WelshFalcon
Well-known member
I arrived in Norfolk on Friday 17th Jan, mid morning, and made my way to my first stop at Titchwell. It was a dry, bright day but with strong winds. 3 hours later, when I left, I had seen 50 species – with “Sammy” the black-winged stilt the obvious highlight.
In mid afternoon, I arrived at Holkham , a few miles East along the coast. Having never been to Norfolk before, I was amazed at the numbers of pink-footed geese together with brent and white-fronted geese in the fields off Lady Anne Drive. But primarily, I was here to see shore lark, snow bunting and twite.
As I walked onto the saltings, a mixed flock of twite and goldfinch were feeding restlessly not far from the boardwalk. An hour later, there were still no signs of shore lark or snow bunting – so I turned my scope seawards and saw velvet scoter amongst the rafts of common scoter, as well as great crested grebe and mergansers.
As I walked back again over the saltings, there were still no signs of shore lark and snow bunting, and I spoke to many people who had also scoured the area and failed to locate them. As the light faded I left, disappointed - but there was always the next day. My spirits were lifted somewhat by the sight and sound of the pink-foots leaving their feeding grounds by the thousands – a sight that is truly “Norfolk in Winter”.
Saturday - beautiful blue skies, a lighter wind, and back in Holkham by 8 am. Within minutes, I saw a flock of c.60 shore lark, and as I scanned through them, a stunning male snow bunting. Each time they took flight it was a wonderful sight to see the sun glinting off the wings and tail….and then to get shore lark, snow bunting and twite in my scope all at once was unforgettable. A look out to sea gave better views of scoter and two red throated divers.
As I arrived back near the car park, I was called over by someone who had just seen a waxwing land only a few yards away. I’ve always been fascinated by this odd-looking, but stangely beautiful bird, which I had only ever seen in books and on tv, so to see my first one at such close quarters was superb. We were soon joined by a flock of c.30 humans, and the obliging bird came to drink from a puddle only a few metres from us, and flew into a tree right above our heads – just in case we hadn’t seen it yet. My day was getting better and better.
I went up to the woodland of Holkham Hall, to the tawny owl roost, where an obliging bird was nicely visible – once you knew where to look! The woods were alive with woodpeckers, but only great spotted were seen, the lessers keeping themselves hidden away from me.
On Saturday afternoon, I visited Cley Next the Sea – I had been misguidedly told that avocets only winter at Breydon Water, so to see them at Cley was an unexpected bonus. I’ve always maintained that no picture, painting or photograph can ever quite capture the elegance of an avocet. Water pipit was pointed out to me on an adjacent field – I’ll be honest, I’d never have picked it out myself!
It was now time to head for Stiffkey – to try to end a superb day on another high. It took about half an hour for the yellow-browed warbler to come out to play, but when it emerged with a family of long-tailed tits, it fed actively and visibly for a good 15 minutes before I had to go. I had a date with an even more important visitor – the pallid harrier.
The walk from Stiffkey along the coast to Warham saltmarsh was not exactly a lonely affair! By 3 pm there must have been over 200 people lined up waiting for the harriers to come in to roost. Unfortunately, it began clouding over, and the harriers stayed pretty distant in the failing light. The pallid harrier spent time with 3 female hen harriers, giving good opportunity to compare the sizes and the styles of flight, but it was difficult to pick out the plumage in the failing light and due to the distance. The two hours spent watching the raptors also gave us views of marsh harriers, two peregrines, (one of which made a kill out over the beach) a merlin, kestrel, a short eared owl and a very obliging barn owl.
This was easily the best day’s birdwatching I had ever had. I could go home the following morning quite happy with what I’d seen.
Sunday morning was dark, grey and very wet. I was going to make my way home, but had time for a couple of brief stops along the way. I reached Hunstanton South Beach about ½ an hour after high tide. There were no purple sandpipers on the slipway, but a walk along the deserted sea-wall finally yielded one picking out food on one of the groynes. There were sanderling scurrying amongst the waves and eider duck only a few metres out to sea.
Next stop was the ‘Wolferton Triangle’ – ½ an hour sheltering (unsuccessfully) under the trees from the rain was finally rewarded with a pair of golden pheasant scurrying through the undergrowth, and a later single male perched up on a fallen tree.
My final stop was at Abbey Farm in Flitcham – a real jewel of a site. The resident little owl was perched on a fallen tree opposite the hide, a male hen harrier flew only metres in front of the hide giving a superb view, I also saw tree sparrow, yellowhammer, Egyptian goose and water rail. We were waiting in the hide for the wintering rough-legged buzzard, but to no avail. (It was as I left that I was told it had been circling the fields out of sight from the hide, whilst I was inside).
As I drove home, I reflected on the additions to my life list – black-winged stilt, pink-footed goose, twite, snow bunting, waxwing, water pipit, yellow-browed warbler, pallid harrier, purple sandpiper and golden pheasant.
It’s difficult to pick out one highlight on such a trip – but three things stand out in my mind. The waxwing has to take top spot as my favourite bird of the trip; the raptor roost at susk at Warham was my favourite site, as I love raptors. Finally, the friendship, camaraderie and willingness to share information by Norfolk birders made them the friendliest bunch of people I’ve come across. Always willing to share knowledge and local information which made the trip so memorable.
As a relative novice, my life list was well below 200 before my trip. It’s only after adding up my totals that I now found myself on 199! – if only I’d looked harder for the corn buntings, or driven all that way to see the common cranes, or been looking the other way when the rough legged buzzard was around. What if the weather had been calmer and I’d seen bearded tits at Cley, or if I’d been able to get my scope out to sea at Hunstanton for long-tailed duck? So many ‘what if’s’ , but in reality, I has seen 112 species, had the best birdwatching weekend possible, and I wasn’t there for a race to get the most species. I have to leave something to go back for next year!
In mid afternoon, I arrived at Holkham , a few miles East along the coast. Having never been to Norfolk before, I was amazed at the numbers of pink-footed geese together with brent and white-fronted geese in the fields off Lady Anne Drive. But primarily, I was here to see shore lark, snow bunting and twite.
As I walked onto the saltings, a mixed flock of twite and goldfinch were feeding restlessly not far from the boardwalk. An hour later, there were still no signs of shore lark or snow bunting – so I turned my scope seawards and saw velvet scoter amongst the rafts of common scoter, as well as great crested grebe and mergansers.
As I walked back again over the saltings, there were still no signs of shore lark and snow bunting, and I spoke to many people who had also scoured the area and failed to locate them. As the light faded I left, disappointed - but there was always the next day. My spirits were lifted somewhat by the sight and sound of the pink-foots leaving their feeding grounds by the thousands – a sight that is truly “Norfolk in Winter”.
Saturday - beautiful blue skies, a lighter wind, and back in Holkham by 8 am. Within minutes, I saw a flock of c.60 shore lark, and as I scanned through them, a stunning male snow bunting. Each time they took flight it was a wonderful sight to see the sun glinting off the wings and tail….and then to get shore lark, snow bunting and twite in my scope all at once was unforgettable. A look out to sea gave better views of scoter and two red throated divers.
As I arrived back near the car park, I was called over by someone who had just seen a waxwing land only a few yards away. I’ve always been fascinated by this odd-looking, but stangely beautiful bird, which I had only ever seen in books and on tv, so to see my first one at such close quarters was superb. We were soon joined by a flock of c.30 humans, and the obliging bird came to drink from a puddle only a few metres from us, and flew into a tree right above our heads – just in case we hadn’t seen it yet. My day was getting better and better.
I went up to the woodland of Holkham Hall, to the tawny owl roost, where an obliging bird was nicely visible – once you knew where to look! The woods were alive with woodpeckers, but only great spotted were seen, the lessers keeping themselves hidden away from me.
On Saturday afternoon, I visited Cley Next the Sea – I had been misguidedly told that avocets only winter at Breydon Water, so to see them at Cley was an unexpected bonus. I’ve always maintained that no picture, painting or photograph can ever quite capture the elegance of an avocet. Water pipit was pointed out to me on an adjacent field – I’ll be honest, I’d never have picked it out myself!
It was now time to head for Stiffkey – to try to end a superb day on another high. It took about half an hour for the yellow-browed warbler to come out to play, but when it emerged with a family of long-tailed tits, it fed actively and visibly for a good 15 minutes before I had to go. I had a date with an even more important visitor – the pallid harrier.
The walk from Stiffkey along the coast to Warham saltmarsh was not exactly a lonely affair! By 3 pm there must have been over 200 people lined up waiting for the harriers to come in to roost. Unfortunately, it began clouding over, and the harriers stayed pretty distant in the failing light. The pallid harrier spent time with 3 female hen harriers, giving good opportunity to compare the sizes and the styles of flight, but it was difficult to pick out the plumage in the failing light and due to the distance. The two hours spent watching the raptors also gave us views of marsh harriers, two peregrines, (one of which made a kill out over the beach) a merlin, kestrel, a short eared owl and a very obliging barn owl.
This was easily the best day’s birdwatching I had ever had. I could go home the following morning quite happy with what I’d seen.
Sunday morning was dark, grey and very wet. I was going to make my way home, but had time for a couple of brief stops along the way. I reached Hunstanton South Beach about ½ an hour after high tide. There were no purple sandpipers on the slipway, but a walk along the deserted sea-wall finally yielded one picking out food on one of the groynes. There were sanderling scurrying amongst the waves and eider duck only a few metres out to sea.
Next stop was the ‘Wolferton Triangle’ – ½ an hour sheltering (unsuccessfully) under the trees from the rain was finally rewarded with a pair of golden pheasant scurrying through the undergrowth, and a later single male perched up on a fallen tree.
My final stop was at Abbey Farm in Flitcham – a real jewel of a site. The resident little owl was perched on a fallen tree opposite the hide, a male hen harrier flew only metres in front of the hide giving a superb view, I also saw tree sparrow, yellowhammer, Egyptian goose and water rail. We were waiting in the hide for the wintering rough-legged buzzard, but to no avail. (It was as I left that I was told it had been circling the fields out of sight from the hide, whilst I was inside).
As I drove home, I reflected on the additions to my life list – black-winged stilt, pink-footed goose, twite, snow bunting, waxwing, water pipit, yellow-browed warbler, pallid harrier, purple sandpiper and golden pheasant.
It’s difficult to pick out one highlight on such a trip – but three things stand out in my mind. The waxwing has to take top spot as my favourite bird of the trip; the raptor roost at susk at Warham was my favourite site, as I love raptors. Finally, the friendship, camaraderie and willingness to share information by Norfolk birders made them the friendliest bunch of people I’ve come across. Always willing to share knowledge and local information which made the trip so memorable.
As a relative novice, my life list was well below 200 before my trip. It’s only after adding up my totals that I now found myself on 199! – if only I’d looked harder for the corn buntings, or driven all that way to see the common cranes, or been looking the other way when the rough legged buzzard was around. What if the weather had been calmer and I’d seen bearded tits at Cley, or if I’d been able to get my scope out to sea at Hunstanton for long-tailed duck? So many ‘what if’s’ , but in reality, I has seen 112 species, had the best birdwatching weekend possible, and I wasn’t there for a race to get the most species. I have to leave something to go back for next year!
