David, Malcolm and I had
agreed we would go to Norfolk today as strong north-west winds were forecast
and we were hoping for a good sea passage.
However late yesterday afternoon a Cliff Swallow was found at Minsmere
in Suffolk, which both David and Malcolm needed. I was a little surprised when I arrived at
David’s that he was having second thoughts about going and after we had picked
Malcolm up in Market Harborough we decided we would go with our original plan
and go to Norfolk.
After passing through Corby
and getting on the A43 we saw five Red Kites before we reached the A47 and then
had another two before we reached Peterborough.
We didn’t see a great deal else before we were on the King’s Lynne
bypass when news of fifty-plus Waxwing at Holme came through.
As we arrived at Holme it
started to rain and quite heavily and as we drove down the entrance road some
other birders told us they had seen the birds but that they had flown off. We turned and parked the car and waited hoping
they would return when the rain stopped.
One of the birders we had seen earlier then came past saying he was
going to look for them nearer the reserve only to return a few minutes later
saying that they were now at the end of the road. We drove to the end and found a group of
birders looking into trees on the opposite side of the road and we then saw the
Waxwings in a tree. After parking we
walked back towards the tree and I was able to take a few shots in pretty poor
light before the rain returned. Malcolm
and I took shelter under a bush but the light was now pretty awful and the wind
had increased making photography almost impossible and so I joined David in the
car.
Waxwing
Waxwing
I had tried counting the birds
but with the wind, rain and the birds moving gave up but there must have been
at least sixty.
Once we got Malcolm back into
the car we set off for Cley but stopped briefly at Titchwell to use the
loos. We observed the field to the west
of the reserve where some White-fronted Geese had been feeding with Pink-footed
Geese and although there were a few Pink-footed Geese there was no sign of the
White-fronts. Just as we were about to
move on to the car park fourteen Ruff flew off the field and it wasn’t long afterwards
we continued on to Cley.
When we arrived at Cley we
initially went to the reserve centre as we felt it would be easier getting the
kit on before we went to the beach.
There was a small crowd sea-watching and consequently all of the best
places in the old shelter were taken and we had stand outside. The wind was now pretty strong and was
gusting quite a bit making it very difficult to use the scope but I did manage
to pick up our first party of Great Skuas as they headed east and there was a
steady movement of Gannets and auks. The
frequent showers didn’t help and I stopped looking and took shelter in the far
side of the shelter several times. We
eventually managed to get into the shelter but I was stood behind two pretty
tall guys and had to try and peer between them, which was better than being
outside. There was a steady stream of
Common Scoters and one group contained a single Velvet Scoter and four
Red-throated Divers and three Long-tailed Ducks were also observed. One of the guys then picked up a Little Auk
but my position made it difficult to see properly and the instructions given
didn’t help too much but I did see it briefly as it went a little higher as it
moved west into the wind. Malcolm saw it
rather well but David failed to see it and then rushed around to the front of
the shelter and I followed him and was surprised to find just three guys in the
shelter. We didn’t see the Little Auk
again but David and I joined the three, one of whom, Steve, we knew as many
years ago he was a local Leicestershire birder and one of the other two was
Richard Millington.
We had a much better view of
the sea and although Steve left just afterwards Richard remained and his
experience and skill of sea-watching paid dividends during the next hour or
so. We had many more Great Skuas and a finished
with a tally of fifty-two and there were also more views of the three
Long-tailed Ducks. Richard then called
another Little Auk and tried his best to get us on it but David and I failed to
see it despite it passing quite close.
He then picked up a couple of shearwaters at some considerable distance,
which turned out to be two Manx Shearwaters.
Another birder then announced three Great Skuas coming east; with
Richard almost immediately indicating that they were three juvenile Pomarine
Skuas and we had reasonable views as they passed by. Malcolm had joined us by this time and he was
beginning to feel the cold and my feet was also feeling a little cool and so we
took a break for lunch, when we missed a juvenile Glaucous Gull.
When we returned to the shelter
we were able to get our original positions and spent almost another hour
continuing sea watching and saw an adult Little Gull and a Sandwich Tern but
with it quietening down we called it a day and headed off home.
We made a brief stop at Abbey
farm but saw just a few Red-legged Partridges and two Buzzards and then on
making a brief coffee stop just beyond Guyhirn we saw a Marsh Harrier that was
probably heading off to a roost.
Despite the frequent early
showers we had, had a pretty good day, with Manx Shearwater, Pomarine Skua,
Little Auk and Waxwing all being year-ticks.
Needless to say the Cliff
Swallow had performed at Minsmere and I suspect that like me, David and Malcolm
had some regrets that we didn’t go for it.
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