Norfolk Day 1 - RSPB Titchwell & Holkham

We have just returned from a wonderful week in Norfolk, despite two or three days of  bad weather. I will start with our first day, when we had the best weather of the week, with glorious sunshine, but shall we say the wind made it a tad on the cool side (actually read that as bl**dy freezing!)

We were down there as usual with Jo and Jimmy, but were joined for the first two days by our great friends Tim and Wendy. As they hadn't done a birding trip to Norfolk before we elected to start with RSPB Titchwell and then head down to Holkham for the Pink-footed Geese arriving at dusk.

Titchwell was brilliant as usual with plenty of waterfowl and waders. We started by heading down to the screen in case there was anything of note on the pool, on previous visits we have seen Waxwing and Red-crested Pochard down there and with this being a Waxwing year we had our fingers crossed, however nobody had told the Waxwings we were coming! Never mind.

We did find some Red-legged Partridge down in the field, though proving to be a bit camera shy.

The pool was pretty much empty apart from Mallard and Coot, so we went back and walked to the main part of the reserve, stopping at the first hide, walking on to the shore and then back to the main hides and here are a few shots of some of what we saw on the way:
Marsh Harrier

 Greylags

 Teal, Wigeon, Lawpings.....

 Little Egret

 Teal

 Ringed Plover

 Dunlin

 Black-tailed Godwit

 Little Grebe

Redshank

 Common Gull

 Sanderling

 Shoveler

 Snipe

 Whooper Swans

Bar-tailed Godwit

Plus much more of course, we left Titchwell about 2.30pm to drive down to Holkham and get set up in the hide for the Pink-footedGeese coming in. There were plenty of Wigeon, Lapwing and Geese already there:

The Geese did come in, but not in the numbers that we have seen in the past, can't win them all!

More to follow!

Brancaster Staithe & Titchwell RSPB

So another day......

A quick drop in at Brancaster on the way to Titchwell on a nice sunny day, so a few pics there to start the day off:

Then on to Titchwell, it's difficult to choose what photos to put on the blog from here, it was such a brilliant day. We started off with some Scaup on the 'new' lagoon, but they were to far to photograph even for a record shot, so we didn't tarry there and headed back to the visitor centre and proceed along the walk towards the beach stopping at the hides along the way, hoping that we might see Bearded Tits, but despite plenty of reed scanning none showed themselves. So this species is still on the list of, " We don't really believe the bird exists, all the reports and photos are pure fiction!" Crossbills in England used to be on this list but we were finally proved wrong a while ago.

Anyway on with what we did see. Where do I start. I suppose with a highlight amongst ducks, some Pintail:

But then there were some really smart Shoveler too:

and you can't leave Teal out either:

or Gadwall for that matter:

Then theres the Waders, I have to start with Avocet, I know living south of Birmingham we are spoilt by the Avocets at Upton Warren, but they are still fantastic birds and have to start the list:

second place goes to a Bar-tailed Godwit:

followed by these two Knot:

Moving away from waders, this comorant definitley had eyes bigger than his belly:

there was no way he was going to get this Eel down, we watched it for about 15 minutes, trying to swallow it, but he gave up in the end. So what else? A little Grebe showed quite well for a spell:

And now for another lifer for us a Grey Plover:

And then some more Avocets....

 And a few waders to finish off

 Plus another Pintail

So endeth the afternoon at Titchwell

North Norfolk Coast

On our first full day we decided to start off at Blakeney and and end up at Holkham.

We parked up at the Blakeney and went for a short walk along the estuary, this resulted in plenty of Brent Geese:

 Redshank:

 More Brent:

 Oystercatcher:

 Little Egret:

 Sanderling:

 Turnstone:

 and Bar-tailed Godwit:

So not a bad start. After a coffee we headed down the road a bit and went to Cley. We didn't pay for the reserve we just used the coast road and the roads alongside the reserve. The highlights being a Skylark showing well, Egyptian Geese, Golden Plover and our first Marsh Harrier of the week;

Egyptian Goose:

 Skylark:

 Marsh Harrier:

 Dunnock:

 Redshank:

 Golden Plover:

Curlew:

We also stopped at Morston Quay, Burnham Overy Staithe and the 'ponds' at Stiffkey, non providing anything new or great photo opportunities, the weather being very changeable, wet and dull at times interspersed with some lovely sunshine.

We proceeded on to Holkham parked up and wandered down to the Washington Hide. Sadly by this time of the year all the Pink-footed Geese were well gone but there was plenty of Brent & Greylag about with the add few Canada & Egyptian Geese dotted about.

There were plenty of Wigeon, Teal, Oystercatchers and Mallard by the car park, a Goldeneye and Little Grebe on the pool by the walk to the hide.
Goldeneye in the fading light:

More Wigeon, Shelduck, Bar-tailed Godwits, Curlew, Mute Swan, Shoveler and Pheasant were plentiful from the hide, plus a few Muntjac dotted around:

So another good day, more to follow.........