Paul Matson's Birding Blog: 14th - 17th February

With the girls on half-term, we had a 3 night stay in Norfolk , based in Holkham, consisting of 2 full days there plus a day either end of mainly journeying. The weather had warmed slightly to around 6c from the previous weeks' freeze but remained overcast throughout.

Our first stop was at a small nature reserve near Fakenham called Sculthorpe Moor. It can be difficult to encourage the girls to venture beyond a visitor centre when it's cold, but they're always up for a good boardwalk, and Sculthorpe's is pretty impressive, so we had a decent wander around. A speciality here is Willow Tit, although after seeing several obvious Marsh Tits, I thought I then had a good candidate (paler secondaries, white extended cheek patch and buffy brown flanks), but it then pronounced itself as a Marsh Tit with a burst of song, not surprising they are mis-id'd without hearing calls. A good number of other commoner woodland species and a close Muntjac Deer, were present although a chainsaw gang working around the reserve probably kept a few birds hiding.

After checking in at our accommodation I had a late afternoon walk at Holkham with a Barn Owl, Pink-footed and White-fronted Geese, and a Water Rail being the highlights.

On Wednesday early morning I went to the Wells end of the woods, but saw very little so returned for breakfast. Hannah was studying for exams and the girls were very happy having found a comfortable spot in the hotel next to an open fire, so headed off to Titchwell. Lots of people (as ever at Titchwell) were looking for the Arctic Redpoll around the visitor centre but there was no sign amongst the Lesser Redpolls present. Walking to the beach there was a male Scaup on the freshmarsh with Spotted Redshank, Ruff and Avocet among the more usual suspects. On the sea 2 Long-tailed Ducks flew past before landing and 2 Velvet Scoter were just off the beach with a single Eider and lots of Goldeneye, Red-throated Diver and Red-breasted Merganser. Back near the visitor centre I found the Coues's Arctic Redpoll feeding in Alders near the picnic area, showing its' unstreaked white rump fairly clearly through the scope.

I picked the girls up and we headed to Cley for lunch, Hannah preferred the Holt shops so I went for a walk around the nearest hides at Cley marshes with Adie who kept the bird list until her hands stopped working with the cold. 2 Whooper Swans flew in, a close Little Egret kept us entertained catching fish until one of the several Marsh Harriers flushed it and lots of other wildfowl kept us looking.

On Thursday, I went for another morning walk at Holkham. The Pink-footed Geese (c2,500) were quite a spectacle coming into the grazing marsh for around 2 hours before heading off again. A Bittern flew in front of one of the hides, and 2 Rough-Legged Buzzards were seen at the far end of the marsh. I picked out 2 Greenland White-fronted Geese amongst the Eurasian White-fronts and a Peregrine was sitting in the field where the departed Geese had been.

After some lunch in Wells we all headed to Titchwell in the afternoon. Being half-term, the girls were given a trail quiz each to find various birds, mammals and landmarks (although I think Waxwing and Twite were quite ambitious asks). The bizarre battleship structure of the Parinder hide allowed some close views of Ruff, Golden Plover, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Pintail, Teal, Wigeon and Gadwall. A Red-necked Grebe drifted past on the sea with one of yesterdays Long-tailed Ducks and a Redhead Smew on the freshmarsh on the walk back just as it started to rain. Adie, who had the shorter quiz, was gifted a label badge of choice and packet including a wildlife CD. Hannah was told she'd won a gold medal for her efforts and ended up with a brown plastic badge with 'Spot it' emblazened across it - she wasn't impressed.

Friday morning allowed for another walk to Holkham before we journeyed home, I found 3 Tundra Bean Geese in the Pink-foot flock and a male Merlin was perched up fairly distantly on a fencepost with 2 Barn Owls hunting in the same view.

It was a relaxing break and I ended with a good list of birds, 106 species.