Ornithology in North-east Suffolk

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ORNITHOLOGY IN NORTH-EAST SUFFOLK BY

FREDERICK

C.

COOK.

THE most interesting dozen of my Bird notes for the last two vears may prove acceptable to Members. A record of Golden Oriole has appeared in " T h e Field " paper, apparently founded upon a misapprehension. I also send three Bittern photographs : of the bird sitting on 22 May [All are excellent, and we regret this alone can be reproduced here.—Ed.] ; of five eggs on 12 M i y ; and four fledglings on 9 June last. T h e y are the first photographs of this species taken in our County, or anywhere outside Norfolk.

I have intentionally omitted too exact localisation of its nestingplace, because grave danger still exists from eggers.

A somewhat early arrival of Redwings (Turdus Iliacus, L.) was observed on 1 October 1933, when a flock came in from the sea at Walberswick ; Dr. Ticehurst gives 3rd as the earliest, and 1 Ith as the average, dates. T h e following spring was particularly fine and warm ; the flocks of Redwings, congregated in our coastal fields and hedgerows before their departure oversea, were to be heard singing unusually frequently and on 30 March I listened to an amazing performance by some hundreds in hedges around a large meadow at Blundeston. Fieldfares ( T . pilaris, L.) seem to indulge less frequently in such Community singing, nor have I known them to do so in this district tili 8 April last, when a flock of about a dozen was observed singing in chorus from the topmost branches of a tree near Southwold : from a distance this sounded not unlike the harsh chattering medley of Starlings.

An example of the Bluethroat (Cyanecula Suecica, L.) was sein

by Dr. F. N. H. Maidment at Easton Broad on 17 September 1933, which is the first record of this rare Warbier since 1924.

Another was seen, on the same day in 1934, on the Gunton cliff just north of Lowestoft.

About a dozen Waxwings (Ampelis garrulus, L.)were frequenting some hedgerows at the south end of Lowestoft during the winter "f 1932-3 ; but none were observed here a year later.—A Linnet (Linola cannabina L.), ringed as a young bird at Kirkham Abbey in Yorks on 20 May 1933, was caught under some fruit-netting at Lowestoft on 21 April the following year.

A great southward coastal migration of Starlings (Sturmis vulgaris, L.) was observed by me during the last few days of June and early in July 1932. Movement was made in early morning hours, when hundreds of the birds passed in a very short time.

Similar movements were noticed in both the following years.

As far as I am aware, no reference has hitherto been made to Starling-migration at this time of y e a r : no local ornithologist remarks such a phenomenon. In the present instances the flocks were composed mainly of young birds, most probably the first broods of those nesting further north.

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A Shore Lark (Otocorys alpestris, L.) was observed on the beach at Lowestoft on 11 October 1933.

Our Member, Mr. E. R. Long, reported two large birds that were beating over a marsh at Kessingland on 28 May 1933.

These proved to be Short-eared Owls (Asio accipitrinus, Fall.); and their behaviour evidenced their nesting there. But frequent visits and much searching failed to reveal a nest. The male was quite successful, upon several occasions, in deceiving me by leaving prey at various spots that were obviously nowhere near the nest.

Eventually, however, on 10 June I put up two youngsters just able to fly, conclusively proving these birds had bred there.

An immature male Long-tailed Duck (Harelda glacialis, L.) was observed on Easton Broad on 12 November 1933, where it remained for about a week.—On the same Broad two Smew (Mergus albellus, L.), in immature plumage, were seen by Dr. Maidment on 9 December 1933.

Twelve of the delightful Black Terns (Hydrochelidon nigra, L.) were witnessed, gracefully dipping over the waters of Easton Broad in the manner of Swallows, on 11 September 1934; some were still there on 28 October, an unusually late date.—Additional records of Little Gulls (Larus minutus, Pall.) at Lowestoft, since the publication of Dr. Ticehurst's 1932 book, show that four paid a brief visit to the Upper Harbour on 11 September that year ; in 1933 two remained about the Ness-point sewer-outlet during 13 August to 3 September ; and in 1934 three were noted in the Harbour, two adults on 2 September and an immature bird on 15th of that month.—I was fortunate enough to see a Sabines Gull (Xema Sabinei, Sab.) at Lowestoft twice on 7 October last, but it did not again appear during the rest of that month. It was in immature plumage, like a second that I observed, along with a Glaucous Gull (Ikarus glaucus, Fab.), in a south-east gale at Kessingland on 4 November.

T h e Bittern (Botaurus stellaris, L.). The most interesting e v e n t of this season is the discovery of two Bitterns' nests, less than fifty yards apart, on a small Broad that consists of some eightand-a-half acres of water and reeds, lying actually within the b o r o u g h of Lowestoft and closely preserved.

In this n e i g h b o u r hood I have occasionally heard the weird booming of the male during spring, but merely as a prelude to the species' departure for Norfolk breeding-grounds or overseas. This year, on the contrary, the sound persisted late enough in the season to suggest local breeding. I discovered one nest in a comparatively small island reed-bed on 6 May ; it contained three eggs, and was built over water about a foot in depth with a soft and t r e a c h e r o u s bottom of mud, across which progress was most difficult.

Eventually five eggs were successfully hatched ; but, as orten occurs, one of the youngsters mysteriously disappeared when

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a day or so old : the remaining four were brought off safely.

Fro:n a hide erected near this nest, Mr. Jenn3r and I obtained a good series of photos and an interesting film of the young being fed : which success we largely owe to Mr. Vincent of Hickling in Norfolk.

Incubation undoubtediy began with the first egg's deposition ; it extended over twenty-six days. T h e first youngster hatched on 28 May, and the rest at intervals of twenty-four hours ; they were fed throughout on Perch (Perca fluviatilis, L.), of which a plentiful supply was close at hand. [This is especially valuable, since the best account we have of British Bitterns (Broadland Birds, by Miss E. L. Turner, cap. i) terms them omnivorous, taking Mammals, young Birds, Batrachia, Fishes, Crustacea, Coleoptera, Diptera, Corixas, as well as vegetable matter.—Ed.] The male neither revealed himself at any time nor was ever heard booming within less than forty yards of the nest after egg-laying had begun ; on some days he was altogether absent, and booming would reveal his whereabouts a mile and a half away.

The fact that he had a second mate nesting within fifty yards of our hide was not suspected tili 8 June, when a keeper saw three Bitterns toying in the air over the reed-bed. T h e second nest was found by me on 24 June ; it then contained four eggs which, for some unknown reason, failed to hatch. Late in the season Bitterns were heard booming in two other localities ; and, though by concentrating on the Lowestoft nests I was unable to investigate them, breeding quite possibly took place also in a coastal Broad further south, as well as between Southwold and Dunwich.

FURTHER S U F F O L K N E S T I N G OF Botaurus stellaris, L .

It will interest you to know that the Bitterns have nested on the IJunwich marshes this year. There are three young birds in the nest that are, I believe, about a fortnight or three weeks old. nope they will survive though, unfortunately, the River is being cleansed at a spot where it passes comparatively close to the nest.— H.

L.

HORSFALL, i n 6 b e e n ver v

lit.

6

May

1934.

• - interested to hear that the Bittern has nested m buffolk during 1934. It is in, I think, a new area ; and the sitting bird was lucky not to be destroyed by fire when the reeds «ere burnt in May.—J. K. S T A N F O R D . [Mr. Horsfall later saw >oung Bitterns that had been hatched near Dunwich. Neither uck in 1911 nor Ticehurst in 1932 was able to indicate this species f " l d | ncating in our County; but the former regarded the fens " e B r e c k or broads around Lowestoft as the most likely locality f U p 1:0 SnffV° f e l e c t -I u s t a c e n t u r Y ago it certainly bred in aS a B r i t i s h bird Xo t Ii > h a s b e e n confined since 1836 to - ortolk Much closer Observation is maintained around Dunwich > our Society than was formerly the case.—Ed.]