Roger and I decided to have a
day in West Norfolk as it was our last chance to go before our week’s holiday
in Scotland. We left at 06:45 and saw a
couple of Buzzards on route, one as we approached Peterborough and the other
close to the Thorney bypass.
After a single circuit of the
Wolferton triangle looking for Golden Pheasants without success we continued on
to Hunstanton. There had been a couple
of Waxwing present over the last two days and we were hoping they were still
present. There were a few birders
present when we arrived but there was no sign of the Waxwings, although they
had apparently been seen earlier. After
a visit to the first car park and a brief stop at Tesco there was still no
sign. We moved to the coach park, which
is where they were being seen. There
were another couple of birders present and we were joined by several more, two
of whom had seen the birds earlier. As
we continued to scan both Roger and I suddenly noticed one perched quite
close. It remained in the bushes for a few
minutes before it flew off east over the town.
Waxwing
Having seen the Waxwing well
we moved off to the top of the cliff for Fulmar, adding Turnstone to the year
list on route. As we walked towards the
edge of the cliff a Fulmar duly obliged and we eventually saw six. Scanning the sea we saw thirty-five Brent
Geese, five Eider, twenty-three Red-breasted Mergansers and a single Bar-tailed
Godwit, which were all year ticks.
Feeling we had got off to a
good start we decided to go to Thornham next in the hope of finding the flock
of Twite that were wintering there. As
we got out of the car two Skylarks were observed, which was another year tick,
and it wasn’t long before we found circa forty Twite. There were a few waders present, a Ringed
Plover, five Grey Plover, a Curlew and two Redshanks, the Ringed Plover and
Grey Plover being two more year ticks.
We had intended to go to
Burnham Overy Staithe next but as there was little wind we decided to call at
Titchwell first. A jay flew over the car
park and we saw a Water Rail on the right as we stated to walk out on to the
reserve. As we continued down the west
bank we could see that Thornham Pool had been drained and the first bird I saw
was a Water Pipit feeding along the northern edge and another birder then
picked up a Kingfisher on the edge of the reeds in the right hand corner of the
pool, which were both year ticks. There
were a few Dunlin, six Ruff, five Snipe and a single Black-tailed Godwit on the
exposed mud, with Ruff being yet another year tick. We continued down the bank and found the
Freshwater Marsh pretty full but seven Avocets and four Knot were added to the
year list, although a few Pintail were the only other bird of note. Several Curlews were observed over Thornham
Marsh and a Sparrowhawk was observed perched on the old building. Volunteer Marsh produced a Ringed Plover,
several Grey Plover, another Knot, Black-tailed Godwits and Redshanks. When we reached the end of the path there
were quite a few waders on the shore but the sea appeared quiet. The waders were mainly Oystercatchers, Dunlin
and Bar-tailed Godwits but there were also a few Grey Plover but I only saw a
single Turnstone and was unable to locate Roger’s single Sanderling. We eventually found a distant raft of Common
Scoter on the sea and a few much closer to shore. As we continued to scan I noticed a party of
passerines flying along the shoreline, which turned out to be circa fifty Snow
Buntings and just before we left another birder picked up a superb male
Long-tailed Duck.
Black-tailed Godwit on Volunteer Marsh
We left Titchwell and headed
for Burnham Overy Staithe and after joining another birder we scanned the area
whilst having lunch. There was a large
flock of Pink-footed Geese in the stubble field on the other side of the road,
which contained two Barnacle Geese and Roger then located two Grey Partridge as
well. As we continued scanning the marsh
we found two Red Kites, a female-type Marsh Harrier, three Buzzards and a
Short-eared Owl and eventually our target a Rough-legged Buzzard of which there
were two.
It had been an excellent day
so far and as we had heard that there were Brambling at Abbey Farm we thought
it would be a good idea to call there on route home. On arrival we went to the hide were we found
two Little Owls perched in the old tree but there was no sign of any passerines
as so we went for a walk along the lane.
We found another four Grey Partridge and fifty Golden Plovers in the
fields and a Barn Owl gave brief views.
As we reached the bend in the road we decided to continue along a field
track towards a barn where a Buzzard was perched. As we approached the barn we could see that
there were a few passerines and as we got closer it was apparent that there
were plenty of birds. Most of them were
Chaffinches but we also found five Tree Sparrows, ten Brambling and a single
Yellowhammer.
With the day going so well and
some daylight left we called at Roydon Common and walked out to the centre
hoping for a Great Grey Shrike but without success, apparently it hadn’t been
seen since this morning. As we got back
to the parking area I located another Little Owl perched on the edge of the
small copse.
It had been an excellent day
with ninety-two species recorded, twenty-two of which were year ticks and the
year list stood at 140.
No comments:
Post a Comment