Today, David, Ken, Roger and
myself had planned to go to East Yorkshire for some sea watching as the
conditions had looked fairly suitable.
However on checking the forecast this morning it looked as though we
could get a good soaking, which would make birding difficult and we therefore
decided to go to Norfolk. Norfolk had
looked as though it would be wet yesterday evening but was now forecast to be
dry until at least the afternoon. We
left in pretty awful conditions with the rain persisting until we were well
east of Peterborough but was definitely brightening by the time we reached
Kings Lynn and was dry when we reached Titchwell.
We took our normal approach
and walked towards the sea and as is usual here there was a goods election of birds. As we walked out Dave picked up a Bittern but
unfortunately he was the only one to see it before it dropped into the
reeds. A Cetti’s Warbler was heard
calling and a couple of Bearded Tit, a male and female, gave excellent
views. A Redstart close to island hide
provided some interest but was rather elusive.
I did so white edges to the secondaries and tertials and might possibly
have been of the subspecies P. p. Samamisicus, although good clear views
were not obtained. As we were waiting
for the Redstart to appear a Water Rail was seen quite well, although only
briefly. A party of circa fifty Golden
Plover was observed in flight and another party of smaller waders contained
four Ringed Plovers, twenty Dunlin and a single juvenile Little Stint. There were both Black-tailed and Bar-tailed
Godwits on the fresh marsh and two Knot and a single Spotted Redshank were
observed nearby. A Marsh Harrier was
seen briefly as it dropped into the reeds and a Peregrine was observed well as
it flew over Thornham Marsh. Perhaps
surprisingly there was only two Avocets were observed and just a single Pintail
was found amongst the feeding wildfowl.
Dave then found a male Green-winged Teal feeding amongst a party of
Teal.
Volunteer Marsh was quieter
than the fresh marsh but there was still a good selection of waders including
five Grey Plover, several Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits and plenty of
Redshank.
The sea despite the wind being
very light was still quite rough from the last few days of high winds. It was also pretty quiet but we did see
twelve Common Scoters, a Red-breasted Merganser, five Gannets and a single
Great Skua and a possible Red-necked Grebe in flight. On the shore there were more Black-tailed
Godwits and Redshank and numerous Oystercatcher and six Sanderling.
With news of a Great Grey
Shrike at Burnham Overy we went east and after some lunch walked down to the
sea wall and the sluice gate where it had been seen. Other birders informed us that it had flown
south earlier and had not been seen recently.
A Marsh Harrier and Buzzard were the best here, otherwise it was rather
quiet.
A Pallas’s Warbler had been
seen on a couple occasions at Cley and we thought about going for this when
another was reported at Warham Greens, which we decided to go for. We drove to the car park at Stifkey and began
walking west along the coastal path.
Fortunately we bumped into some other birders who had further
information and we turned of the coastal path and headed north on a track that
was part of the Holkham Estate. We then
turned right into field where we some
excellent views of this Asian jewel. The
bird suddenly started to move east along the hedgerow at some pace and we lost
it before we reached the path again. As
we approached the coastal path we found the bird again and had superb view son
one occasion before we lost it again.
There had been a report of a
male and female Ring-necked Ducks at Eye Brook Reservoir and drive who was
driving was pretty keen to get then on the way home.
As we approached Rutland it
started to rain and by the time we got to Eye Brook Reservoir it was torrential
but we did manage to see the male Ring-necked Duck rather well but the female
eluded us. Four adult and three Whooper
Swans were also a nice addition to the day list.
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