A Week in Sometimes Wet and Windy Norfolk - The Rest!

To round up the rest of our birding in Norfolk, on a particularly wet and windy day, we birded by travelling the coast road and popping down tracks, around harbours and estuaries, using the car as a hide and weather permitting getting out to have a look around.  We call this "Having a Mooch Around". Usually on these days I don't take many photos as the weather is against getting anything decent. I think we end up doing this at least once when we go to Norfolk in the winter.

This time was no different, I think this is the only one I took on that day at Morston Quay.

We visited Brancaster Staithe, Stiffkey Fen, Morston Quay, Cley (beach roads, and just used the visitor centre for the facilities.), Salthouses, Blakeney and of course Wells. Nothing out of the ordinary was seen, plenty of common waders and winter ducks, although we did add a Barnacle Goose to the list.

At Salthouse Beach we did see a large raft of 'black' ducks out on the sea, but even asking a chap with a scope they were to far to identify.

I should mention that we were aware of the Pallas's Warbler at Wells Woods and did have a look but never found it, even though the area it was in was only 100 yards from the lodge we were staying in! C'est la Vie!

The only other thing to add was our compulsory visit to the Hawk & Owl Trust at the Sculthorpe Moor Reserve. We always go and never mind paying the entrance fee (now £5) as we love the place. Great hides and usually an abundance of woodland birds, plus Marsh Harriers and Owls. Having said that it was unusually quiet, the first hide produce very little, just Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Pheasant, Blackbird and Dunnock. Normally here there is an abundance of Tits, sometimes Brambling, even Red-legged Partridge, but not this time.

As we walk from there through the woods to the next hide overlooking the reed beds, we always hope to see Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Wren and Great-spotted Woodpeckers, this time not one!

The second hide was the same very little about, just some Blue and Great Tit, but we did add a Bullfinch.

After coffee and running out of patience we left for hide number three, picking up Marsh Tit on the way.

The third hide did prove better with plenty of activity on the woodland feeders and even a bit of dappled sunshine:
Chaffinch,

 Brambling,

 Great Spotted Woodpecker,

 Collared Dove,

 Blue Tit,

 tons of Goldfinch, Marsh Tit

 and Coal Tit

We never fail to enjoy Sculthorpe, give it a go.

Norfolk Day 2 - Sculthorpe Moor & RSPB Snettisham

The weather wasn't looking great for the Sunday so we made a plan to go to the Hawk and Owl Trust at Sculthorpe Moor and hopefully if the weather improved as per the forecast head up to Snettisham to see the Pink Foots come in.

As we headed out of the visitor centre at Sculthorpe a Sparrowhawk surprised us by trying to take one of the Tits of the feeders, sadly for it, it ended in failure, but was great for us to see. Of course it all happened to quickly for me to even lift my camera up!

The woods and hides gave us some respite from the constant drizzle and we had a great few hours adding woodland species to our Norfolk list:
Pheasant,

 Greenfinch,

 Robin,

 Marsh Tit,

 Brambling,

 Collared Dove,

 Bullfinch,

 Nuthatch,

 Blackbird,

 Great Tit,

 Marsh Tit,

 Brambling.

I can't recommend Sculthorpe Moor enough, the reserve is fantastic, with lovely walks and great hides.

The weather did improve so we set off for Snettisham, about half an hour away and went out to the hide overlooking both the lagoons and sea, again its a brilliant place.

The lagoons were full of Wigeon, Lapwings, Cormorant, Greylags, Canada Geese, Goldeneye, Little Grebe and Mallard. While the muddy shore held, Dunlin, Redshank, Godwit, Shelduck, Knot, Lapwing, Oystercatcher and a host of other waders unidentifiable in the fading light and also because of the distance out to sea.

At around 4.15, the Pink Foots arrived on mass, thousands upon thousands coming in and settling down on the mud flats for the night. A truly awesome sight.

Sculthorpe Moor

This mornings visit was to the Hawk and Owl Trust at Sculthorpe Moor, just 10 minutes down the road from our digs. We just love this place the wood are just full of birdsong and calls, it's fantastic! We come here for our Brambling fix, plus loads of other species too, hopefully!

The first hide, the Woodland hide did quickly reward us with a distant Barn Owl, but plenty of Brambling coming to the feeders, unfortunately being in a wood its all a bit dark!

 There were loads of Greenfinches too:

We stayed hoping for some Red-legged Partridge which we saw here last time, but not this time. So after a while on to the next hide, this was just amazing starting with a not too shy Water Rail:

Then plenty more Brambling, plus Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Tits and other Finches:

Continuing our walk, we spotted some a nice Marsh Tit who posed for a while:

So a great time was had here, but they day wasn't finished, we planned to go to Snettisham for the Wader Spectacular, so I will cover that in the next post!