Norfolk, The last bit!

Day 5 of our Norfolk trip, had us looking for Shorelarks, the weather had improved so walking around the Beach at Wells and Holkham was on the cards, followed by spending some time in the two hides at Holkham. We bobbed in to Brancaster Staithe as usual, plenty about again but nothing we hadn't seen before, but couldn't resist another Turnstone photo:

From there on to Wells and using the scope scanned for any activity around the beaches there, no Shorelarks, just plenty of Brent Geese, Oystercatchers, Dunlin, Godwits and Gulls. So after buying a lovely Crayfish sandwich from the cafe at Wells we drove back to Holkam and paid up for a days parking £6.50!! We walked on the shore side of the woods again looking for Shorelarks, but yet again no sign. It looks like this will be one bird that will continue to elude us. Before crossing through the woods and going to the Washington hide for a coffee we did some sea watching from the nearby platform with the scope, but even with that the tide was to far out, so all we saw was some unidentifiable specks.

After coffee we walked down to the Joe Jordan hide to spend the rest of the afternoon and have a late lunch of our delicious sandwich purchased in Wells before finally returning to the Washington hide for sunset and Geese.
Egyptian Geese,

 A pheasant resting right next to the Washington Hide,

 Greylags on flypast,

 Curlew following suit,

 Buzzard in a tree top,

 Starlings going bonkers after a Sparrowhawk interrupted their lunch,

 the aforementioned Sparrowhawk,

 a disappointed Sparrowhawk!

the Kestrel says this the way to do it after bringing its afternoon snack to a nearby gatepost,

 then afternoon tea finished flying off to find supper.

 Pink-footed Geese arriving as the sun sets,

 Sunset over Holkam, a magical place in the winter.

In addition to the birds mentioned in the above bit, we saw of course Marsh Harriers galore, hundreds of Cormorant coming in to roost (same spot every year!) and a year first a single White-fronted Goose among the Greylags. Net to mention Swans, Shelduck, Wigeon, Mallard and Teal.

Day 6 and our final full day, we drove around the countryside a bit looking for what we could find, plenty of Brent, Pink-footed and Greylag geese about feeding in the fields, one field was found full of Red-legged partridge,

and another with Grey Partridge. We continued on to the hide at Abbey Farm, Flitcham, where plenty of Teal and Red-legged Partridge were to be found along with some woodland birds,

 and Rabbit.

A search for Brown Hare seen around here before proved fruitless this time. So four our last goose event we went to Snettisham this time. Again before the Geese arrived, there were plenty of Waders and Waterfowl to admire. With the star being a single Scaup that upped and left about two minutes after I found it in the scope, Tina managed a quick look, but it was a dfot in the distance before Jo or Jimmy got a chance to see it, so no photo as a record!
A bit of a dull afternoon, but the gaps in the cloud with the sun forcing through were awesome,

 Golden Plover,

 Cormorant, Lapwing & Teal,

 Lapwing on fly by,

 Knot in the distance,

 Mixed flock of Waders on the move,

So that's it the Geese came in on schedule and were a fantastic sight and sound as they came in right over our heads a great end to a great week.