The first day of our groups annual Norfolk Outing. 11 of us made the trip, based at Caley Hall in Old Hunstanton. The weather was ideal with clear skies, 7C to 11C, and only light winds. After breakfast at the Swan & Anchor in St Ives (PE27 5AL), we were off birding.
- We stopped off at the St Ives gravel pits to twitch the Smew that were there. We were unable to find the drake but succeeded with 2 Redheads.
- At RSPB Ouse Washes (Welches Dam near Manea) we were thrilled to see half a dozen or so Whooper Swans, a really close Water Pipit as well as Tree Sparrows, a Lesser Redpoll, a Siskin, an Egyptian Goose, a Stonechat - nearly all of them firsts for me in 2018.
After lunch we made our way to the Nene Washes RSPB site at Eldernell where we enjoyed a truly spectacular finale.
- We had to split our time between watching Short-eared Owls, Cranes, Barn Owls and a Red Kite. There were at least 8 Short-eared Owls with 4 in one scope view, 6 Cranes and 2 Barn Owls. The Short-eared Owls provided the "wallpaper" for the duration of our 2 hour stay and were undoubtedly the bird of the day and probably will become bird of the trip.
Roll on tomorrow!
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