Malcolm had offered to drive
to Norfolk today and Ken, Roger and I were keen to take him up on his
offer. Roger picked me up and we drove
to Market Harbour and joined Malcolm before heading to Corby to collect
Ken. It was dry and clear as we left Market
Harborough and as we began to climb the hill out of the town a Barn Owl flew
across the road.
After collecting Ken we headed
out of the Corby on the A43 to the A47 and the headed for Peterborough. As we approached Peterborough it became quite
foggy and remained so until just after King’s Lynn when it began to thin and
when we reached the Jet Ski launch at Hunstanton the visibility wasn’t too bad.
There had been reports of a
Purple Sandpiper on the rocks at the Jet Ski launch site and with tide high we
were hoping it would be there. As I
reached the top of the ramp the Purple Sandpiper was roosting on the rocks just
the left and provided some nice views.
There were also a few Turnstone and a single Sanderling but the sea was
almost devoid of birds and we were soon on our way again.
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Herring Gulls near the Jet Ski Ramp
We stopped briefly on the
cliff top at Hunstanton where we saw a couple of Fulmar but with little else we
were soon on our way to Titchwell.
As we walked out along the west
bank to the sea at Titchwell the fog cleared to give way to bright
sunshine. We didn’t spend anytime
viewing the lagoons as we wanted to reach the sea whilst the tide was still
high but we did see fourteen Avocets on the Freshwater Marsh.
When we reached the sea the
tide was just starting to recede and there were masses of waterfowl on the
water. As we scanned we could see that
most were Common Scoter but there were also good numbers of Long-tailed Ducks,
with some splendid looking males. A
closer look produced a number of Velvet Scoters and I then found a Slavonian
Grebe. The birds moved out slowly with
the tide but were still quite close and we added Eider and Red-breasted
Merganser and I eventually managed to see a lone Scaup. Malcolm then found a diver, which he was
hoping would be a Black-throated but it turned out to be a Great Northern and
we had a second in flight. Roger then
found a Red-throated Diver and again we found a second and I found a single
Guillemot. As the water continued to
recede a few waders began appearing, most being Oystercatchers and Turnstones
but there were also a few Sanderling and Bar-tailed Godwits.
We had been on the beach for a
good hour and were thinking of going back to view the lagoons when one of the wardens
informed us that a Firecrest was performing near the fen trail path and so we
headed straight back. As we made our way
back a bank of fog swept in and it was quite foggy when we reached the fen
trail where there was no sign of the Firecrest.
Roger and I went back to the car park area and found a small party of
Long-tailed Tits and a single Goldcrest but the Firecrest wasn’t seen again
whilst we were on site.
With the fog still quite bad
we decided we would go back to try and view the lagoons as best as we
could. Malcolm and I hadn’t gone too far
when Tony, who had joined us, cried Hen Harrier, and a ring-tailed passed over
Thornham Pool and landed on some vegetation on the edge of the pool. It then moved a little further away but could
still be seen quite well until it flew off into the fog. The views were still pretty good despite the
fog as it used its tail to retain its balance in the light breeze.
As we moved along the bank the
fog began clearing again and we were able to view the three lagoons. When we reached the tidal lagoons I found two
waders that were roosting at the far end and I suspected that they were Spotted
Redshanks. As I was watching them and
alerting the others something disturbed them and they lifted their heads
briefly and confirmed my suspicious that they were Spotted Redshanks.
On reaching the beach the tide
was now further out and we walked towards another group of birds near the
shoreline to view the waterfowl again. A
Black-throated Diver had been seen just after we left previously and had been
seen a few minutes ago but we were unable to locate it and so nothing else new.
It was no approaching 13:00
and so we returned for some lunch finding that there were now three Spotted
Redshanks roosting and a Knot was on the Volunteer Marsh. As we approached the end of the path the fog
returned yet again and was quite thick at times and so after lunch we went to
Thornham.
Grey Plover on the Volunteer Marsh
Our target here was Twite but
as we got out of the car we found a Rock Pipit on the old coal barn and as we
walked towards the bridge over the creek we picked up a small party of finches
in flight. They landed in a tree but we
were unable to identify them in the fog as they just silhouettes. As we walked back towards the bridge the
party of finches eventually settled were we could see them and we were able to
confirm that they were Twite and I counted twenty-six. With our target in the bag and the fog not
getting any better we decided we would head for home whilst there was still
some light.
We drove back past Titchwell
and took the road to Choseley Barns finding eight Grey Partridge in one of the
fields and circa fifty Linnets on the wires just after the barns.
It remained foggy until we had
got beyond Wisbech after which we had a single Buzzard and then a Kestrel
before reaching Peterborough.
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