Dave and Jacquie Bridges, Andy Brown, Pete Clement, Keith Dye, Mark Eldridge, Mick Fiszer, John and Judy Geeson, Vince Hanlon, Phil Heath, Gary Hibberd, John Kemp, Justin Lansdell, Neil Lawton, Ben Murphy, Ashley Saunders, Mick Saunt, Enid Stanford, Peter Wilson and John Williamson; • members of the County Records Committee; • authors of the articles in the Report, in particular Peter Allard, Andrew Bloomfield, James Cadbury and Ron Harold; • Dave and Jacquie Bridges for compiling the Review of the Year; • particular thanks to Richard Fitter for providing the background information and his kind permission to publish Richard Richardson’s Norfolk Bird Names; • the artists and photographers who have made their work freely available; • The Sarnia Charitable Trust for its continued assistance towards the cost of colour photographs; • Moss Taylor for supplying details of the ongoing Norfolk Bird Atlas; • Steve Wakeham for the meteorological information; • Mike Rogers, Secretary of the British Birds Rarities Committee; • all the many individual contributors and clubs/societies, and in particular Birdline East Anglia and Rare Bird Alert, who have contributed records; • Pat Wileman for her continued help and support in the computerisation process; 86 • finally my wife Judy without whose help, support and time the whole process would never happen. It is she who spends more and more time dealing with the electronic receipt of records and receiving and typing replies to e-mails. I also have to thank her for her work with the typing and layout of the actual Report, particularly ensuring consistency of both writing and display style throughout. The County Records Committee (Dave Bridges, Mick Fiszer, John Kemp, Justin Lansdell and Richard Millington) considered a total of 80 records in the year; 9 of these were rejected, mostly as a result of insufficient detail and not owing to an incorrect identification. At its recent annual meeting the Committee discussed in detail the acceptance of records of tristis Chiffchaff Due to the problems of separating some ‘northern’ and ‘eastern’ Chiffchaffs the Committee considers that it can only accept birds showing the characteristics of the tristis race where a comprehensive description has been submitted and the characteristic call heard and fully described. It was also noted that there were no accepted records of Great White Egret and only one of Rose-ringed Parakeet despite several reports of both species. The Committee also reviewed the list of species needing submission of a written description or photographic evidence prior to publication (subject to acceptance) and decided to delete Greenland White-fronted Goose and Pallas’s Warbler. The list is now as follows: Taiga Bean Goose (away from Yare Rose-ringed Parakeet Valley) Dark-breasted Bam Owl ‘Vagrant’ Canada Goose Bee-eater American Wigeon Short-toed Lark Ring-necked Duck Tawny Pipit Surf Scoter Flava Wagtail (continental races except Black-necked Grebe (at sea) Blue-headed and Grey-headed) Cory’s Shearwater Bluethroat (White-spotted only) Great Shearwater Aquatic Warbler Balearic Shearwater Marsh Warbler Storm Petrel Melodious Warbler Night Heron Dartford Warbler Purple Heron Chiffchaff {tristis race) White Stork Woodchat Shrike Spotted Crake Raven Corncrake Rose-coloured Starling Buff-breasted Sandpiper Serin Grey Phalarope (in flight at sea) Common Rosefinch 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 87 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. Editorial Material: Articles for consideration, artwork, photographs and transparencies should continue to be submitted to me at 49 Nelson Road, Sheringham, Norfolk NR26 8DA. Submission of Records Many people comment to me on the amount of work involved in the production of this Report. A county the size and importance of Norfolk generates a huge number of bird sightings. As will be seen from the acknowledgments I now have a team of people who help with the computerised recording throughout the year, taking responsibility for certain months. This way the handling of duplicate records is much simpler and far less time consuming and the workload is spread out rather than being concentrated on a short