Fresh back from my Spanish trip the night before I was tired as I worked until late with photos and trip reports. I managed about 4 hours sleep and set of for Norfolk at 07:30am.
Jan 1st 2007.
My first stop was to be Lynford Arboretum, after that
Hawfinch. I picked eleven new birds for the year, all common, and arrived at
Lynford at 09:30. First bird seen there was a Marsh Tit followed by my first
Blue Tit. A leisurely walk to the Hornbeams, where the Hawfinch normally are.
I needn’t have worried about not seeing the Hawfinch as five of them were
easy to see, albeit quite a distance away. The weather was beautiful and clear
but the birds were behind twigs so getting a photo was impossible. Still that
was a good start to the year.
I decided to walk around the lake in the hope that I would see a few Siskin and in so doing so was joined by Lee Evans. For those that don’t know him he is a bit of a fanatical twitcher and is famous for his exploits. We soon located the Siskins and Lee found a couple of Lesser Redpoll as well, all moving through with a flock of Goldfinch. As we watched Lee’s mobile phone rang and after he stopped talking told me that his mate had found a large flock of Woodlarks about a mile away. Lee was parked the right side of where he had to go, I was parked the other side of Lynford. Thankfully I managed to find my way there and what a sight. At least 50+ Woodlark were feeding amongst at least 100 Linnets and about 50 Starlings. Lee reckoned he saw Brambling also but I couldn’t find them. That was an excellent find as I have never seen more than single figure flocks of Woodlark before. I also added a Jay and Mallard to the list here.
Next port of call was Santon Downham as I knew an area that might produce Brambling, and so it turned out to be as I saw at least 10 of them plus I added Great Tit, Coal Tit and Robin to the list.
It was a fair drive to my next site, Lowestoft. There is an area there that is called Ness Point which is very good for Purple Sandpiper, but not today. The only birds to be seen where a few Herring Gull and a couple of Turnstones. I was now off to Great Yarmouth to park up in-between the piers. There is usually a good number of Mediterranean Gulls here, not today though, although I did see one which is good enough to go on the list. There were too many people around to take photos as they were unsettling the birds all the time.
Next call was Caister after one of my favourite birds,
Snow Bunting. There has been a flock of about 40 of them for a few weeks now,
and they had also been joined by 6 Shorelark as well so a double bonus if I
could see them. As I arrived a birder was walking back, looking a bit dejected.
I asked if he had seen them but he hadn’t. He also stated that he had
walked a good distance to try and locate them.
I wanted to finish my day off at Stubbs Mill, after Common Crane. I really needed
to be there about 3pm to have a chance. It was now 14:15 so I was cutting a
it fine if I went after the Snow Buntings so set off for Stubbs Mill. I had
only been gone for just over five minutes when my pager announced that both
the Shorelark and Snow Bunting had been re-found, quite close to the town. I
quickly turned the car around and sped back to Caister. When I pulled up in
the car park I could see a few birders with their scopes up and made my way
to them. It wasn’t long before I saw the Shorelarks, followed by the Snow
Bunting. I couldn’t get a photo of the Shorelark as they were too flighty.
So were the Snow Buntings but I managed to get some records shots of them (photos
below).
My last site was Stubbs Mill but I was running late. You have to park your car in the Hickling Broad Visitor Centre then walk the 15 minute walk to get to the site.
Upon arrival I was informed that they had landed and that it might be a bit difficult seeing them. Whilst waiting we were treated to watching at least thirty M Harriers as well as 3 Hen Harriers. It was almost dark before someone picked out three birds looming out of the gloom and onto the reserve. At last it was 3 Common Cranes. The finale was two Barn Owls that were flying in front of us.
Not a brilliant day number wise (47 species in total) but quality instead. Tomorrow I might have a chance of adding a few more.
I made my way to Cromer and booked into a B&B ready for the next day. Hopefully the 5 Waxwings and a lone Black Redstart will still be in Cromer tomorrow which would give me another good start to the day.
Jan 2nd
After a fantastic breakfast I was ready for anything, well almost. As I left the B&B the heavens opened up and there was a gale force wind on the blow. Not conducive for good birding.
My first piece of action was to try for the Black Redstart that had been reported around the church but after a fairly brief look (hard to park there so I had to do an illegal one) I moved onto the Meadow Road car park to see if I could find the reported Waxwings that were supposed to be nearby. By then the rain had stopped but the wind was still very fierce.
I drove into the car park looking for someone to ask where the Crofters Gardens were when I came face to face with the five Waxwings about ten feet away from me in a small tree. It was still fairly dark so I was fiddling around to get the settings right then I focussed on one of the birds, half pressed the button then click. What did I get, a small piece of tail as the birds left. I looked up to see that a woman had just come from behind a wall and had spooked them. They flew off high and into the distance and after a ten minute search I gave up and made my way to Salthouse.
Salthouse was fairly quiet but I did add 7 birds to the year list with Lapwing, Widgeon, Ruff, Knot, Shelduck, Dunlin, Coot and a passing Guillemot out on the sea. From here I made my way to Cley East Bank but I didn’t hang around too long as it was bitterly cold with a real biting wind. In the short time there I did add a few more to the list with Bent Geese, Tufted Duck, Redshank, Curlew Oystercatcher and Redshank. At least I thought that a visit to Cley itself would give me a couple of hours watching but I couldn’t be more wrong. The right hand hide had three Redshanks only and Daukes Hide showed only Wigeon, Teal, a few Shelduck and Shoveller, 3 Pintail, 2 Gadwall, plus about 100 Avocet and a similar number of Lapwing. A couple of Marsh Harrier briefly came into view. Most of the birds were distant but some Wigeon came fairly close and below are some of the photos taken.
A Lesser Snow Goose was being reported near Langham amongst a few thousand Pink Footed Geese. I have never seen one of these so decided to try for it. As I turned into the road where they were being reported a shoot started. Guns were going off all over the place and all the geese took flight as one. They were about half a mile away so I had no chance to look through them to seed if I could spot the Snow Goose. Still it was one of those magical sights of Norfolk to see so many Pink Feet together. Whilst here I did find my first Stock Dove of the year.
I watched as they flew towards Wiveton and tried to follow them around the back roads. I cam across a few of them that had broken off from the main group but there was no sign of the goose I was after.
I wasn’t sure where to go from here as so little was being reported. There was a Shag in Wells harbour so I decided to go for that. On the way I came across a couple of Red-legged partridge, and at the floods at Stiffkey a dozen Black-tailed Godwits were found amongst hundreds of Teal and Wigeon.
Earlier today a pager message had stated that 80+ Bramblings had been found near Great Walsingham. Thinking there may be a photo opportunity I decided to go there but upon arrival the heavens opened up again and any photo opportunity I had went out the window. There were quite a few Brambling in the bushes so it was worth coming to see them but they were incredibly flighty in this wind.
Back on track and I was soon in Wells and the Shag was immediately found as well as my first Lesser Black-backed Gulls of the year. I made a short stop at Holkham, as I wanted to carry onto Titchwell, and my luck was in. Right near to the entrance was a flock of about a 100 Brent Geese and amongst them was a Black Brant. Would you believe that at last I also found my first Moorhen of the year also amongst the geese.
Off to Titchwell with a stop at Choseley Barns on the bay. The latter being a complete waste of time as not one bird put in an appearance. Back down the lane I did come across possibly a couple of thousand Pinkfeet so I studied them for a while to seed if I could find anything unusual but there wasn’t.
It was now just after 2pm and yet it was almost as dark as dusk already. I reckoned I had not much more than an hour at Titchwell at the most and that is how it turned out. I didn’t venture any further than the Parrinder hide as there was no point due to bad light. Thankfully I added my first Sparrow of the year, by the visitors centre (photo below) and a little way along the track I found my first Little Egret.
Out on the reserve were plenty of Avocet, Wigeon, Teal plus the odd Pintail. In the distance my first Goldeneye of the year could be seen and then a flock of at least 500 Golden Plover descended to the water in front of us. By now the light was so bad that I decided to call it a day and come back the next day. As I was leaving my third Barn Owl in two days came out by the In Focus shop and I watched it for a good ten minutes in the ever diminishing light.
Amazingly as I approached Holme my fourth Barn Owl flew straight in front of the car and into a nearby field. I couldn’t watch for too long as I was blocking the road.
Now came the frustrating bit. I went to Hunstanton to go to a B&B I had used before but it had closed down. In fact all the B&B’s in that road had closed down. I asked a passer by if he knew of one and he gave directions to one in the next road but that had closed down also. Thankfully they asked me in then proceeded to ring all those they had known about in the past but like them they had all closed down due to new government regulations. After about 15 minutes they at last found one that was still open. That wasn’t in Hunstanton but in Heacham and it was a welcome sight when they took me in.
Jan 3rd.
After an excellent breakfast it was time to go to my first site, Wolferton Triangle after the Golden Pheasant. I hadn’t seen outside as the curtains were still drawn. It was still fairly dark but when I opened the door I was in for a shock. Torrential rain and driving wind. It was obviously very low, dark grey clouds that were above. This didn’t look like it was going to be a nice day.
I arrived at Wolferton just about 8am and within 10 minutes had found one of the pheasants. That was a good start. I was going to go to Sandringham to try and photograph the accommodating Jays there but thought better of it in this atrocious weather so made my way to Titchwell via a few short stops. Hunstanton Jet Ski to see what was about. I found a lone Grey Plover which was a new one for the year. Next stop was Hunstanton Cliffs for the Fulmar. On the way I took some photos of one of my favourite waders, Turnstones (photo below) which were feeding on one of the grass verges near the town centre. Also quite confiding was an Oystercatcher by the cliffs (photo also below). At the Cliffs I found three Fulmar straight away and thankfully by now the rain had stopped but the wind, if anything, had picked up speed, and was also a bitingly cold wind so I didn’t hang around on those cliffs any longer.
I stopped at Thornham to see if I could spot the reported Twite but no joy so carried onto Chosely Barns and found my first Yellowhammer and Dunnock of the year there. Within a few minutes I was at Titchwell and my luck changed for the good. Halfway to the Island Hide a Water Rail nearly walked over my boots. It completely caught me out and within seconds had dropped into some nearby reeds and out of sight. Moving along the track a couple approached me and said I should hurry if I didn’t want to miss the Bearded Tits. He said you couldn’t miss them as there was a small crowd of birders gathered nearby.
I soon found the crowd and they were watching 3 male and 2 female beardies. They were very close in and I was very surprised to see them in these windy conditions as normally they stay down in this weather. I wasn’t complaining as it was a nice bonus to see them Photographing them was a different matter as the wind was bouncing them up and down and from side to side which made it both difficult to find them then even more difficult to focus on them. Most times when I was focussing on them they either moved or a big reed would flash by in front of them. Anyway I got the odd one or two (photo below) but couldn’t seem to get a photo showing the whole of the face.
Out on the reserve were large numbers of Pintail, Brent Geese, Golden Plover (in excess of 1,000 of these) and various ducks and waders, including quite a few Black-tailed Godwits (photo Below) as well as a few Avocet. I also found my first Little Grebe of the year.
It was time to drop down to the beach. Out on the beach the wind was so strong and cold that it took your breath away. It was also difficult to keep the scope, and myselof, from moving all over the place. I did manage to see possibly over 500 Common Scoter as well as a fair number of Sanderling. There were also plenty of other waders around. Someone called a Red-throated Diver and a Little Gull but for the life of me I couldn’t find either.
Enough was enough. I actually wasn’t enjoying this. The light content was very bad by now. I decided to drop back to Thornham in the hope of seeing th Twite and timed it perfectly as 40 of them flew near the car park as I pulled up. I also found my first Meadow Pipit of the year nearby.
I made the decision to go back home via a quick stop at Flitcham Abbey and Welney. Flitcham for a possible Kingfisher and Little Owl and Welney for Whooper and Bewick Swans.
At Flitcham there were no shows from the birds I was after but I did find my first Redwings and Egyptian Goose there. I stayed there for thirty minutes but nothing much else came into view so it was off to Welney. Near the Centre I cam across about 50 Whoopers in a flooded field but unusually that is all I could find. Normally there are Swans dotted all around these fields. I went over t6he new bridge and as I came of it at the other end the fierce wind ripped my Birdforum cap off my head and deposited in the river below. That caps been all over the place with me and will be a sad loss.
As I entered the observatory I was shocked to see that the whole reserve was flooded. You couldn’t even visit any of the other hides as the paths were under water. The only hides usable were those that were connected to the observatory and in front of those were a few Pochard (photo below) and Whooper Swan (photo below).
I couldn’t see the point in staying any longer so made the decision to drive home.
Over the three days I had some excellent birds but normally at the start of the year I can knock up 110 to 120 species in two days but I managed only 95 in three days. It would have been only 78 if I had stopped after two days so you can see how quiet it was.
I can’t wait to get back there once the migration
is under way and Norfolk is full up with the summer visitors. Also the long
daylight hours is what is needed not these lousy
six and a half hour stints we have to put up with at the moment.