David, Malcolm, Roger and I
set off to Norfolk today hoping to catch up on one two of the good birds that
have been present recently. We saw a
couple of Red Kites between the Rutland boundary and Peterborough but had seen
nothing else by the time we reached Cley.
The weather forecast was for
heavy showers during the morning, which should ease during the afternoon and we
had travelled through some periods of rain since entering Norfolk. As it was raining on arrival we went to the
beach car park hoping to get into the shelter and sea watch until the rain
passed. We did get a position in the
shelter that was out of the wind and rain and gave a reasonable view of the
sea. There wasn’t a massive movement but
there was a few Gannets moving east as were several parties of auks. There were two Razorbills just off shore just
drifting west and we also had three Guillemots on the sea also drifting west. There were three Red-throated Divers moving
east and forth was observed on the sea.
Two Great Skuas passed slowly to the east and a third was observed later
and two juvenile Kittiwakes were also observed.
We had several parties of Brent Geese moving west along with a single
Common Scoter and a male Eider, which was a year tick.
The shower eventually passed
and we went back along the beach road to observe a bush, which had held a
Barred Warbler yesterday. There was no
sign of the Barred Warbler but two Stonechats perched on the bush briefly and
we also had two Goldcrests, a Chiffchaff and two Robins in the bush.
The rain returned and so we
retreated back to the shelter but we saw very little on the sea and decided to
visit the centre seeing a Marsh Harrier on route. When we arrived we had a job parking as both
the car parks were full and so we perched along the road joining the two car
parks. After a comfort break we scanned
the marsh but found very little with a party of Black-tailed Godwits being the
best.
We then had the first piece of
news, which was an Olive-backed Pipit in Wells Wood. As it was still dry we went back to look for
the Barred Warble but had the same result and so set off for Wells.
We arrived in the car park at
Wells and tried eating our lunch before actually paying but the attendant came
and so we paid for a couple of hours and then finished our lunch. We walked the short distance to where the
bird had been seen to find that it at been seen again but not for fifty or more
minutes. We stood for a good thirty
minutes or so without any sign of the bird and after three birders walked
through the area without any joy we moved away.
A trip onto the southern edge o the dell failed to produce anything but
a walk a little further down the path produced a Marsh Harrier and a Peregrine.
We eventually had to give up
and return to the car as the parking was about to expire. With nothing other than two Jack Snipe at
Titchwell we decided to head for the there to finish the day.
We stopped briefly in Burnham
Overy Staithe harbour where we found a Ringed Plover, a Redshank and a Rock
Pipit.
On reaching Titchwell and
walking to the centre after parking one of the volunteers told us that there
was a Peregrine perched on a fence post in the first meadow. We quickly made our way to the western path
and had reasonable if distant views of the bird, which was considered to be a
male but it looked rather large to me and I suspected that it was a
female. When we reached the area the Jack
Snipe had been reported there was no sign and with rain threatening we went to
Island Hide to get a different view. It
was quite a heavy shower and we were in the hide for a while but there was no
sign of the Jack Snipe. There were quite
a few Ruff scattered around the fresh marsh and we also found a Spoonbill, six
Avocets, two Ringed Plovers, a Little Stint, fourteen Dunlin, circa eighty
Black-tailed Godwits and sixteen Bar-tailed Godwits.
As the rain eased we started
to walk out to the sea but stopped for a final look for the Jack Snipe. As David was saying he had spent some time
whilst on holiday looking for a Jack Snipe and couldn’t understand why they
were so difficult, when he suddenly said I got one. He tried to get Roger and I onto the bird,
which Roger seemed to find quite easily but it took me longer to find. As I was watching it was walking left and
looked as though it might come out into the open, when Roger said it’s walking
right and I of course no left. Both he
and Roger then confirmed it was moving right and clearly they were watching a
different bird.
We walked further down the
west bank to Volunteer Marsh and found a single Turnstone and several Grey
Plovers and as we approached the far end of the marsh found a Curlew
Sandpiper. On the Tidal Marsh there was
a nice flock of circa sixty Knot but as we could see the next shower
approaching we went back towards Parrinder Hide finding a second Curlew
Sandpiper with the first as we did so.
We didn’t see a great deal else and after the shower headed back to the
car.
Grey Plover on the Volunteer Marsh
Redshank on the Volunteer Marsh
Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper on the Volunteer Marsh
Male Ruff one the Freshwater Marsh
A brief stop at Choseley
produced very little although we did spend a few minutes observing some
thrushes going back and forth from the hedge into a stubble field but we could
identify Blackbird, Song Thrush and Redwing.
Whilst we were at Titchwell we
received news of a Dusky warbler at Cromer, which was one of our targets birds
but the news came just too late. Whilst
the news services are great in the good old days we would probably just have
gone for it rather than wait for news but I suppose that’s progress.
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