malskelton
Enthusiastic Amateur
Hi guys
Thought I would type up my latest birding day
Spent last week on holiday in North Norfolk ( about 4 miles from Cromer ) with the family. Managed to somehow convince my girlfriend and mam to go shopping in Norwich on Friday while my father and I went on a mad bird dash ! On holiday on the broads I had managed 53 in a day - his best was 50. With our day of freedom we both agreed to try for 60 !
Started with the birds in and around the garden of the barn where we were staying ;
Blackbird
Blue Tit
Collared Dove
Greenfinch
Dunnock
Herring Gull
House Martin
House Sparrow
Robin
Song Thrush
Swift
Wood Pigeon
Left the barn at 9am and headed towards Hickling. I had been on a boating holiday on the broads earlier in July but didn't manage to make a trip up to Hickling. According to the map it was about 20 miles - took us an hour !!
On the way around Hickling we took a wrong turn and ended up in a farm entrance - lucky for us, saw a few others
Swallow
Crow
Goldfinch
Jackdaw
Rook
Red Legged Partridge ( a first for my dad after 30 years ! )
We got to Hickling at 10am and were the first there ( the kind lady unlocked the doors 5 mins early to let us in ). Had a look at the board, asked whereabouts the Cranes had been seen most often ( 100 acre marsh seemed like a needle in a haystack location ) !!
Coot
Great Crested Grebe
Mute Swan
Kestrel
Marsh Harrier
Pied Wagtail
Reed Bunting
Bearded Tit ( another 1st for my dad ! )
Common Crane !!!! ( a first for both of us ! )
As we walked to the first hide we got a female Kestrel and 3 Marsh Harriers. After ten minutes of watching the same Coot we left the hide just in time to see the Crane fly close by - our Collins book sums it up very well ... HUGE !
After Hickling we headed to Yarmouth. I had visited Breydon water and figured it would be good for waders and sea birds. En route we stopped at a roadside lake, managed to get ;
Black Headed Gull
Canada Goose
Greylag Goose
Egyptian Goose
Got to Yarmouth at around 12pm. Parked in Asda and grabbed some lunch to take with us. Headed out under the big bridge and into the tall hide ;
Avocet
Cormorant
Curlew
Feral Pigeon
Grey Heron
Lapwing
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Little Egret
Little Tern
Oystercatcher
Redshank
Shelduck
Starling
Stayed there about an hour while we scoffed - didn't walk too far round as I didn't think there would be too much else.
Next stop was Strumpshaw Fen - I had been there late one evening a fortnight ago and thought we might pick up a few other species ;
Chaffinch
Common Tern
Moorhen
Pheasant
Snipe ( my first )
Willow Warbler
Wren
Spotted Flycatcher ( my first )
We had seen all of these ( except the Snipe ) before we even got to the Fen Hide. Foolishly we carried on around the trail - 3 miles later we had only added the Snipe to the list and my dad was on the verge of collapsing !!! We had 50 species before 3pm but ended up leaving 40 minutes behind our flimsy schedule.
The next part is where things went wrong !
We were heading for Snettisham trying to skirt round the outside of Norwich ! Ended up slap bang in the middle of traffic in Norwich and sat in the car for over an hour - did see a Common Gull on a school field though
After the traffic holdup decided to ditch Snettisham plans and head straight for Cley. Got there at 5.30pm and had a couple of hours ;
Black Tailed Godwit
Stock Dove ( number 60 !!!! )
Common Sandpiper
Dunlin
Golden Plover ( my first )
Green Sandpiper
Greenshank
Mallard
Ringed Plover
Tufted Duck
After leaving we had 67 species and a big smile.
On the way back to base we stopped at Sheringham Cemetary ( we had seen a Green Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush earlier in the week ). Instead we saw the Mistle Thrush but also picked up a Magpie - been searching for one all day
Arrived home at 8pm, 11 hours after starting with a day list of 69 species !!
It would have been 70 if I hadn't counted the Pied Wagtail twice ;-)
Thanks for reading
Mal Skelton
Thought I would type up my latest birding day
Spent last week on holiday in North Norfolk ( about 4 miles from Cromer ) with the family. Managed to somehow convince my girlfriend and mam to go shopping in Norwich on Friday while my father and I went on a mad bird dash ! On holiday on the broads I had managed 53 in a day - his best was 50. With our day of freedom we both agreed to try for 60 !
Started with the birds in and around the garden of the barn where we were staying ;
Blackbird
Blue Tit
Collared Dove
Greenfinch
Dunnock
Herring Gull
House Martin
House Sparrow
Robin
Song Thrush
Swift
Wood Pigeon
Left the barn at 9am and headed towards Hickling. I had been on a boating holiday on the broads earlier in July but didn't manage to make a trip up to Hickling. According to the map it was about 20 miles - took us an hour !!
On the way around Hickling we took a wrong turn and ended up in a farm entrance - lucky for us, saw a few others
Swallow
Crow
Goldfinch
Jackdaw
Rook
Red Legged Partridge ( a first for my dad after 30 years ! )
We got to Hickling at 10am and were the first there ( the kind lady unlocked the doors 5 mins early to let us in ). Had a look at the board, asked whereabouts the Cranes had been seen most often ( 100 acre marsh seemed like a needle in a haystack location ) !!
Coot
Great Crested Grebe
Mute Swan
Kestrel
Marsh Harrier
Pied Wagtail
Reed Bunting
Bearded Tit ( another 1st for my dad ! )
Common Crane !!!! ( a first for both of us ! )
As we walked to the first hide we got a female Kestrel and 3 Marsh Harriers. After ten minutes of watching the same Coot we left the hide just in time to see the Crane fly close by - our Collins book sums it up very well ... HUGE !
After Hickling we headed to Yarmouth. I had visited Breydon water and figured it would be good for waders and sea birds. En route we stopped at a roadside lake, managed to get ;
Black Headed Gull
Canada Goose
Greylag Goose
Egyptian Goose
Got to Yarmouth at around 12pm. Parked in Asda and grabbed some lunch to take with us. Headed out under the big bridge and into the tall hide ;
Avocet
Cormorant
Curlew
Feral Pigeon
Grey Heron
Lapwing
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Little Egret
Little Tern
Oystercatcher
Redshank
Shelduck
Starling
Stayed there about an hour while we scoffed - didn't walk too far round as I didn't think there would be too much else.
Next stop was Strumpshaw Fen - I had been there late one evening a fortnight ago and thought we might pick up a few other species ;
Chaffinch
Common Tern
Moorhen
Pheasant
Snipe ( my first )
Willow Warbler
Wren
Spotted Flycatcher ( my first )
We had seen all of these ( except the Snipe ) before we even got to the Fen Hide. Foolishly we carried on around the trail - 3 miles later we had only added the Snipe to the list and my dad was on the verge of collapsing !!! We had 50 species before 3pm but ended up leaving 40 minutes behind our flimsy schedule.
The next part is where things went wrong !
We were heading for Snettisham trying to skirt round the outside of Norwich ! Ended up slap bang in the middle of traffic in Norwich and sat in the car for over an hour - did see a Common Gull on a school field though
After the traffic holdup decided to ditch Snettisham plans and head straight for Cley. Got there at 5.30pm and had a couple of hours ;
Black Tailed Godwit
Stock Dove ( number 60 !!!! )
Common Sandpiper
Dunlin
Golden Plover ( my first )
Green Sandpiper
Greenshank
Mallard
Ringed Plover
Tufted Duck
After leaving we had 67 species and a big smile.
On the way back to base we stopped at Sheringham Cemetary ( we had seen a Green Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush earlier in the week ). Instead we saw the Mistle Thrush but also picked up a Magpie - been searching for one all day
Arrived home at 8pm, 11 hours after starting with a day list of 69 species !!
It would have been 70 if I hadn't counted the Pied Wagtail twice ;-)
Thanks for reading
Mal Skelton
