In Search Of Purple Sandpipers

Ness Point Lowestoft – 7^th January 2015 

We set off for Ness Point, Lowestoft about Midday. We hadn’t been there before but our Son & Daughter In Law, Drew & Dawn, have been there a few times recently and seen some Purple Sandpipers there, so we thought we’d go and see if we could find them. Ness Point is the most Easterly point in the UK.

Centre Of Marker Stone - Ness Point Lowestoft

The day had started bright, cold and frosty but it didn’t take long for it to cloud over and turn into a grey January day, the sort of day that sometimes makes the Winter feel so long.

After setting off we hadn’t got very far when we found that although Jan had packed the tripod she hadn’t brought the scope, a communication failure on my part. Then we got a call from Drew to say he’d just called in at home and just to add to the minor complications the satnav couldn’t pick up a valid GPS signal and when it did, on the A47 skirting around Norwich, it directed us to Ness in Liverpool!

Detail From The Marker Stone

The Whole Marker Stone

 On our journey we had quite a few sightings, Between Watton and Norwich we saw two Kestrels, two Mute Swans and a Heron. Just after Norwich we saw a Buzzard being mobbed by some Crows and a bit further on along the A47 we saw two Jays flying across the road. After Acle the A47 turns towards Great Yarmouth and goes along the Acle Straight, which has typical Broadland habitation on both sides of the road. Along this stretch of the road we saw many Mute Swans, Corvids and Lapwings.

View To The North Of Ness Point

We found Ness Point quite easily even without the aid of the satnav and found ourselves on the edge of an industrial estate looking out into a rather choppy North Sea. There was quite a strong off shore wind and the few birds we did see were having great difficulty in making headway against the wind. Jan did see a Grey Seal pop its head out of the murky waters of the North Sea. High Tide and Slack Water had been and gone and the tide was on the ebb but a quick survey revealed no birds on the rocks so we had our lunch and waited.

Juvenile Herring Gull And Rings On The Adult Herring Gull

 The wind was getting stronger and we watched a Ringed Herring Gull very cleverly emptying some rubbish from a rubbish bin. We’ve reported the ring to the ringer and are awaiting some information back about the bird. At that time there was just the Herring Gull, a juvenile Herring and a Great Black-backed Gull but then someone came along and started to put scraps out and all of a sudden the air was filled with Gulls; Black Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, and various juvenile Gulls.

Great Black-backed Gull

Shortly after that we did go back down to the shoreline but apart from the remnants of the fed gulls either standing on the breakwater or swimming in the sea there was just five Turnstones, which flew off before we could get close enough to film them.

Black-headed Gull

It was now getting quite dark and dreary and there were some spots of rain in the air so we decided to head off home without seeing the Purple Sandpipers.

Quiz

The answer to the last question was Ash – What was left after a fire? Ash, the only complete answer: Other trees which were all unfinished were: MAPle, CHESTnut, WILLow, POPlar, BEEch, and HORNbeam.

Question

Burrow, Drey, Earth, Form, Holt and Lodge. Fox, Beaver, Hare, Otter, Rabbit, Squirrel and Stoat. Which of the mammals has been given nowhere to live?

Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting.