Original PaulE
Well-known member
Two days in Norfolk and a bit in Suffolk!
On seeing the large number of rarities that turned up in Norfolk last weekend(12/13th) it was decided that a spur of the moment trip was in order the earliest we could manage was the following Sunday (12th) so an overnight stay was duly booked. Predictably as the week went on the rarities disappeared the bluethroat, the bluetail, the 9 Great Grey Shrikes all vanished day by day the number of Yellow brow warblers was down from double figures to two!! Add to that an horrendous weather forecast and confidence was low!
Deciding that we needed to arrive as early as possible i set the alarm for 4 o'clock this was a bit of a contentious issue the conversation went a bit like this,though several words have been removed to protect the easily offended.
Margie. "what time!!!"
Me" 4'oclock"
Margie,"you said five!!!"
Me "I said we gotta be there by 7ish,it's a three and half our drive!! Do the maths darling do the maths!!!!"
Any way we were out of the house by 4.30 and on our way!! An uneventful drive saw us pulling into Lady Ann Drive Holkam just after dawn. We were rewarded for our efforts with a lovely dawn and the awesome spectacle of thousands of Pinkfeet coming over the pines onto the fields.After this spectacular start we decided to walk through the pines to the dunes then round to Wells before returning to the car along the front of the pines,apart from the gorgeous scenery and a couple of Brambling , Redwings and a Peregrine this was a little disappointing although don't think i've ever seen so many blackbirds, on the plus side we made it back to the car just before the heavens opened!! On the negative side we learnt later that a Yellow-browed and a Parrot Crossbill had been seen while we were there
With showers forecast we decided Titchwell was the best bet for the afternoon,lots of hides to shelter in,again this was a mixed bag failed to find the reported Jack Snipe but the large numbers of Golden Plover were impressive especially when they were spooked into the air en masse. Also close views of Black and Bar tailed Godwits,Marsh Harrier and crash diving Juvenile Gannets were good. We also befriended a tame Black-headed Gull and a tiny Crab!!
After this we went to Chosley Barns no buntings what so ever,but there were a load of Pinkfeet in the fields and 3 Buzzards hunting also cheered me up.
We checked into our B&B in Thornham ,and dragging our weary bodies out decided to walk down to the sea, good decision! bird of the day was a pale phase Arctic Skua sitting on the saltmarsh and 2 peregrines sitting on the beach the day was finished off nicely by a Barn Owl hunting across the fields and a couple of pints of Norfolk Wherry with a nice steak dinner back at the B&B.
Day two started badly with heavy rain, after a very nice breakfast we headed out decided to stop at In Focus "for a look" ended up spending way to much on some very nice Bins, I blame Margie she's supposed to stop me doing things like that!! Mind you they are awesome!!
After that we headed to Cley on the same multi hide theory as the previous day but it was so miserable we didn't leave the Visitor Centre,we went down to the beach and did a bit of a Seawatch but nothing doing.With the weather due to clear in the afternoon we made the decision to head for Winterton to look for the reported Snow Buntings.
After a very pleasant drive along the coast road we arrived at Winterton as the weather cleared,a walk along the beach failed to find the Snow Buntings though we noted large numbers of scoter on the sea, a more detailed scan revealed a group of five Velvet Scoter close in on the sea the best views of these i've ever had As we walked along the beach we noticed some small birds a little further on a quick scan revealed three gorgeous Shorelarks which allowed us to get quite close,they were more interested in chasing each other than us! A lovely windswept walk, no Snow Buntings but great birds never the less.
After this success we decided to end our trip at the Hen Reedbed near Southwold in Suffolk with the hope of a gathering of Starlings. We arrived about an hour before sunset and headed along the Sea Wall loads of Curlew and Gulls on the Estuary including some brutal looking Greater Black-backs, as we waited we noticed a sizeable flock of starlings on some fields so we were quite hopeful as the sunset approached sure enough up they went joined by some smaller flocks the numbers grew quite impressive although this was to be no Bill Oddie sky filling moment of dancing,twisting clouds of birds, no this was a quick fly in over the reedbed a brief swirl and then a dive into the reeds all over in about 30 seconds !!Slightly deflated we headed back to the carpark we were mocked by small flocks of starlings dropping into the reeds on a regular bases must of been a couple of thousand altogether.On arriving back at the carpark we decided to check out the viewpoint over the reedbed as we watched a flock of Pied wagtails came into roost then a lovely male Marsh Harrier turned up as if to make up for the Starlings lack of effort he put on a wonderful display back and forth across the reeds joined by a juvenile for a brief duet he even flushed a bittern out of the reeds for a brief flight view before dropping into the reeds to roost a wonderful finish to our trip which even without loads of rares and fairly miserable weather produced some great moments and fantastic birds.
Some Pictures,taken by Margie, from our trip can be seen here https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=6356fb2ba7828f28#cid=6356FB2BA7828F28&id=6356FB2BA7828F28!576&v=3
Cheers
On seeing the large number of rarities that turned up in Norfolk last weekend(12/13th) it was decided that a spur of the moment trip was in order the earliest we could manage was the following Sunday (12th) so an overnight stay was duly booked. Predictably as the week went on the rarities disappeared the bluethroat, the bluetail, the 9 Great Grey Shrikes all vanished day by day the number of Yellow brow warblers was down from double figures to two!! Add to that an horrendous weather forecast and confidence was low!
Deciding that we needed to arrive as early as possible i set the alarm for 4 o'clock this was a bit of a contentious issue the conversation went a bit like this,though several words have been removed to protect the easily offended.
Margie. "what time!!!"
Me" 4'oclock"
Margie,"you said five!!!"
Me "I said we gotta be there by 7ish,it's a three and half our drive!! Do the maths darling do the maths!!!!"
Any way we were out of the house by 4.30 and on our way!! An uneventful drive saw us pulling into Lady Ann Drive Holkam just after dawn. We were rewarded for our efforts with a lovely dawn and the awesome spectacle of thousands of Pinkfeet coming over the pines onto the fields.After this spectacular start we decided to walk through the pines to the dunes then round to Wells before returning to the car along the front of the pines,apart from the gorgeous scenery and a couple of Brambling , Redwings and a Peregrine this was a little disappointing although don't think i've ever seen so many blackbirds, on the plus side we made it back to the car just before the heavens opened!! On the negative side we learnt later that a Yellow-browed and a Parrot Crossbill had been seen while we were there
With showers forecast we decided Titchwell was the best bet for the afternoon,lots of hides to shelter in,again this was a mixed bag failed to find the reported Jack Snipe but the large numbers of Golden Plover were impressive especially when they were spooked into the air en masse. Also close views of Black and Bar tailed Godwits,Marsh Harrier and crash diving Juvenile Gannets were good. We also befriended a tame Black-headed Gull and a tiny Crab!!
After this we went to Chosley Barns no buntings what so ever,but there were a load of Pinkfeet in the fields and 3 Buzzards hunting also cheered me up.
We checked into our B&B in Thornham ,and dragging our weary bodies out decided to walk down to the sea, good decision! bird of the day was a pale phase Arctic Skua sitting on the saltmarsh and 2 peregrines sitting on the beach the day was finished off nicely by a Barn Owl hunting across the fields and a couple of pints of Norfolk Wherry with a nice steak dinner back at the B&B.
Day two started badly with heavy rain, after a very nice breakfast we headed out decided to stop at In Focus "for a look" ended up spending way to much on some very nice Bins, I blame Margie she's supposed to stop me doing things like that!! Mind you they are awesome!!
After that we headed to Cley on the same multi hide theory as the previous day but it was so miserable we didn't leave the Visitor Centre,we went down to the beach and did a bit of a Seawatch but nothing doing.With the weather due to clear in the afternoon we made the decision to head for Winterton to look for the reported Snow Buntings.
After a very pleasant drive along the coast road we arrived at Winterton as the weather cleared,a walk along the beach failed to find the Snow Buntings though we noted large numbers of scoter on the sea, a more detailed scan revealed a group of five Velvet Scoter close in on the sea the best views of these i've ever had
As we walked along the beach we noticed some small birds a little further on a quick scan revealed three gorgeous Shorelarks which allowed us to get quite close,they were more interested in chasing each other than us! A lovely windswept walk, no Snow Buntings but great birds never the less.After this success we decided to end our trip at the Hen Reedbed near Southwold in Suffolk with the hope of a gathering of Starlings. We arrived about an hour before sunset and headed along the Sea Wall loads of Curlew and Gulls on the Estuary including some brutal looking Greater Black-backs, as we waited we noticed a sizeable flock of starlings on some fields so we were quite hopeful as the sunset approached sure enough up they went joined by some smaller flocks the numbers grew quite impressive although this was to be no Bill Oddie sky filling moment of dancing,twisting clouds of birds, no this was a quick fly in over the reedbed a brief swirl and then a dive into the reeds all over in about 30 seconds !!Slightly deflated we headed back to the carpark we were mocked by small flocks of starlings dropping into the reeds on a regular bases must of been a couple of thousand altogether.On arriving back at the carpark we decided to check out the viewpoint over the reedbed as we watched a flock of Pied wagtails came into roost then a lovely male Marsh Harrier turned up as if to make up for the Starlings lack of effort he put on a wonderful display back and forth across the reeds joined by a juvenile for a brief duet he even flushed a bittern out of the reeds for a brief flight view before dropping into the reeds to roost a wonderful finish to our trip which even without loads of rares and fairly miserable weather produced some great moments and fantastic birds.
Some Pictures,taken by Margie, from our trip can be seen here https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=6356fb2ba7828f28#cid=6356FB2BA7828F28&id=6356FB2BA7828F28!576&v=3
Cheers
