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 Titchwell

A mixed weather day for Titchwell, started bright, but became rapidly overcast. At the visitor centre we saw that there was a Red-crested Pochard on the East Pond, so we went there first, but it must have know we were coming and bug**d off!

It was otherwise very quiet that side with just Coot, Mute Swan, Mallard and a few Tufted Duck about, although as expected we did see a Marsh Harrier or two while we were walking.

So back around to the main part of the reserve and a coffee in the first (Island) hide overlooking the freshwater marsh. The first thing was being treated to what can only be described as a murmuration by the Golden Plover,

Shelduck are always a treat to see,

as are the Teal,

a juvenile Ruff turned up and showed quite well to the left of the hide.

After coffee we decide to walk straight up to the beach and see what was about, as with Snettisham the tide was a long way out so with only bins (as my scope is bust!) it was impossible to see anything. There were plenty of Gulls, Oystercatcher and a few other waders on the shoreline but we decide not to venture further and check them out.

From the path back to the Parrinder Hides overlooking the Salt and Freshwater marshes the Redshanks showed well:

We had great views of the Golden Plover from the South Parrinder Hide, although the weather was rather dismal now, so the photo doesn't do their colours justice:

While we watched though a Pink-footed Goose sauntered past the window,

we normally don't get see any that close.

A highlight was a Water Pipit, this was our first Water Pipit for 8 years! It doesn't look special but it was great to see.

Plenty of Ruff showed from the hide which was nice,

there were also a number of Pintail about, now that is a splendid duck, but they were fairly inactive and distant, but for the record:

We stayed quite late and watched the Marsh Harriers and Little Egrets gathering for the roost.

We counted at least 32 Marsh Harriers in the air, which was magnificent and we lost count of the Little Egrets, but I'm guessing at around the 50 mark.

Oh, I forgot to mention that from the North Pallinder hide we did see a distant (aren't they always) female Hen Harrier.

So a good day as usual.

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!