A weekend in Norfolk for my birthday. The North Norfolk coast has been a regular place to visit since childhood and a birding place I would always say I visit annually, but with Covid and work its nearly 5 years which seems such a long time since I was last there in May 2017.
Thursday 26th
We didn't leave home until 9.30 missing the rush hour traffic and arriving at Welney approaching midday. The area had obviously experienced significant floods and more recently ice and although the temperature was around 3c the ice was still present. Approaching the WWT the open fields held herds of both Whooper and Bewick Swans. A busy visitor centre, mainly because only one hide was available on the reserve due to the flooding. The hide had a few Whooper Swans visible with a large number of Pochard and Tufted Duck, 4 Goldeneye a Great Egret and some Tree Sparrows, which are always special to see these days. Sal was satisfied with cake and coffee and then we headed to the coast arriving just after 3pm, passing several groups of Fieldfare and Redwing on route we went straight to Warham Greens. I walked out to the saltmarsh, where a few people were gathered and within a couple of minutes after setting up my scope the Pallid Harrier, which had been present most of the winter, was in view and gave reasonable scope views over the next 30 minutes. Also a male Hen Harrier was in the same view and several Marsh Harriers, plenty of Brent Geese, 2 Great Egret and a single Pink-footed Goose.
We checked in to accommodation went out for a pub dinner to end the day.
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| Whooper Swan |
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| Pochard |
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| Gadwall |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Tree Sparrow |
Friday 27th January
At first light it was great to look out of the window and see a large skein of Pink-footed Geese fly over the accommodation. After breakfast we headed to Lady Anne Drive and had a walk out towards Holkham gap and along the beach Holkham. I was hoping to pick up the Shorelarks or Snow Buntings that had been present but no luck anywhere. On the sea there was only a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers and a Long-tailed Duck that was barely visible in the large swell and disappeared before I got a sensible view. After a longish walk we retreated to the rather odd looking new visitor lookout, where the poorest cafe offering I have seen dished up a coffee that was rather lacking. Decision made, we headed to Brancaster to try and find a Cackling Goose amongst a flock of Pink-feet. I found the location and was lucky to find a slot to park, then joined others. The Pink-footed Goose flock numbering several hundred birds was in a beet field , 2 fields away from the road, so a bit distant. After about 15 minutes of scoping, I saw the Richardson's Cackling Goose, although briefly to start before getting a slightly better view as it wandered through the flock. The distance meant that I could make out this was a small Canada Goose, but little else. we went to Burnham Market for a toasted sandwich and wander round and then returned to Holkham this time more successfully as it wasn't long before I found the flock of 10 Shorelark and then had a very distant view of around 30 Snow Bunting.
A good end to a decent day out followed by an equally good meal.
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
Saturday 28th January
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Snow Bunting |
Sunday 29th
The weather had turned grey and windy so a blustery morning walk around Blakeney freshmarsh where a small flock of Golden Plover and plenty of Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Rock Pipits but no Twite were around. Then went back to Cley where I just missed the long staying Long-billed Dowitcher, w which ad spent the morning on the flood before taking off, with the only other bird of note a Whooper Swan.
We headed home having had a great weekend and loved being in Norfolk again.
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