[Emma]

A pre-christmas holiday was enjoyed in Norfolk from 12.12.09 to 19.12.09, it was so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Christmas shopping! Our holiday was extended by an additional day due to the heavy snow that blanketed Norfolk on the 17th, the roads were impassable so it wasn’t worth attempting the journey home so our extra day was spent getting more provisons and a nice walk through Wells Woods!

Strumpshaw Fen 13.12.09
It is always nice to visit this reserve as even if there aren’t too many birds to be seen the scenery more than makes up for it!! We were greeted at the reserve by a large flock of 40+ Goldfinch and Siskin’s that were feeding in the Alders near to the reception hide, we had been told that there were Redpoll in amongst the flock but we were unable to pick them out, this was partly due to the distance away from us and also that we had an afternoon visit to the reserve so the light wasn’t that brilliant for using the scope! The majority of birds seemed to be buzzing around the new feeders that have been put up near to the reception hide with Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Blue & Great Tits and the obligatory Pheasants at the bottom of the feeder hovering up the spilt seed! One nice surprise was a Marsh Tit that was quite content watching the other birds zipping to and fro to the feeders! The number of waterfowl was fairly low with Mallard, Shoveler, Swan, Teal and coots being the main sightings together with a very showy Water Rail directly in front of the Fen hide which more than made up for the quietness out on the water!! As we had a late afternoon visit we were treated to some super sightings for the raptor roost with 7 Marsh Harriers all being up in the air together but the highlight was a stunning male Hen Harrier that flew over the reserve and over to Surlingham Marshes! We also saw and heard the rooks heading for their corvid roost at nearby Buckenham Church, the sound was eerily spooky!! The other highlight for me was seeing one of the resident Barn Owls perched on the edge of their nest box in the woods!

[Emma]

Burnham Overy Staithe 15.12.09 AM

This has to be one of my favourite places to visit on the North Norfolk coast as the area has so many different habitats and the scenery could be straight off a chocolate box, plus we have always done well with bird watching here and today wasn’t to be any different! We had blue skies and plenty of wintry sunshine so a slow walk was had along the raised footpath, there were good numbers of Redshank, Curlew, Whimbrel, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Wigeon, Teal, Mallard and Shelduck out on the mudflats together with several flocks of Dunlin that put on some super flying displays in the sunshine! Marsh Harrier and Kestrel were also seen over the nearby fields. Brent Geese were also enjoying the sunshine both on the water and in the fields! We decided not to walk to the dunes on this occasion just incase the weather decided to suddenly change on us so once we got to the sluice we headed back to the car and then on to Titchwell!

[Emma]

Burnham Overy Staithe continued.....

[Emma]

Titchwell 15.12.09 PM

Titchwell Village
Up to now we hadn’t seen any of the Pink Feet that are normally in the Holkham area, it appears that they had relocated to Titchwell! Large flocks were seen on the drive to Titchwell and we were lucky enough to pick out the Snow Goose that had joined the Pink Feet in their feeding grounds, the view was very distant but the Snow Goose seemed to ‘sparkle’ amongst the Pink Feet!


RSPB TItchwell
First stop here was to the feeding station for a sausage and onion baguette and a nice cup of tea to warm us up! It was mid afternoon by the time we got out onto the reserve and it was fairly quiet people and birdwise! Out on the water were Shoveler, Teal, Mallard, Wigeon, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Cormorant, Little Grebe, Coot and a pair of Pintail, there weren’t too many small birds flying about the reserve but a large flock of Linnets were seen near to the new sea wall that is being constructed. When we reached the beach we were surprised at how calm the sea was, it was like a mill pond and was to be the calm before the storm that was going to hit us in the coming days! The tide was fairly high up the beach but there were good numbers of Oystercatcher, Turnstone, Knot, Sanderling, Black-tailed Godwit and Curlew on the waterline and out at sea a group of 6 Goldeneye were seen together with Common Scoter and Black-headed Gulls seemingly enjoying the calm waters! On the walk back through the reserve we were treated to a super sunset, we had hoped to see the raptors coming into roost but not one was seen!

[Emma]

Wells Beach & Holkham Bay 17.12.09

Today was the first day of the Wintry weather, the 16th turned into a non birding day due to the high winds and cold temperatures so we were determined to get out and about today! We first headed to Wells beach and were greeted by icy cold winds and the view of a very rough sea! It was far too cold to stay for too long but we had some super views of Brent Geese along the shoreline together with Oystercatcher, Sanderling, Dunlin, Turnstone and Redshank out on the sandbank. New channel work was going on in Wells harbour to deepen the access into the harbour, more information for this work can be found in the information board pic below.

We decided to see what was out and about in Holkham Bay, our reasoning was 2 fold 1) in the hope that some migrants had been blown in on the strong winds and 2) that we could shelter in the pines from the wind and snow! Unfortunately the woods and bay was very quiet apart from 100+ Redshank, Dunlin, Shelduck and Brent Geese seen feeding in the marsh area, further along the bay Skylark and Snow Buntings were seen feeding in the sand/grassy area, we tried to pick out a shorelark but non were to be seen today! I should think that the birds had hunkered down in preparation for the bad weather that was to get even worse and very few birds were seen here which is quite unusual! The sea was very rough which would have been good for sea watching however the high winds would have meant it would have been a marathon effort to even get close to the sea from the bay area, we also had a few snow showers so this made our minds up to stay in the bay/woods area!

[Emma]

Wells Woods 18.12.09

Today was due to be our travelling back home day but due to the bad weather we decided to stay put for an extra day. After walking into Wells to get some provisions we headed out for a walk through Wells Woods, the fallen snow made the woods look quite magical! On the walk to the woods we had some super views of a Kingfisher that was fishing in one of the dykes alongside the footpath and appeared to catch a fish that was a bit too big for it to cope with, the striking blue colour of the Kingfisher made a super contrast against the pure white snow! A Barn Owl was seen hunting over the low 'cleared' area within the woods before heading off into the depths of the woods, I could stand for hours just watching Barn Owls as there is something quite mesmerizing about them! We walked through the woods and out towards the beach, there wasn't too much about apart from Goldcrest, Jay, Magpie, Starling and Chaffinch, think this was due to the sporadic snow showers keeping the birds down! When we got to the beach we were greeted with a surprising view of snow covered sand dunes! I have never seen lying snow on a beach before and it was a bit of a surreal moment seeing it in front of the brightly coloured beach huts!!

[PaulE]

looks like you had a good time Emma lovely pics especially the kingfisher and the water rail and some spectacular landscapes

cheers

[Drumming Sniper]

Thanks for some really nice reports and cracking pictures. We stay at Wells a couple of times most years and I particularly like the image of the famous beach huts with snow in the foreground.

Regards,

DS

[Emma]

Thank you Paul and Drumming Sniper for your kind comments!!

The North Norfolk coast is stunning scenery wise at anytime of the year but I must admit that like you Drumming Sniper we were particularly taken with the snow and beach hut photograph, it was really strange to see them with the snow around them!!