6th - 12th July

A SW’ly airflow prevailed although by Saturday a moderate NW’ly breeze had developed. Plenty of sunny spells were offset by some heavy showers and from mid afternoon into the night on Wednesday we had some continuous steady rain.

The undoubted highlight of the week was the discovery on the 9th of an adult Roseate Tern fishing and resting on the sea defences between Cart Gap and the village. Up to 5 had been seen recently at Cley NWT and hoping to find one at Happisburgh was the main reason behind my recent frequent visits to the groynes viewable from the end of Doggetts Lane, so when I chanced upon this one I was well pleased. I’ve seen a few Roseates before but this was only the second one I’d found and it was an addition to my Happisburgh list. The species is a rare but annual visitor to Norfolk; in fact with c.100 nesting in the UK, and perhaps less than 2000 pairs breeding in the rest of Europe, it’s not at all common in this part of the world. The following evening and on the morning of the 11th, it was on groynes closer to the village and was seen well and enjoyed by all who saw it. On the latter date the immature Shag was joined by another and the Herring Gulls that have been building in number recently peaked at 77, all sat on the beach.

Its scarcity and graceful beauty make the Roseate Tern perhaps the most sought after of our regular visiting sea Terns.

Again I saw the same species of raptor as last week but with the additional sighting of a Common Buzzard which was overflying the rookery at Brumstead church. Hunting Marsh Harrier was noted on the 9th and 11th but this time a male bird was involved, and what I feel is increasingly likely to be the same Hobby flew over on the 10th and 12th. Other notable flyover birds were a party of 11 Cormorants that were heading high NW one morning and 6 Lapwing over the garden on a SE’ly bearing. A Crossbill, part of the late spring influx, flew over at Lessingham on Wednesday morning and continued inland; again, this was picked up on its call before the bird was sighted.