Blakeney Point

NT Hut on Blakeney Point
NT Hut on Blakeney Point

Finally a still day so we took the Bean’s seal trip from Morston Quay and saw lots of seals on the Point. Neil was very excited to see the son of the original skipper Mr Bean (not Rowan) who featured on the BBC documentary A Wild Winters Day.  Then we were dropped off  at Blakeney Point, a quick look around the National Trust managed Lifeboat station, then a long walk back on the shingle spit to Cley.  Lots of sun and little terns flying along the spit.  Sandwiches half way along the spit on a convenient piece of driftwood.

Beans boat reflected

Then back to Cley NWT for emergency hot chocolate & cake, as the shingle was a bit tiring.

Red Neck Grebe

Red-necked Grebe

Still a bit windy so we parked at Titchwell and got the excellent Coasthopper bus back to Burnham Deepdale.  Walked along the coastal path past Brancaster and then out to the beach to try to walk along to Titchwell. Unfortunately the thin blue line on the OS was not the wadeable stream we had hoped for but a rather wide, deep inlet.  So we went back round the headland and picnicked overlooking the marshes – Marsh Harriers & skylarks to watch.  Then walked inland towards Gypsy Lane and spotted a strange looking bird in a pool.  Some confusion as to what it might be so we headed back to Titchwell and went through the bird book till we found the fella, a red necked grebe, and checked with Titchwell RSPB folks if they were seen in the area.  They are but are fairly rare so we tipped off RBA and for the next few days were rewarded by reports of the grebe still being where we had spotted it.  Always nice to share!  Went around Titchwell and saw pintail, red crested pochard, ruff, common scooters on the sea and sanderlings on the beach.

Windy walk round Cley NNR

Cley marsh

Decadent croissants courtesy of Helen and Nik, then a jaunt to Big Blue Sky for some light shopping.  Went to Cley NWT for lunch but is was packed so Neil had the bright idea of popping down the coast to the Dun Cow at Salthouse. Excellent veggieburgers all round (Nik managed a double one!), and Adnams for some.  Back to Cley NWT where sadly Helen & Nik had to leave us.  We went for a wild windy walk around the reserve and our bravery was rewarded with sandwich terms, bar tailed godwits & common sandpipers.

Wells back to BOS

Beach

After a fry up for breakfast, as if we had not eaten enough the night before, we took one of the cars to Wells, and parked in the car park out at the end of the sea wall, next to Pinewood holiday park. The weather was windy but when the sun broke though the clouds it was pleasant enough. In Nik and Helens honour we started a new bird list, of course Helen and I already had got our bird eyes in from the day before!. We planned to stop at Holkham for coffee but the general consensus was that we had eaten enough already so we continued on to BOS. We stopped off at the two hides, (Washington and Jordan), nothing out of the ordinary to report, but a bloke reckoned he could hear a Marsh Warbler in a bush but we could not see it.

After a sandwich back at the hut we headed out again to Titchwell RSPB. When we arrived Nik decided to buy Helen a pair of binoculars, that is something that does not happen everyday. We walked out to the sea, and back. All the usual suspects were present, but not in big quantities. I can’t help thinking that it has something to do with the changes that are going on there see http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/t/titchwellmarsh/coastalchange/index.asp for details. They are going to let the sea flood over the sea defences and they have built a new sea wall further back, right where one of the hides was. They are going to replace the hide and the position looks really good it is on the top of the new sea wall and so is in a raised position with views over both pools.

We finished off the day with a list of 51 birds. Nik cooked his tasty microwave risotto with the asparagus they had bought with them.

Burnham Overy Staithe

Dunes view

Helen and I have a weeks holiday and we are going to stay at Burnham Overy Staithe, in North Norfolk. The cottage we are renting is http://www.flagstaff-holidays.co.uk/ the cottage was once the house where the Master of the Cutty Sark once lived, and within the cottage there are quite a few references to that fact. The accommodation was clean, and up to the usual standard of holiday rentals. They promised Wifi but I could not get a signal.

We arrived early because the lady who runs the place told us we could because the property was empty the week before, that meant we could get out for a walk before Nik and Helen joined us for a couple of nights. We had a suspicion they may be arriving later. We walked out to the East from the cottage along the sea wall to the very tip of Holkham beach one of my favourite beaches. The weather was sunny/bright but the wind was cold. We quickly added quite a few sea/wader birds to our holiday list as you would expect. By the time we go back we were up to 52.

Helen and Nik arrive at 6:30 and we headed down the pub called  The Hero for a few pints of Wherry beer, and some great food. They had veggie choices which is quite rare, amongst the options were Baked Butternut, Butternut squash strudel, both looked really good.

Cheese and onion Sandwich Tern

Canal Bridge

The weather looked good so Helen and I decided to catch up on some birding. We parked up at Wilstone reservoir car park and headed off toward the church to the north east. On the way we saw a couple of year firsts, Pied Wagtail and yellow wagtail (did I mention we had some birding catching up to do).

The sun was out but it was bitterly cold around the reservoir where there was nothing to stop the wind but once you were sheltered a bit it was pleasant. When we got to Tringford reservoir we headed to the hide/shelter, and on the way heard a very vocal bird but had trouble seeing it. We (well more I) had a few theories about what it was, after five minutes we got a quick look, it was a Blackcap but because it was so close it sounded like something bigger.

We then headed off toward Marsworth reservoir, and lo and behold what did we spy? A Sandwich Tern, I had noticed that one had been reported at Wilstone earlier, so when I noticed the bird in the distance I did have an inclination that it could be, but first had to satisfy myself that it was not just another Black-headed gull. Decide it was worth reporting to RBA not something that I have done very ofthen as it is usually me responding to the alerts not sending them out. Anyway we headed off to Bluebells Cafe for a bite to eat. I ordered a cheese and onion toasty (and thought a piece of cake might be in order later) and Helen order beans on toast and some chips. Turns out the cake would not be needed as there were enough chips for three.

Hawthorn close up

We then headed off back toward Marsworth reservoir and it was obvious that the Tern report had got though there were quite a few Birders about, one of them said that there was a Sandwich Tern about, I was happy to reply that I had called it in. The bloke said thanks for calling it in and that the Bucks birders would be happy because the edge of the reservoir was in Bucks, and usually the Terns congregate over Wilstone. We headed off back towards Wilstone, and passed LGRE the local Birding celebrity, he nodded as he passed not sure if he recognises me but whenever I have come across him he has always seemed friendly enough.

We took the longer route back and I got some pictures of colts foot which we found a big patch of near the end of the canal. We headed up over the hill and got a view of Wilstone neither of us had seen before, it was about the bridge over the empty Wendover arm. We popped into the hide at Wilstone and got great views of a Wren just outside the hut windows, but there was not much else about as the water levels were really high even the island were not showing.

We then fished off the walk we were both a bit tired over 6 miles done.

Later reported by LGRE on his Herts blog http://hertfordshirebirding.blogspot.com/2010/04/saturday-3-sandwich-tern-spends-day-at.html

Titchwell RSPB

Bloody nose beetle

The final day of the weekend, we were determined to make the most of the weekend in terms of birds seen and time spend by the sea. We were first in for breakfast, a great veggie affair mushrooms, potatoes, eggs, beans, spinach and tomatoes, then we checked out and headed down to the car park at Titchwell, strangely we were not the first birdwatchers to arrive.

Dead deer on the beach

Apparently there was another very high tide which was about to turn, this meant that all the waders that normally spend their time on the mud uncovered by the tide would be on the scrapes of the bird reserve! True to form there were hundreds of them, knot, godwits, plovers, turnstone, the full monty. We headed on out to the beach (eider in eclipse plummage), then took a stroll down the beach for a mile or so to the end of the sand spit.

On the way back we spotted no less that 5 spoonbill, and a bloody-nosed  beetle, and so after spending some money in the RSPB shop we had to head home.

Burnham Overy Staithe to Holkham

An island

The weekend of great weather continues. On Saturday we decided to revisit a walk we had done when we were staying at Salthouse in May. We dropped the car off in Burnham Overy Staithe, which proved to be difficult because there was a very high tide early in the day and all the sailors were out sailing and the normal car park was underwater. We found a spot and left the car, the plan was to walk to Holkham then get the bus back to the car.

We headed off along the sea wall,  the tide was higher than we have ever seen. It was on the turn and the currents were quite fast, and there were not a lot of waders about. When eventually got to a junction where right is to Holkham and left is towards the end of a peninsula where we had spied a couple of bird hides in May. In the way we came across a big flock of Linnet. At the end of the spit we could see all the sailors that had either sailed out or got a ferry to the island.

Paddling

We walked along the beach and after a few hundred yards got our shoes and socks off. We then spent the next couple of miles bare foot paddling through the waves. We were however not as unclad as the nudists on the nudist section of the beach, (why do they insist on standing up and strutting about rather than just sunbathing like the rest of us.

We eventually got  to the strange area that gets flooded by the sea but not on every tide. There was lots of Samphire growing around there and the sand/mud was very slippery. We then reluctantly joined the public masses and headed for a bite to eat at the Holkham cafe. The bus then took us back to the car, but before heading back we checked out an Art exhibition in the local village hall.

That evening I had Samphire for a starter folled by Mackrel with runner beans and a mustard and gooseberry sauce!

Thornham to Holme and back

Storm over marsh

I have not updated the blog of a couple of weeks, not sure why but here you go I will make amends. This weekend Helen and I have been to Snettisham, for the weekend, we stayed at The Rose aand Crown a great pub with real ale and some rooms to stay in. The food is great.  If you want to stay I would recommend the new rooms rather than the quirky ones up the stairs above the bar.

We arrived on Friday at lunchtime after having spent the night at Mum and Dads, (thanks for the roast veg and couscous lovely), and had lunch at the pub,  before setting off for a bird walk.

Gall wasp

The walk was from Holme to Thornham, we parked in Thornham then got the Coast Hopper to the Holme coast road stop. Whilst walking up the coast road there were loads of plum trees of different types all of them very sweet and ripe. We headed off over the golf course and then along the board walks to The Firs for a break in the hide to wait out a rain shower. Then it was off again through the woods and out along the sea wall. There we saw loads of butterflies everywhere we spotted about 15 different varieties, including a few we had not see before. As we got back to Thornham we had great close up views of three marsh harriers and we saw what we think was a bank vole.

There is a track of the walk and bus journey here.

Walk to Wendover and back

The plan was to walk from home to Wendover along the grand union, then grab some lunch and walk back via the ridgeway over the hills. On the way round the village we decided to invite Helen’s folks along so we stopped off at Hillside on the way.

We left at about 10:30 and got to Wendover about 12:30. Along the way there were lots of ducking and signets, including Mandarin Duck. After lunch and a pint at the Red Lion we headed out along the brook that runs out of Wendover along the ridgeway.

By 15:40 we got to “The Cafe in the Woods” for a welcome coffee and cakes. Finally got back home at 17:40 with tenderised feet, but a good walk all the same.

Swift, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Thrush, Starling, Rook, Red-legged Partridge, Pheasant, Magpie, Coot, Little Grebe, Mallard, Mandarin Duck, Long-tailed Tit, Buzzard, Swallow, Mute Swan, Dunnock, Jackdaw, Wood Pigeon, Blackcap, Moorhen, Blackbird, Red Kite, Green Woodpecker, Swift, (22 YTD )