had a successful trip. managed to see nearly everything i went for which was unusual.
on the way there we saw some swans near welney and 3 emus somewhere random.
at on friday afternnon hunstanton we had lovely views of the fulmars on the cliffs. there were some commoner waders and a med gull on the beach. i couldn't manage more than single red-throated diver offshore.
when we arrived we walked onto the seawall and had good views of the rough-legged buzzard on a post. (we were staying at burnham deepdale farm)
on saturday morning with surprisingly a crowd of about 40 the white-crowned sparrow was showing well at cley. at beeston when we arrived the bittern had flown off from the pond. after waiting a while i got bored and so went for a walk to see if there was anything else about. i spotted the bittern in the field with the long grass showing very well around the gorse bushes. after enjoying it myself for a few minutes
, i went and got the only 10 or so people who were there and everyone enjoyed good views. the birds stayed here for about 30 minutes before flying off as more people began to arrive. it appeared to land at the pond but had actually landed somewhere else. back at the pond loads of birders began to arrive so we left. it may be tame but i can't see why it would land there when there were nearly 50 people surrounding the pond.
cley was dead. about 800 brents flew off as we were eating. the scrapes held the usual avocets and ducks plus a couple of ruff, golden plover and redshank but there were very few birds. 2 marsh harriers. med gull on the duck pond by the road.
at salthouse there were 20+ red-throats offshore plus 2 guillemots flew past. the flock of about 50 snow buntings showed superbly the whole time. when the photographers waited quietly by the green grass bit then they would come down to feed metres away. i never understand why the people with the biggest lenses need to get closest tho :C. 2 marsh harriere
we had a bit of time to spare so headed to holkham not really knowing what we were going to see. c50 Pinkfeet and c1000 Brents showed well in the fields by Lady Anne's Drive plus some close Snipe roosting in the grass. as we entered the washington hide a pair of marsh harriers entertained us and there were thousands of ducks mostly wigeon. a muntjac was feeding down the side of a field, briefly being watched by the only jay of the trip. a barn owl appeared out of nowhere as they do and showed beautifully in the golden light. with hundreds of curlew flying over calling as well it was one of those really atmospheric afternoons that makes norfolk so special. 2 more barn owls showed distantly over the other side and i also spotted a mystery bird. it was flying away from us the whole time which made it hard to id but the only thing that i seemed anything like was a long-eared owld. it was slightly larger than a barn owl but smaller than a female hen harrier and it had quite flat wings. i watched it for about half a minute before it disappeared into holkham estate.
on sunday we started at holme where the tide was far out which made seawatching difficult. i picked up the 30 or so long-tailed ducks showing poorly plus after a while 4 pairs of mergansers and a great northern diver! 2 fulmars flew past. commoner waders and brents were on the beach and a nice male bullfinch was in the hedgerow in holme village
at choseley corn buntings and yellowhammers were both fairly numerous often feeding on the ground by the barns. a buzzard was circling overhead. for the first time i saw no partridge of any kind here.
as usual titchwell produced. we started with a brambling on the feeders and then red-legged partridge, snipe, lapwing, curlew and golden plover all in the same scope view in the wet fields. a crowd had gathered and were watching a group of about 5 redpoll silently feeding in the trees. the freshmarsh was frozen over. about 30 ruff were present plus avocets, a med gull, pintails and a marsh harrier. a water rail scurried across the ice and a bearded tit called then showed in flight only. there wasnt much on the brackish marsh that wasnt an oystercatcher. the tidal pool was the best. i spotted 2 twite feeding on the sandy bit at the back. after watching them for about 2 minutes our attention turned to a spotshank that had just landed in front of us. when i went back to the twite they had disappeared! 3 goldeneye were on the tidal pool plus a variety of waders and ducks. offshore it took a while for me to find anything except goldeneyes and gulls. after ages i found 2 female scoter, 1 female merganser, and a female eider. a fulmar flew past (unsexed
). the way back was more productive. from parrinder hide a snipe was showing incredibly about a metre in front of the hide. a water rail also gave brilliant scope views along the reed edge. a peregrine was perched in a dead tree and a merlin flew past so quickly that most people didnt even notice it! on the path to the car park we were going to have a good look for the woodcock but fortunately someone had done the hard work for us. i was expecting to see a pile of leaves with a beak sticking out, but i was quite wrong. it was walking around feeding and giving great scope views quite close. it took a while to spot but once you had found it you couldn't miss it. certainly a very rare opportunity.
at warham it was quite foggy but 3 marsh harriers and 2 female hens showed, although the hens were rather distant. also a flock of about 40 linnet and many red-legged partridges.
this morning we went out onto thornham point to look for the lapland buntings because i had only heard '7 lapland buntings at thornham'. obviously no luck but plenty of skylarks and mipits. when we found out they were in a flooded stubble field we drove around a bit trying to find it. we arrived at a car park where a kind birder told us the buntings were just down the seawall in the field. it took a long time to find them but i got six together in flight and then enjoyed excellent close views of one on the ground for about 10 minutes. i found 2 more on the ground showing not so well. we also saw a knot which was one of the commoner birds we hadnt seen. and now another mystery bird.
i almost passed it off as a dunlin but closer inspection showed it to be quite different. it could have just been a retarded dunlin but it had an obvious white eyestripe, a longer body and a slighly short less curved bill. it had the 'scales' effect on its sides which you normally see in juvenile waders in the autumn. looking in my collins bird guide i seriously think it could have been a white-rumped sandpiper, so if anyone goes for the laps could they have a look at it. it was in the channel just by the field where the buntings are (TF 724 443).
welney had large numbers of swans with the whoopers being from the observatory and the bewicks in the fields, but no sign of the crane or beans. a rather lost looking brent, a marsh harrier and about 500 godwits was 'the best of the rest'.
hope everyone has had a good day,
tom
