North Norfolk Coast
Today threatened to be our most challenging day with wet weather forecast for much of the time. However we were determined to make the most of it and, as usually happens, things turned out well in the end and we saw lots of birds.
Holkham
- The first birds we encountered on the saltmarsh were Rock Pipits with a small group feeding by the path. They come here from Scandinavia for the winter. We could see some of them were moulting and getting slightly pink on the breast.
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| courtesy of Marcus Nash |
- The Shorelarks were in the vegetation by the cordoned-off area but the growth was such that they were incredibly hard to find initially. Once found we tracked their movement and enjoyed superb views. Thankfully the young birder must have read about our find on social media and came back to get some photographs.
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| courtesy of Marcus Nash |
Next on the agenda was a spot of seawatching. Pick of the birds seen was a Great Northern Diver. It was diving regularly and moving west steadily each time it resurfaced, but eventually we all got some good views of it.
By now the weather was at its worse with quite heavy rain so we headed for the sanctuary of the Joe Jordan Hide There was a good selection of birds here.
- pick of the bunch was a Spoonbill which had only returned to the breeding colony after, probably,wintering down at Poole Harbour.
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| courtesy of Marcus Nash |
- A Great White Egret was also showing well.
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| courtesy of Marcus Nash |
- An intriguing cameo performance was provided by a couple of Long-tailed Tits as we headed back to the car from the hide. There was a swarm of gnats and the tits flew from the nearby bushes and attempted to feed on them, hovering in mid air before heading back to the bushes. I had never seen this "flycatcher" action by this species before.
We stopped for lunch in The Lookout café, out of the rain. Afterwards, as we made our way back to the van we could see lots of gulls swarming over the grazing marsh, and landing down on the grass.
- We heard the distinctive call of a Mediterranean Gull and looking through the flock could see at least four in with the Black-headed Gulls.
Holme
We headed west to Holme where we did some more seawatching where we were sheltered from the rain by the pines behind us
- There was a single Velvet Scoter in among a group of Red-breasted Mergansers. You could just make out a pale spot on its cheek, but it was not until it flew round that you could see the diagnostic white in its wings.
- A small group of dark-winged Common Scoter flew past just afterwards.
Walking through the dunes to Gore Point, it was windier out of the lee of the Firs, although at least the rain had eased off now.
- Here the pick of the species were the distant views of Eider, Long-tailed Duck, Red-throated Divers and, of course, more Red-breasted Mergansers.
Titchwell
No trip to North Norfolk is complete without a visit to Titchwell and it was fitting that we ended our trip here. - On the main path from the centre we saw the usual Water Rail in the ditch.
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| courtesy of Marcus Nash |
- A little further along Marcus alerted us to a sleeping Spotted Redshank on the Lavender Marsh.
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| courtesy of Marcus Nash |
- From the Parrinder Hide we saw lots of birds on the freshmarsh with the pick of them being Water Pipit, lots of Mediterranean Gulls and a small group of Avocets.
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| courtesy of Marcus Nash |
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| courtesy of Marcus Nash |
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| courtesy of Marcus Nash |
With such poor weather, there was a good case for finishing early today but such is Marcus' charisma and dedication that we finished over an hour later than normal, getting back to Wells-Next-The-Sea at 6.30 pm! Thankfully the drive home was uneventful and I arrived back in Uckfield just before 10 pm.
Another first class trip to Norfolk with all the expected species seen!
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