The Annual Birding Visit to Norfolk - Part 1

The weekend of Storm Ciara we were booked to go to Norfolk, we drove down on the Saturday in glorious weather calling in at Salthouse before going to our digs to find the Waxwing that had been showing well there. We got there about 3pm and had a good a good wander along with a few other birders, but there was no sign, although looking at twitter etc. there were some nice photos of it from earlier in the day! It must have settled down somewhere to get out of the impending storm, which in retrospect we should have done the following day!

On the Sunday all the reserves were shut. So we ended up mooching along the coast and as a result, and a long story I got covered in mud and we nearly had the door of the car blown off, so we will consign that day to the rubbish heap as far as birding is concerned.

Monday was different story, we checked with the RSPB at Titchwell and headed there, it was still windy but nothing like Sunday. The birds didn't seem to agree though and the lagoons were very sparsely populated, with most birds staying in or near the reeds. So not many photos for what was mostly a dull day:
Blue Tit,

 Little Grebe,

 Avocet,

 Teal

 and Knot

We only clocked up 32 species for the day there. We did pop to Holkam in the off chance that some remaining Pink-footed Geese would turn up to roost, but again with the high winds and snow! The only geese seen were Brents and Greylag. Although a Barn Owl and the Marsh Harriers did brighten the evening up for us.

Tuesday saw us go to Snettisham for the day, again it was very windy, but a lot brighter. Cutting across country from Wells where we were staying, we saw plenty of Hare, which was very nice;

and Red-Legged partridge in good numbers;

At Snettisham it was very windy to say the least, so the hide windows facing the sea remain firmly shut! The pools on the other side of the hides were quite busy though. With plenty of Goldeneye;

Wigeon,

 Lapwing,

Greylag,

 Great Crested Grebe,

 Turnstone,

 Little Grebe,

 Cormorant,  Mute Swan, Tufted Duck and Shoveler. Two Peregrines put in an appearance that got the smaller Wildfowl excited;

There were brief visits by a pair of Egyptian Geese and a Little Egret that helped the day along nicely.

On the Seaward side on the mud were plenty of Shelduck, Knot, Dunlin, Golden Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover.
Grey Plover

and Redshank.

Most were much too distant to photograph. The sunset though was worth photographing:

This post is I think long enough for starters I will do the rest tomorrow!

A Week in Sometimes Wet and Windy Norfolk - RSPB Snettisham

We spent a week in Norfolk staying in Wells-Next-the-Sea, it's a great location for getting easily to all our favourite birding sites, although the accommodation left a bit to be desired.

Day 1 a Sunday took us to the RSPB reserve at Snettisham for the day, it was much brighter day than we expected with a surprise thrown in too. Having said that the tides were really against us! I think you could have almost walked all the way to Holland it was that far out, subsequently the waders were a long way away apart from a few just in front of the first hide:

A Ponderance of Golden Plovers, was a short way off, but too far for a deceit photo. (A Ponderance by the way is one of a few collective nouns for any type of Plover, along with "Deceit", "Brace", "Congregation" and "Wing".)

On the other side of the hide overlooking the lagoons there were plenty of Canada and Greylag Geese, Wigeon, Cormorant, Lapwings and Teal.

We took a walk clockwise from there around the lagoon to the temporary hide come screen. So that we could get a better view of four Whooper Swans that were nestled down on one of the scrapes:

A Little Egret presented itself well before flying off:

I remember not that long ago when we used to get very excited about seeing an Egret, they seem to turn up in numbers most everywhere now, still great to see though, especially when they are fishing.
After a bit of a chat with some locals we moved on to the next hide, where despite the sunshine these Wigeon ere keeping themselves tucked up.

 Also the Whoopers decide to come out and do some "Whooping" We have this on film, Tina did a great job, when I have edited it I will post it on the blog.

 Despite the sun you could tell there was some rain about.

There were also a few Goldeneye about, but proved very difficult to get a photo, they wouldn't come near the hides.

 Cormorant flying past!

We the had a surprise, there were what appeared to be three Little Egrets on the far side of the lagoon, when I noticed that Egret number three was in fact a Spoonbill!

We returned to the first hide and waited for dusk to watch the Pink-footed Geese come in, unfortunately by this time it had also started raining, but it was still a great sight.

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.