A Trip to Norfolk

We have just returned from a week in Norfolk, now it wasn't an intense birding trip although that was the primary objective, but no early starts after a hectic few weeks we wanted a bit of lie in as well. The only draw back with that is how quick it gets dark and apart from a couple of good days the weather wasn't great so it seemed to get dark even earlier.

We stayed in Sheringham so for Snettisham and things up that end it was an hours drive, but that was OK. First full  day (Sunday) we were meeting up with a usual partners in crime Jo & Jimmy at RSPB Snettisham around 2:30 so we decided to do a little NT visit first and have a walk around Felbrigg Hall estate and see what we could see and then head off to Snettisham to see what might come in to roost, unfortunately it was a middle tide so from the coastal hide it was still a fair distance out to any birds, there were thousands, but even with the scope in the fading light it was impossible to tell what was there altogether, although pretty sure about the Knot and Oystercatchers are impossible to miss!

Back to the start though and Felbrigg. As we drove onto the estate, these two little beauties were by the drive:

The walk produced a few nice staple birds (Little Egret, Cormorant, Greylag, Gadwall, Pheasant and Buzzard) to start the trip including this obliging Kestrel:

So on to Snettisham, not a lot more to add though, the highlights being some Goldeneye, Wigeon and Lapwing on the pools behind the hides.

So day 2 and off to Titchwell:
Titchwell was great the weather though very cold brightened up as the day went on and we got off to a great start with a female Red Crested Pochard, a lifer, so for the record:

and within 5 minutes lifer no 2 on the trees behind us, a flock of Waxwings:

Not the best shots but we couldn't get closer before they flew away.

The day produced lots of great birds; huge flocks of Golden Plover:

as well as:

and Teal, Lapwing, Bar Tailed Godwit, Goosander, Pintail, Redpoll, Greenshank, Tufted Duck, Pink Footed Geese, Cetti's Warbler, Reed Bunting, Goldeneye, Shoveler and many more......

We left Titchwell to go to Holkham Pines to watch the Geese come in, we were a bit late most had arrived by the time we got there, but we did have a final flurry before it was dark. We were delighted though to see 3 Barn Owls hunting the nearby fields.

Next day the weather was truly dreadful, it rained the whole day, so we decided to head off to Sculthorpe Moor NR run by the Hawk and Owl Trust, not too far and some nice hides apparently. Because of the weather the roosting owls were hiding so that was disappointing if not unexpected, we did however pick up our 3rd and last lifer of the trip; Brambling, not that uncommon I know, but one we hadn't managed to see yet so that was great, unfortunately because of the bad light and the fact they were in a small clearing in the woods my photos of them are shocking so I won't put them up here, I will add the best of them to the gallery though for the record. I did get an only slightly fuzzy shot of a Red Legged Partridge though:

and another Water Rail:

we added a couple of other Birds to the Norfolk list here, Nuthatch and Great Spotted Woodpecker

The following day Cranes were on the agenda so we headed down Hicklin Broads way and went for a walk ending up at Stubb Mill and we saw........ nothing! (Apart for some Marsh Harriers & Kingfishers)
We did a little detour down to Strumpshaw Fen RSPB before dusk to check it out and then shot back to Abbey Mill , decided it looked promising and planned it in for another day (in the 20 minutes we were there caught a very very brief glimpse of an Otter, brilliant!)

Next day started very bright as shown by these Starlings outside our digs:

Today was planned as let's drive along the coast and see what we can find around without stopping anywhere for too long. Headed for Salthouses first as we knew there was a Sacred Ibis about, but of course not when we were there. We actually visited, Salthouses, Cley Marsh (didn't go on the reserve), Wells Woods, Walsey Hills NOA, Brancaster Staithe and then back to Holkam for the Geese again.
We added some nice Turnstone to the list at Salthouses & Brancaster:

Brent Geese at Wells:

Redshank at Brancaster:

and at Holkham:

Incoming!

On Finals!

So now a full day at Strumpshaw Fen, we really liked this reserve, the RSPB reception is actually the first hide, with coffee/choc machine for those who need it, we only used this hide and the fen hide as the path along then river wasn't good, but the reward here were great, we were going to leave about 2:30 to go to Stubb Mill and try for Cranes again, but the lure of an Otter was to tempting:

So that was it, apart from dropping in to Abbey Farm at Flitcham on the way home for the Geese:

and finally seeing 3 Red Kites around Peterborough on the drive back.

So we didn't have a huge list, but we had some quality:



Avocet  (Recurvirostra avosetta)
Barn Owl  (Tyto alba)
Bar-tailed Godwit  (Limosa lapponica)
Bittern  (Botaurus stellaris)
Black Swan  (Cygnus atratus)
Blackbird  (Turdus merula)
Black-headed Gull  (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Blue Tit  (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Brambling  (Fringilla montifringilla)
Brent Goose  (Branta bernicla)
Buzzard  (Buteo buteo)
Carrion Crow  (Corvus corone)
Cetti's Warbler  (Cettia cetti)
Chaffinch  (Fringilla coelebs)
Coal Tit  (Periparus ater)
Collared Dove  (Streptopelia decaocto)
Common Gull  (Larus canus)
Coot  (Fulica atra)
Cormorant  (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Curlew  (Numenius arquata)
Dunnock  (Prunella modularis)
Egyptian Goose  (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Fieldfare  (Turdus pilaris)
Gadwall  (Anas strepera)
Golden Plover  (Pluvialis apricaria)
Goldeneye  (Bucephala clangula)
Goldfinch  (Carduelis carduelis)
Great Black-backed Gull  (Larus marinus)
Great Crested Grebe  (Podiceps cristatus)
Great Spotted Woodpecker  (Dendrocopos major)
Great Tit  (Parus major)
Greater Canada Goose  (Branta canadensis)
Greenfinch  (Chloris chloris)
Greenshank  (Tringa nebularia)
Grey Heron  (Ardea cinerea)
Greylag Goose  (Anser anser)
Herring Gull  (Larus argentatus)
House Sparrow  (Passer domesticus)
Jackdaw  (Corvus monedula)
Jay  (Garrulus glandarius)
Kestrel  (Falco tinnunculus)
Kingfisher  (Alcedo atthis)
Knot  (Calidris canutus)
Lapwing  (Vanellus vanellus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull  (Larus fuscus)
Lesser Redpoll  (Carduelis cabaret)
Little Egret  (Egretta garzetta)
Little Grebe  (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
Magpie  (Pica pica)
Mallard  (Anas platyrhynchos)
Marsh Harrier  (Circus aeruginosus)
Marsh Tit  (Poecile palustris)
Moorhen  (Gallinula chloropus)
Mute Swan  (Cygnus olor)
Nuthatch  (Sitta europaea)
Oystercatcher  (Haematopus ostralegus)
Pheasant  (Phasianus colchicus)
Pied Wagtail  (Motacilla alba)
Pink-footed Goose  (Anser brachyrhynchus)
Pintail  (Anas acuta)
Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
Red-crested Pochard  (Netta rufina)
Red-legged Partridge  (Alectoris rufa)
Redshank  (Tringa totanus)
Reed Bunting  (Emberiza schoeniclus)
Robin  (Erithacus rubecula)
Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon  (Columba livia)
Rook  (Corvus frugilegus)
Sanderling  (Calidris alba)
Shelduck  (Tadorna tadorna)
Shoveler  (Anas clypeata)
Siskin  (Carduelis spinus)
Snipe  (Gallinago gallinago)
Sparrowhawk  (Accipiter nisus)
Starling  (Sturnus vulgaris)
Teal  (Anas crecca)
Treecreeper  (Certhia familiaris)
Tufted Duck  (Aythya fuligula)
Turnstone  (Arenaria interpres)
Water Rail  (Rallus aquaticus)
Waxwing  (Bombycilla garrulus)
Wigeon  (Anas penelope)
Woodpigeon  (Columba palumbus)
Wren  (Troglodytes troglodytes)