4th-7th September - Norfolk break

 After a cool and wet July and August, suddenly we have a heatwave. For many of my younger years, September would be the end of Summer and within a week of going back to school a distinct autumnal feel with much cooler days and nights with the reducing daylight. The last few years September has been the best month of weather for the whole of Summer and this year it looks to have started the same.

Monday 4th September. 

Arriving in Norfolk in the morning on the Kings Lynn side of the coast, decided to go to Snettisham RSPB, as it was close, and walked out to the far end of the beach, where it had just reached high tide that had just started to turn. The wader spectacular was astonishing. In their tens of thousands, mostly silently, flying over our heads from the roosts in the pits to the falling tide of the Wash. I could only estimate what must have been present, but bird spectaculars such as this are rare in the UK.

Knot    50,000+

Grey Plover 20,000+

Bar-tailed Godwit 3,000+

Dunlin 3,000+

Oystercatcher 2,000+

Redshank 1,000+

Ringed Plover 250 +

Sanderling 1,000+

Curlew 200 +

Black-tailed Godwit c20

I hadn't taken my camera out of the car, but the lens would not have captured the spectacle, just a couple of phone pics.

The spectacle could never quite be captured.

After a spot of lunch, I ended up at Titchwell in the afternoon. Despite being a Monday, it was packed, the main walkway from the visitor centre out to the beach was like Waterloo station in rush hour.

There were plenty of birds on the Freshmarsh, 25+ Spoonbill were roosting and a large number of Black-tailed Godwit. A close flock of Golden Plover interested me as previous days had reports of an American Golden Plover. Despite several scans through the flock I couldn't find anything different. Many Ruff were present amongst the eclipse Teal and Wigeon. I walked out to the beach but there was very little on the saltmarsh. A single Yellow Wagtail flew over calling and a couple of Swallow were the only additions. I returned to the Parinder hide and as I walked in another birder had picked out the American Golden Plover. It was not with the Golden Plover flock but alone on an island in the middle of the Greylag Geese. So a good end to the afternoon arriving later at the great place we were staying.

Golden Plovers

Golden Plover

American Golden Plover

Tuesday 5th September

A hot sunny day, where by 8am the heat was already being felt and the breeze was starting to pick up. We had driven to Cley Coastguards beach car park but very quickly decided against a trudge along the shingle towards Blakeney Point. An juvenile Arctic Tern was on the shingle before drifting away. Instead we went to Burnham Deepdale and walked along the coast path to Burnham Overy Dunes.

The walk out to the dunes had very little in the way of birdlife and in the dunes themselves I had a brief moment of excitement as a group of birds near the fence line had 8 Wheatears, 2 Whinchat, 3 Stonechat a Reed Bunting and c20 Meadow Pipits. Thinking this would be the start of a small fall of migrants , I was ultimately left with empty pockets as other than a couple of Common Whitethroats this was the extent of anything seen.

The rest of the day was spent wandering around various villages although a quick drop into Cley Spy where the helpful staff quickly adapted my tripod arm for me.

Arctic Tern

This Grey Seal had found its breakfast

Down in one !

Burnham Deepdale

Wednesday 6th September

Summer heat and no wind produces fog and that was the gift from the weather gods this morning. A small covey of Grey Partridge were in a field on the way to Holkham pines arriving around 9.30 and  deciding to take the path towards the closed Jordan hide and then through to the beach for a walk back. Little was moving in the misty morning just a couple of Chiffchaffs and a single Blackcap. A Great Egret was just visible in one of the fields. I eventually found a tit flock near the end of the pines, but other than Long-tailed Tits, Coal Tits, Blue Tits and a Great Tit it only harboured a few more Chiffchaff.

The beach was still foggy, a Sandwich Tern was barely visible and the only other birds I saw was a Common Gull and a Rock Pipit.

With little else to see in the fog the decision was to try Cley. The long-staying Long-billed dowitcher was still being reported and I thought that would be the best thing to try for as there maybe sufficient visibility from the hides onto the scrapes.

Arriving at the visitor centre the Dowitcher was being reported from Pope's Pool which is seen from the East Bank, so I walked along to East Bank. A Yellow Wagtail flew over and a Bearded Tit pinged and popped up on top of the reeds. I could just about see Pope's Pool in between waves of low mist, but there was nothing on it that resembled a Dowitcher shape. Plenty of Dunlin a Little-Ringed Plover, 5 Ruff, Little Stint, 2 Green Sandpiper and several Snipe with a few Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing.

I walked up to Arnolds Marsh, where 2 Spoonbill were resting at the back and a Bar-tailed Godwit was roosting. I also found out that the Dowitcher had relocated back to Simmonds Scrape. Thinking this might turn into a game of yoyo with me and the bird, nevertheless I trudged round to the hides that overlooked Simmonds scrape.

A mixture of waders included 5 more Little Stint and 2 Curlew Sandpipers but no sign of the Dowitcher. I was in the hide for around 30 minutes and several people had been and gone. I could just see some Black-tailed Godwit in a small pool at the back where there was a window visible between the reeds. If anywhere the Dowitcher would be with these birds and sure enough the Long-billed Dowitcher appeared fairly briefly in this window feeding away, before it went behind the reeds and I ended up being satisfied with this brief view.

Later in the afternoon with the mist still hanging on we walked out onto Blakeney Marsh. A Sedge Warbler, Whinchat and 2 Stonechat were the limited offerings to finish the day.

Holkham beach with Fog.

Great Egret

the back of a Curlew Sandpiper !

Thursday 7th September

Before heading back to Sussex I did a brief sea-watch from Cley coastguards, with very little wind and still a slight sea mist there was nothing really moving. 3 Arctic Skua, several Razorbill, c100 Teal and c 10 Common Scoter, a Fulmar and a Red-throated Diver were all there was to see.

Even though this trip was not really for birding I did tally 99 Species and it was good for waders with 24 species seen the highlight being the American Golden Plover and the Long-billed Dowitcher. Passerines were rather thin on the ground, perhaps a theme being noted everywhere.