The Annual Birding Visit to Norfolk - Part 2

We had a decent weather day on the Wednesday the wind had died down just a little, so we parked up on Lady Anne's Drive at Holkam with the view to spend the day. We first walked to see the Shore Larks and Snow Buntings, but the birds were very mobile in the wind and we only had a fleeting glimpse of one Shore Lark and perhaps groups of Snow Bunting zooming around, but never staying put. There were also Meadow Pipits, Linnet and Skylark, but nothing close enough for decent photos so I won't bother putting any on here.

On the way back we stopped at the benches overlooking the dunes at the top of the stairs down to the beach, where some Brent Geese offered some nice views;

Oh I forgot as we left the car a Grey Partridge was busily feeding on the adjacent field;

After the Shore Lark expedition we walked down to the Jordan Hide to see what was about and we had a bit of a Geese fest! But started with a nice Kestrel;

 that later flew in front of the hide,

as did this Mute Swan.

 Plenty of Greylag Geese of course,

 some Barnacle Geese

 and some White-fronted Geese

 as well as Egyptian and Pink-footed Geese.
The Wells Rough-legged Buzzard put in an appearance and decided to roost up miles away, that is it in the tree honest! Plus a Muntjac in the grass.

Ducks (mainly Wigeon) up in a panic

 as one of the many Marsh Harriers pay a visit!

A Thoroughly good day.

The weather wasn't kind to us the following day, the wind just didn't let up, and along with that came a fair bit of rain, so we elected for another mooch day, trawling some nice spots we know along the coast, we started with Brancaster Staithe, it is one of my favourite drop ins because you never know what you are going to find, on this occasion though with the wind being so high, the birds were mostly sheltering elsewhere, but the Turnstones are a hardy bunch and came quite close to the car;

We travelled along the coast, not seeing a huge variety of birds, but did get one or two;
A Bar-tailed Godwit,

 Grey Plover,

 Little Egret

 and Redshank

were the few that were photographable (is that a word?) A Greenshank was seen at Morston Quay, then a huge gathering of Pied Wagtail at dusk at Blakeney Harbour, we are guessing at least 200, one even landed on the windscreen wiper, then looked at us in amazement (not quite sure what an amazed Wagtail looks like!) through the windscreen before flying off.

Last day took us to Sculthorpe more for a nice cold wander around the reserve;
Snowdrops,

 Bullfinch,

 Pheasant,

 Bank Vole,

 Long-tailed Tit,

 Greenfinch,

 Coal Tit

 Goldfinch,

 Brambling,

 Nuthatch

 and another Brambling.

So that concludes our Norfolk trip, with 86 species seen, someway behind some of our visits, but not bad considering the weather.

Islay

We arrived on Islay a week late after re-arranging our accommodation and ferry. The crossing was still a bit rocky, just glad we got there. We were based in Bowmore and despite many reports of divers, grebes and ducks seen from the harbour we saw very little, just some Red-breasted Merganser, our kitchen window overlooked Loch Indaal, seeing plenty of Gulls, the odd Oystercatcher and some Red-breasted Merganser.

We travelled the island thoroughly and saw 63 species in the week, we looked in all the places that 'people' were saying they had seen things, but none of the rarities were found. (Cackling Goose and Green-winged Teal) Scoter and Slavonian Grebe of which there were almost daily sightings also eluded us. Eben the famous Otter at the Bunnahabain Distillery failed us, although we went a few times when the tides are allegedly most favourable.

Here's a few snaps of some of the things that dained to show themselves:
White-fronted Geese at Loch Gruinart,

 Barnacle Geese at Loch Gruinart,

 Stonechat,

 Two White-tailed Eagles at the Oa,

 Hooded Crow,

 Starlings,

 Ringed Plover at Loch Indaal,

 Greenshank at Loch Gruinart,

 Lapwing at Loch Gruinart,

 Little Egret at Loch Gruinart,

 Lapwings,

 Believe it or not that's a female Hen Harrier at Loch Gruinart,

 Chough at Ardnave Point,

 King of the Sheep,

 Rock Pipit at Loch Indaal,

 Red Deer on Jura,

 Great Northern Diver at Bunnahabain,

 Common Seal on its perch,

 Eider om Loch Indaal,

 Part of a flock of 30+ Chough at Ardnave,

 Whooper Swans on Loch Ardnave,

 Pintail at Loch Gruinart,

 Roe Deer at Loch Gruinart,

Scaup on Loch Indaal,

and Brown Hare at Loch Gruinart Hide Car Park

We still had a great time though, we can't all be on Shetland for the Tengmalm's Owl! Other birds of note without photos, were a group of Snipe on the rocks at Bruichladdich on Loch Indaal, a couple of Brent Geese seen near the same place a couple of days later, Sparrowhawk over our back garden in Bowmore, a White-tailed Eagle taking a Teal at Loch Gruinart (awesome) it all happened to quickly to get a picture or any video, a Peregrine trying the same the day after and failing! Black-guillemot in various places around the island, a Red-throated Diver off Jura.

We finished with a small pod of Common Dolphin from the ferry back to the mainland. All in all a great couple of weeks with 82 species seen in all.