Wednesday 28th
I set of from home around 6.30am, inevitably hitting M25 rush hour, so it took a bit longer than hoped but arriving on the North Norfolk coast I headed straight to Brancaster arriving at 11am. The first bird I saw after a short walk along the beach was a Hoopoe, which was busily feeding away on the sand, just in the dunes. A lovely bird although always looks wrong in a UK landscape. The weather was bright warm and breezy with big clear skies. A few Swallow flew past with Meadow Pipit and Skylark.
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| Brancaster Beach |
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| Hoopoe |
I moved on to Titchwell at around 1pm. It was packed ! - Despite being mid-week and not in holiday season, I couldn't find a place in car park for 20 minutes. Walking out on the main footpath an adult Scaup was on the Reed Pool and 5 Marsh Harriers were hunting over the saltmarsh,. The freshmarsh had a good selection of waders with a flock of c150 Golden Plover, c50 Ruff roosting Bar-tailed-Godwit and Knot joined the regular feeders of Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin with a single Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper. A group of 20 Brent Geese were early arrivals and on the sea a Red-throated Diver, Great Crested Grebe and 5 Pink-footed Geese flew from a distance over the Wash.
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| Teal still in eclipse |
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| Ruff |
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| Black-tailed Godwit |
The wind had picked up, the saltmarsh had a few Curlew, Redshank, Little Egret and a Greenshank and 12 Spoonbill flew towards Wells late on. The bushes were unsurprisingly quiet with a just a single Blackcap seen.
Thursday 29th
Todays forecast was pretty grim, with strong Westerly winds and the promise of rain. Not really a day with high expectations. I decided to spend the morning at Wells and Holkham in the Woods, where a least there would be a little shelter . The winds were certainly strong but the rain only lasted for the first hour and from then continued to brighten. A couple of weeks previously, after a period of Easterlies, several Yellow-browed Warblers had been reported at various sites in Norfolk but had since largely dispersed, although the woods at Holkham/Wells still had the occasional report of a YBW. Today however, the woods were fairly disappointing, the windy weather not making searching for small birds ideal. A couple of small flocks held plenty of Goldcrest and Chiffchaff and a couple of Blackcap, but nothing more interesting. The marshes at Holkham had a good build up of Pink-footed Goose with several hundred birds already present. 3 or 4 Marsh Harriers were also over grazing marsh, but 5 hours walking was pleasant enough but thin on the bird front.
With no more exciting news I decided to try Titchwell again. A Pectoral Sandpiper had been seen on and off over the last week, and a Yellow-browed Warbler had also been seen earlier in the day, so at least there was a chance. The reserve was slightly quieter than the previous day, but the wind was still vigorous so little hope for passerines, also the 'Pec Sand' was making only very brief appearances before spending the day hidden in the reeds. So my walk around the trails held no sight or sound of any warblers and the views over the freshmarsh showed no sign of the Pec Sand. The surprise of the afternoon was an Osprey that drifted South over the saltmarsh, which I first picked up over the beach looking towards Thornham. The waders were very much the same as the previous day, but still a good selection with plenty of activity on the freshmarsh.
Friday 30th
The winds had dropped today although it remained breezy and still from the West. I headed further East along the coast to Cley. I parked at East Bank and had a look around the back of the Walsey Hills pool (again another YBW had been seen there yesterday) but just Goldcrest, and on the pool were Snipe with a Grey Heron.
Walking up the East Bank, 3 Bearded Tits pinged briefly as they dived into cover, Arnolds Marsh was empty and a small flock of 20+ Meadow Pipits were on the beach along with 2 Wheatears. The sea was almost devoid of birds some Sandwich Terns passed noisily and I could just make out a distant Gannet and Red-throated Diver.
I called in at the visitor centre at Cley with half a mind to walk around the hides afterwards but over a Bacon Bap I changed my mind, the surprise for me was the lack of birds on the main reserve, it feels like that the quality of the pools has not properly recovered since last years Winter flooding. Comparing this to Titchwell where the freshmarsh was full of birds. It was clear that despite a flock of Greylag Geese and a handful of Wigeon the reserve was near empty.
Instead, I drove to the beach at Salthouse and walked over Granborough Hill. The weather was nice with blue skies and a brisk westerly wind, but again very little on the bird front just 2 Wheatears and 2 Stonechat. I was enjoying the fresh air and just decided today might be a day to do exactly that. Next stop was back to the beach at Cley at Coastguards. I started walking towards Blakeney Point and walked as far as Halfway House , Several Wheatears were at least a sign of movement, a few Skylarks , Meadow Pipit and Reed Buntings.
The next hour or so was spent with my only retail therapy of the few days, firstly at Cley Spy then to Holt and then calling in at Blakeney for an ice cream at harbour. Final stop was back to Stiffkey and longer walk on the edge of the marsh this time as far as Warham Greens, although to be honest I'm not exactly sure where Warham Greens officially starts. 5 Spoonbills were feeding on the saltmarsh with Little Egrets, Curlew, Redshank and a Greenshank. The scrub and bushes seemed empty until I came across 2 Whinchat and a Stonechat. One of the fields held a large Golden Plover flock and a covey of Grey Partridge. I stayed around until dusk hoping that there maybe a Owl appearance but other than a Marsh Harrier and a few waders and Gulls no Barn Owl appeared.
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| Grey Heron early morning on the pool at Walsey Hills |
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| View from the East Bank at Cley |
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| Wheatear |
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| Fishing Boats at Cley |
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| Whinchat at Warham Greens |
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| Whinchat |
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| view over Saltmarsh at Stiffey |
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| Spoonbill at Stiffkey |
A day with a prediction of worsening weather through the afternoon. Pre-breakfast just standing at the door of my room at the pub several skeins of Pink-footed Goose were heading out over Stiffkey, a commotion saw a Jackdaw, Rook and Mistle Thrush in pursuit of a bright green bird - it was a Ring-Necked Parakeet, which was a bit of a surprise as I wasn't aware they had dispersed to Norfolk and then a Great White Egret flew over and disappeared behind the houses. A surprising start to the morning.
I went back to Titchwell as at least there were a good number of birds there. Walking out to the hides plenty of Bearded Tits were active in the reeds with a late Reed Warbler. A Whinchat was visible at the back of the reeds and the freshmarsh was still full of waders. The large Golden Plover flock, 50+Ruff, Avocet, Black- tailed Godwit, 100+ Dunlin, 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Little Stint, 4 Curlew Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Greenshank, Snipe . There was still no sign of the Pec Sand(or YBW) and the sea had very little. The weather had started to close in as I left Titchwell . I drove up to the drying barns at Choseley, where a few Red-Legged Partridge a flock of Goldfinches and some Pied Wagtails were the only activity I then headed to Holme as I was short of ideas. A Richards Pipit (or 2) had been reported in the grazing fields at the back of the Broadwater lagoon, which was only viewable from the public footpath. As I approached a viewing position I could hear the distinctive sparrow like calling what was almost definitely the Richards Pipit, but it it offered no view. There was really no possibility of seeing the bird on the ground so a flight view was the only option. I stayed in the area for a couple of hours with no success, but there were several more Whinchat and Stonechat and a Peregrine and Buzzard were quartering the field with several Swallows present. I left around 4.15 just as the rain started which was torrential with thunderous looking black clouds by the time I made it back to Stiffkey
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| A skein of Pink-footed Geese |
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| Snipe at Titchwell - the light was a bit weird |
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| Curlew Sandpiper |
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| Dunlin |
I had originally planned to leave fairly early today and head home. The appalling weather last night changed my plan a little as this morning looked like a strong N/NW wind may encourage a bit of seabird passage so I left Stiffkey at 6.45am and drove to Cley beach. It was windy and wet with a bit of flooding on the road. There were already a number of birders looking out from around the shelter at coastguards . It turned out to be an excellent seawatch until I left around 10.30 The full list
Leach's Petrel (2)
Long-tailed Skua (2)
Arctic Skua (10)
Great Skua (46)
Sooty Shearwater (8)
Manx Shearwater (5)
Grey Phalarope (1)
Razorbill
Guillemot
Kittiwake
Eider (3)
RT Diver (30+)
Diver sp 15
Gannet ('00s)
The Leach's Petrels were close to the shore and the first Long-tailed Skua was seen at the same time as the first Leach's with both being in the same scope view. In fact most of the birds were seen very close to shore with the wind and because they were travelling into the wind their passage was slow enough to get really good views.
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