Category: Birds

Last day so we decided to try to beat our one day bird list record of 65 species.  Dunnock, wood pigeon and sparrow were in the garden of the cottage. Jackdaw, herring & blackheaded gull, and pheasant en route.  First to Cley-spy for their country walk talking us through arable farmland and oak woodland.  Magpie, swallow, goldfinch, chaffinch, blackbird, blackcap, robin, willow warbler, coal tit, crow, kestrel, blue tit, robin, oystercatcher, treecreeper, red legged partridge, mute swan, mallard, tufted, moorhen, grey wagtail and greater spotted woodpecker.  Then coffee stop at Natural Surroundings at Bayfield Hall, where Neil spotted another treecreeper.  Then back along the fields to the ford, seeing coot, greenfinch, collared dove & swift. We then headed back to the coast to Cley, where the weather had turned a little and chased by a large black raincloud to the hide. Avocet, shelduck, marsh harrier, greylag, bearded tit & sedge warbler on the way to the hide.  Sheltered from the rain and freezing wind seeing black tailed godwit, gadwall, redshank, sand martin, linnet, turnstone, lapwing, dunlin, ringed plover, cormorant, common sand, curlew, teal, ruff, shoveller, pied wagtail, canada & brent goose, common tern, turnstone, LBB gull, 3 temmincks stints & wheatear on the single bank. Walked to the shelter looking out to sea, and Neil got gannet despite being blasted by the north easterly wind. Then back via meadow pipit, egyptian goose, rook, reed warbler, pochard & whimbrel.  Success despite blimmin challenging weather!

Got the Coasthopper from BOS to Holkham, then walked down Queen Anne’s Drive toward the beach.  Saw something odd flying towards us (my description of “it’s big with legs” is probably not going to win any ornithological awards!) and as it went overhead Neil recognised it as a common crane! We let RBA know and then walked along the beach to the George Washington hide, from where the crane was clearly visible.  Some other birders turned up and we all admired the crane for a bit.  Then through the pines where we searched for goldcrest.  I could hear them but it took ages to finally spot one.  We checked out the other hide but no sign of the Spoonbills unfortunately. Willow warbler and chiffchaff from the footpath then into the dunes. Sat and watched a flock of linnets in the sunshine then back to BOS.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.