Dave, Roger and I had decided
to have a day in West Norfolk and set off from Dave’s just after 06:30. We picked Ken up at Uppingham and continued
to Wolferton in the hope of seeing the reported Golden Pheasants. We had a couple of Buzzards on route, one near
Glaston in Rutland and the second near Wisbech in Norfolk. As we were approaching Wolferton we had seen
a few skeins of Pink-footed Geese flying away from The Wash but little
else. We drove slowly around the
triangle a couple of times but there was no sign of the pheasants and so we
continued to Hunstanton.
As I was walking from the car
to the cliff top shelter at Hunstanton there was a mass of gulls flying over
the sea and I picked up a male Peregrine heading off towards Holme, which had
probably caused the disturbance. We had
a few Fulmar gliding effortlessly over the edge of the cliffs and we found a
couple of Eider on the sea but other than a couple of Great Crested Grebes and
a few Shelduck we saw little else.
There had a good number of
White-fronted Geese at Holkham yesterday and se we decided to go there before
heading back to Titchwell. We stopped
initially at the pull in overlooking the marsh at Burnham Overy Staithe where
there were numerous Pink-footed Geese, with several flying over and heading in
land, presumable to feed. There was also
a few Brent Geese and we a Marsh Harrier perched on top of a bush and we had
two more Marsh Harriers closer to the end of Holkham Pines.
Pink-footed Geese over Burnham Overy Staithe
We continued onto Holkham and
found the White-fronted Geese in a field alongside the A149. I counted a 112, which is the most I have
seen here since I had counted 170 on February 17th in 2002. There was also a strange looking goose which
we initially thought might be a blue-phase Snow Goose, although it didn’t
appear quite right and we wrote it off as a hybrid. We also had two more Marsh
Harriers over the fresh marsh and there were masses of Wigeon, Teal and Lapwing
with an odd Curlew and plenty of Pink-footed Geese.
Two of the White-fronted Geese at Holkham
We stopped again at Burnham
Overy Staithe on our way to Choseley and had superb views of a juvenile female
Peregrine as it flew from the marsh to the road and passing almost right over
us.
Juvenile female Peregrine over Burnham Overy Staithe
Most of the Pink-footed Geese
appeared to have departed and other than a small party of Brent Goose and
sixty-four Curlews there was little else and so we moved on.
Choseley drying barns had new
signs erected since our last visit that made it very clear that it was
important to keep to the footpath. The
yard in front of the barns was also neat and tidy and there were no birds
present, except for a single Robin. We did
see a single Marsh Harrier and found a few Red-legged Partridges and Skylarks,
a couple of Yellowhammers and a single Reed Bunting along the excess road but
there was no sign of any Grey Partridges or Corn Buntings today.
As we approached Titchwell
Dave spotted a Barn Owl at the side of the road but after parking up it was a
few minutes before the rest of us saw the bird before it flew off towards the
eastern edge of the reserve.
After some lunch we went to
the centre and saw a single Brambling close to some feeders erecting within the
woodland. As we walked down the western
path towards the sea the debris was still clearly visible on the top of the
bank following the surge storm in December and we could see the wind farm from
the path, which were unable to do before the storm. There were eight Ruff, a couple of Redshanks
and a Turnstone on the drained Thornham pool.
On the fresh marsh there were at least a 1000 Golden Plover and numerous
Lapwings and a party of nineteen Avocets were observed roosting close to one of
the islands. There was also six Dunlin,
a few more Ruff, a single Snipe and several Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank
and a single Marsh Harrier was observed over the reedbed.
There were more waders on
Volunteer Marsh mainly Redshanks but there was also a few more Black-tailed
Godwits. The last tidal lagoon held more
Black-tailed Godwits, three Bar-tailed Godwits and several Redshanks and a
single Little Grebe was observed.
On reaching the beach the full
extent of the storm was apparent with almost all of the sand dunes gone and the
boardwalk destroyed. We positioned
ourselves in front of the only surviving piece of dune left and began scanning
the sea and beach. The tide was quite
high and there were few waders along the shore except for a few Oystercatchers
but we did eventually find a couple of Sanderling and few Turnstone. A small party of circa forty Knot flew east
and then a party of ten Bar-tailed Godwits flew west. We soon found a party of seven female-type
Velvet Scoters just off shore and there were several thousand Common Scoter
further out. Dave picked up a
Red-throated Diver close in but it was some time before I managed to see it as
it was on the surface infrequently and then only briefly before it dived
again. I did pick up two others flying
west further out and noticed a male and female Red-breasted Mergansers drop in
amongst a party of Goldeneye just off shore.
Ken then picked up an adult Kittiwake flying west and Roger found
another female Red-breasted Merganser flying west.
We eventually moved back along
the path finding a single Grey Plover on the tidal pool and a Knot on volunteer
marsh but we couldn’t find any of the reported Spotted Redshanks, although we
did see twelve Pintail on the fresh marsh and Roger picked up a Barn Owl, which
was almost certainly the bird we had seen earlier.
We finally got back to the car
and set off across country to Kings Lynn still hoping to find Grey Partridge
but all we found more Red-legged Partridges seeing very little else.
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