With easterly winds David,
Roger and I went to West Norfolk in the hope of some scarce migrants. We set off for Salthouse initially in the
hope of catching up with a Red-backed Shrike that had been present for a few
days. After parking near the Dun Cow and
seeing a Marsh Harrier over the marsh we walked the short distance to the
paddock but unfortunately it had appeared to have departed as it hadn’t been
seen. There were a few Swallows and
House Martins over the paddocks and a couple of Jays flew over during our short
stay. A visit to Walsey Hills produced
nothing of note, although a Fieldfare had been seen earlier but had moved on. We then stopped to view the Cley Marshes from
the visitor’s centre, where we saw three Avocets, a Golden Plover, twenty-nine
Dunlin, twenty-five Ruff and twenty Black-tailed Godwits on Pat’s Pool. A Hobby was observed as quartered over the
marsh and there was also a distant Marsh Harrier.
With no news of anything we
moved off west making a brief but unsuccessful stop for Spoonbill at
Morston. We were well past Stiffkey when
I got a message of a juvenile Long-tailed Skua on the beach at Salthouse. We considered going back but it would probably
have taken a good thirty minutes and we thought it would probably have
gone. However it did stay for quite a
while and we might well have seen it had we returned and to make matters worse
David, who was driving, almost suggested we should take a look on the sea.
We stopped at the pull in near
Burnham Overy Staithe for lunch and with news of Pied Flycatcher and several
Restarts in the dunes we considered walking down to perhaps locate them. A Buzzard provided excellent views and
forty-five Pink-footed Geese flew over, which were apparently were the first
autumn arrivals.
Pink-footed Geese
Buzzard
Buzzard
As we walked out to the dunes
we discovered that the scarce migrants were all at the edge of Holkham Pines
and so we decided we would just walk as far as the coastal path, hoping we might
find some a little closer later. We did
see a single Wheatear perched in a bush on the edge of a reedbed but other than
a single Golden Plover and a couple of Grey Plovers there was little else and
we continued on to Titchwell.
The wind had increased
significantly and it was quite strong and blustery as we walked out along the
west bank at Titchwell and making it difficult to use a scope from the
bank. There were five Red-crested
Pochard on the Reedbed Pool and there were plenty of birds on the Freshwater
Marsh. We went into Island hide to get
out of the wind and found a good selection of waders that included
Oystercatcher, Avocet, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Ruff, Black-tailed
Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit and Turnstone and Roger found a couple of Pintail and
there was also a Wheatear. We continued
along the path and went to the Parrinder hide structure and viewed the
Freshwater Marsh from there. There was a
larger concentration of Dunlin visible that contained a single Little Stint and
circa sixty Knot flew in. There was also
a single Spoonbill and Roger found two Snipe and there were four Spotted
Redshanks feeding along the eastern edge of the marsh. We continued on to the beach but there was
very little on the rising tide and the wind wasn’t helping and all and there was
just a flock of Oystercatchers and a single Sanderling. As we walked back along the bank there was
another flock of Oystercatcher on the Tidal Marsh along with several Grey
Plover and Turnstones. I heard a Bearded
Tit but not surprisingly it didn’t show and walk around Meadow Trail looking
for a reported Pied Flycatcher drew a blank.
Black-tailed Godwit on Volunteer Marsh
Black-tailed Godwit on Volunteer Marsh
Black-tailed Godwit on Volunteer Marsh
Juvenile Dunlin on the Freshwater Marsh
Ruff on the Freshwater Marsh
Chinese Water Deer
We made a brief stop at
Choseley Barns but other than a few Red-legged Partridges there was very little
and so we made our way home. It had been
a rather disappointing day with the hoped for scarce migrants being just that
and the disappointment of the Long-tailed Skua adding to our woes.
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