Paul Matson's Birding Blog: Saturday 6th - Tuesday 9th August

What feels like a well-earned few days break from work , Adie and I spent 4 days in Norfolk, staying in the centre of Holt in a small cottage.

We left fairly early and stopped at Welney WWT on the way. Sunny and bright but quite windy, a recent lack of rain meant water levels were low. A few Yellow Wagtails were around the Car Park area and the wet scrape to the south of the visitor centre held Lapwing , some Ruff and Redshank although viewing straight into the sun they were largely silhouettes. On entering the Main hide some birding occupants were pointing out a Wood Sandpiper in the pool at the back of the scrape. So I put the scope up and scanned around the Green Sandpipers present, but I could only see Green Sandpipers , I fear they may have alighted on a rather speckled juvenile Green Sandpiper. Adie meanwhile was doing her best to take a picture of the House Martins hawking just in front of the hide. A Common Sandpiper and a few eclipse Teal were also present.

View at Welney from the footbridge down the channel.

The view south was largely into the sun

Grazing herd from the main hide

Adie managed this respectable picture of a House Martin.

We carried on to the Norfolk coast and arrived at Titchwell around lunchtime so before walking out to the marsh we ate at the visitor centre. Being a sunny Saturday in August, there were lots of people, but the birds were still there. 3 Marsh Harriers were on the Saltmarsh and the Fresh Marsh had good numbers of waders with lots more Ruff, a Little Stint, Little Ringed Plover , 4 Dunlin and plenty of Black-tailed Godwit amongst the numerous Avocets, some of the Godwit being Icelandic race. We carried on to the beach although the tide was well out a single Common Scoter drifted passed on the sea. It was a bit too windy to have hope of any passerines other than a brief Reed Warbler. A Bearded Tit was heard 'pinging' but remained hidden.

Back to the car and late afternoon along the coast road and found our cottage, settled in and watched some Olympics.

Over the reedbed at Titchwell

Reed Warbler

Ruff

Black-tailed Godwit

Lapwing

Little Ringed Plover

Sunday morning we visited Cley, we parked at the East Bank and walked up towards the sea wall. It was dry but very windy. There was little new activity with just a small number of Ringed Plover and 4 Dunlin on Arnolds Marsh and a large group of roosting Sandwich Terns. A few Common and Sandwich Terns passed by at the sea, so we walked back to the car with Adie finding a Bearded Tit in the reeds, despite the wind,

A walk out to the main hides from the visitor centre was still hampered by wind. Several Swallows were moving over the reserve, There were a small number of waders on the scrape with more Ruff, Dunlin, Redshank and a single , Greenshank, with the local Avocets. A Marsh Harrier was briefly seen and the roosting Gulls held 2 Yellow-legged Gulls..

Time for a quick snack at the Cley reserve café before moving to Blakeney for Adie's favourite activity, Crabbing, despite the falling tide we caught about 30 crabs.

Returned to Holt late afternoon.

Lookig towards the hides in the centre of the reserve at Cley.

Moorhen

On Monday morning we had booked a trip to see the Blakeney Seals from Morston Quay. The weather was warm, overcast and threatening drizzle and still with a strong wind. There was a bit of Spray on the way out, but there were a good number of Common Seals on the point with some Grey Seals in the sea. Sandwich Terns still had chicks, which is quite late in the season, but they'd been disrupted by the cold start to the Spring. On the way back into the harbour a Spoonbill flew over Morston marshes.

Common Seal

Common Seals

Grey Seal

Sandwich Terns and chicks amongst the seals - Seals look quite clumsy, posing a danger of flattening the tern chicks.

Sandwich Tern

Distant Spoonbill

In the afternoon I went to Cley beach and looked over the sea from Coastguards, dodging a rain shower under the shelter. A summer plumage Red-throated Diver was close on the sea, and Ringed Plover, Knot, Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit all flew past. A single Greenshank flew up from the reserve where the old hide used to be but there was little else to be seen from the bank in the wind.

On Tuesday morning we drove to Snettisham, hoping to catch the high tide. Our timing was good but the tide was not a particularly high one so many of the waders were able to stay well out on the mud flats, although we did see good numbers. There would have been 10's of thousands of Oystercatcher and Knot with large numbers of Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Dunlin. A few Sanderling and Turnstone and I counted at least 9 Little Stints. The movement generally went with the tide but a Marsh Harrier that flew over spooked the large groups of birds a couple of times giving rise to a huge spectacle.

Other birds included Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Linnet, Greenfinch, Goldfinch. The weather warmed up nicely with slightly less wind than the previous days. An afternoon was spent looking around some towns on the way back to Holt and back home on Wednesday with 90 species of bird seen over the 4 days.