A summary of highlights for August 2025

 August to November is arguably my best time of year for birding both on my Breckland patch and beyond, especially the North Norfolk Coast.  The following is a summary of local highlights on my patch and as you will see there was a good selection of migrants to report through the month.

Early in the month on the 2nd it was obvious that Swift numbers had dropped significantly.

A visit to Little Cressingham on the 4th saw a single overflying and calling Crossbill, a welcome record of a bird which has been scarce on the patch in recent years.  Also seen was a notable count of 50+ Stock Doves.

Late summer and autumn sees Houghton-on-the-Hill as one of favoured locations to visit for both resting migrants and visual migration and my first visit for this migration period on the 9th proved to be an excellent visit with a Pied Flycatcher in woodland around the churchyard.  Common migrants are well represented here and today I recorded 10+ Blackcaps, 10+ Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs, and 3 Lesser Whitethroats.  A single Raven passed over calling. 

A visit to a sewage treatments works on the nearby army training ground on the 10th produced one Reed Warbler, one Lesser Whitethroat, one Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, and 3 Blackcaps, all in a small area of Elder bushes where all species were seen to eat berries.

On the 12th I enjoyed a great field trip to Titchwell Marsh with my good friend Darren Cowles.  The first bird of the day was a calling male Tawny Owl in the car park area and although still dark we could see the calling Owl silhouetted in the trees. 

Highlights on the marsh included 40+ Ruff, 14 Spoonbills, an early morning westerly movement of Little Egrets, and a single Great White Egret on the marsh. A few single Sedge Warblers were in the reedbeds.

Dawn at Titchwell Marsh 12 August 2025 (Unedited picture)

It was my intention to check the overflow car park as our visit wound down, I was surprised to see that despite the numbers of cars in the normal car park, there were no birders checking the wonderful habitat for migrant Warblers.  A check of elder bushes in the overflow car park produced 6+ Blackcaps feeding upon berries, these were undoubtedly passage birds.

Blackcap in the overflow car park 12 August

A walk along the Watton Brook valley west of Hopton Bridge on the 13^th saw at least 12 Stonechats and at least 3 Whitethroats on fencing alongside the brook. A single Sedge Warbler in herbage in the brook was undoubtedly a migrant bird. Later in the garden a Green veined White butterfly was seen.

A visit to Houghton-on-the-Hill on the 14^th began with a walk around the churchyard at St. Mary’s where a single Lesser Whitethroat emerged from thick Ivy where it had probably roosted. Many Blackcaps and Whitethroats were in the hedgerow corridor east of the church. Back at the church a juvenile Goshawk soared low overhead. A Hummingbird Hawk Moth was feeding in Buddleia.

Juvenile Goshawk at Houghton 14 August 2025

A visit to Bodney on the 18^th produced one Yellow Wagtail in an Elder, a single Wheatear along the boundary ditch separating Bodney Slip from the wet meadow east of the STW, 100+ Swallows, one Chiffchaff, and at least 4 Stonechats. Late morning saw a ♀ Sparrowhawk low and fast through the garden.

A check of the skies on the 19^th saw no Swifts, clearly some will be about, however, the majority of birds have now departed.

A late afternoon visit to Seamere Marsh on the 20^th produced a movement of 40+ House Martins which included a single Swift. On the marsh a ♀ Marsh Harrier was seen flying into thick willow woodland possibly to roost.

A very productive and rewarding day on the 23^rd in the Watton Brook Valley west at Little Cressingham with many Stonechats seen, one Whitethroat, Chiffchaffs, a calling Raven, visible migration with an overhead Yellow Wagtail, many Blackcaps in Bodney Slip where also 4 Spotted Flycatchers were found with one individual being a leucistic bird.

A leucistic Spotted Flycatcher at Little Cressingham 23 August (One of 4 birds seen together)

A morning visit on the 24^th to a marsh and meadows in Watton Brook valley produced at least 4 Whitethroats and a single migrant Lesser Whitethroat. Sizeable Finch flocks seen with 70+ Linnets and 100+ Goldfinches noted. At least 5 Stonechats were seen.

Lesser Whitethroat 24 August 2025 (Such stunning Warblers)

An early evening visit to Seamere Marsh on the 25^th was fairly quiet with the highlight being a single Swift over Seamere with a number of House Martins.

On the morning of the 26^th I was working in Wymondham where very high overhead two Sparrowhawks were seen soaring.

I visited the Watton Brook valley at Bodney on the 27^th arriving pre-sunrise and remaining until about 0930. This was a very good visit with a ♀ Blackcap in an elder eating berries and 4+ Chiffchaffs present. Cattle were grazing the grassland alongside Watton Brook, I suspected Wagtails to be present and when checked, 4+ Yellow Wagtails were feeding around the cattle. Also present was 3 Stonechats on fencing and posts in the valley.

On the 28^th I visited Hockham Heath and was rewarded with 30+ Crossbills wandering the treetops, also, a very notable 30+ Chiffchaffs seen in the Hawthorn scrub where 6+ Blackcaps also seen. Three Spotted Flycatchers (singles) seen around the site with one in the very top of a tall Poplar, a recently arrived migrant perhaps. One Little Egret was seen and at least one Raven passed over the Cranberry Rough area calling. A walk through Rule’s Belt produced calling Marsh Tit.

A single Swift was seen over Hethersett on the 30^th. Later on Old Runway Lane at Deopham one Yellow Wagtail was found whilst scoping a muck heap, also present was 12+ Pied Wagtails around muck heaps.