27/01/18. Ashdown Bird Group in Norfolk. Day 3.

Saturday 27 January 2018

The first day where the weather was to be a problem.  After dry but overcast conditions early on, the rain duly arrived before easing in the late afternoon.  Nevertheless, we managed to put together a decent schedule.

Hunstanton Cliffs

• We parked near the lighthouse and from one of the shelters, we watched Fulmars rising up above the cliffs before dropping back down.

With no sign of any activity out at sea, we moved on quickly.

Choseley Drying Barns

• So far we had not seen any Pink-footed Geese, despite a couple of visits to Holkham.  The group had seen some here on previous visits so we were optimistic about our chances.  
• Initially, we had no luck and had to settle for seeing Red-legged Partridge and Yellowhammer.

We saw a large flock of geese go down in the fields to the east of the barns so we moved to a position on the back road, parallel to the barns.

• The geese were still there and lo and behold they were "pinkies" - some 2000+ of the beauties!  For the next five minutes or so we had amazing views as they fed on the ground.  Soon after, a land rover drove by, causing them to fly away in spectacular fashion.

Holkham

• Next stop was Holkham sand dunes where we quickly located the 9 Shorelark and spent an hour or so enjoying watching them forage. Yet another awe and wonder situation.  Alan hadn't seen Shorelarks for many years so he was particularly pleased.

Stiffkey

By now the rain had arrived so we saw little point in chasing the Snow Buntings at Salthouse.

• We settled for a return trip to Stiffkey for the harrier roost.  This time we had at least 4 ringtails Hen Harriers but no males.and a couple of Marsh Harriers  There was a Merlin but I reacted too slowly to make the sighting.

Despite the adverse weather, we had another great day with some cracking sightings.