Day 1 - 19th October
After arriving late the previous night we had a nice walk to Holkham this morning, just 2 miles away. Walking was certainly a good decision as quite a few birds were seen. The fields were full of Red-legged Partridge and there was also a Fieldfare amongst the numerous Woodpigeons. Also 2 Jays flew past us and 2 Redwings flitted around a bush. The first Pink-feet of the trip were the next birds to be seen and by the time we had got to Lady Anne's Drive we could see probably a 1000 more in the fields here. 2 Egyptian Geese, some Curlews and more Red-legged Partridges accompanied them.
We carried on towards the Washington Hide where we were able to shelter from the rain that was just beginning as well as seeing some good birds. The highlight was probably the first Marsh Harrier of the trip but wildfowl were the main feature of this hide. Perhaps another 1000 Pink-footed Goose were grazing in the wet meadows here with c1000 Wigeon. The lakes had c300 Teal, c100 Shoveler, c50 Gadwall & smaller numbers of Pintail, Pochard & Shelduck. Also seen here were 3 Little Grebe and 4 Mute Swan.
Next we went out onto Holkham Gap in the hope of seeing Snow Buntings and Shorelarks. It was not surprising that we didn't find any as this area was vast but we did get 3 Twite, 2 Redshank, 2 Grey Plover, 4 Oystercatcher, Skylarks & 100's of Meadow Pipits. While walking towards the Joe Jordan hide we found, some Coal Tits, lots of Goldcrests in Holkham Pines and more surprisingly 3 juv. Hobbies were flying around coming very close at times and sometimes stopping to sit on top of trees.
When we got to the Joe Jordan hide there were even more Pinkfeets but the Marsh Harriers stole the show with 4 seen together delicately gliding low across the reedbeds and fields. There was a good variety of other geese here as well including c50 Greylag Geese, a few Canada Geese and a single White-fronted Goose.
While walking back towards Lady Anne's Drive we saw 1 of the juv. Hobbies again, 2 Kestrel, 2 Reed Bunting, Pheasants, a Chiffchaff and how could I forget the Yellow-browed Warbler, so dainty and small.
63 species were seen in total.
That afternoon we were going to Snettisham to witness the high tide wader spectaculer but high tide wasn't until 16:49 so we were able to relax a bit in our lovely cottage in Wells-next-the-Sea.
We arrived at Snettisham RSPB at 15:00 and began with a female Scaup, 2 Little Egrets & a Redshank on the first pits. As soon as we got to the sea we realised what we had come to see. 1000's upon 1000's of waders had gathered on the mudfalts. Knot, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Golden Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Oystercatcher and Lapwing all passed the 100 mark. It wasn't just waders though. There were 200+ Shelduck, c50 Pintail, and surprisingly c200 Mallard. It was rather strange to see the Mallards on the mudflats.
The tide seemed to be quite a long way out still and the waders didn't look like moving yet so we walked around the pits. Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Redshank, Lapwing, Dunlin, Little Egret, Cormorant, Mute Swan & Kestrel were all seen around here. Also Red-legged Partridge, Meadow Pipit, Skylark and c150 Greylag Geese were seen in the fields behing the reserve.
We then settled in the hide overlooking the mudflats (forgotten what it's called). This gave us a chance to estimate the number of waders. We estimated the following: 40,000 Knot!, 4000 Oystercatcher, 4000 Golden Plover, 2000 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1000 Dunlin, 500 Curlew, 500 Grey Plover, 200 Lapwing, 100 Redshank, 100 Turnstone. Also 4 Greenshank were running around along a channel and at least 20 Little Egrets could be seen.
Then it all started. Suddenly a mass of birds flew up and formed amazing patterns in the sky. One time they did an enormus mexican wave, although how they all do the same thing I don't know! This happened about 10 more times, and each time they got closer to us. One time the entire mass of birds came quite close and all we could here was the beating of wings. However as the tide was not a big one it soon began to go out again and we decided to leave. Nevertheless a memorable experience. Then just as we were leaving the first Pink-footed Geese came in to roost, about 100 of them. A perfect end to a perfect day.
51 species seen in total.