A day in West Norfolk - September 9, 2018

David, Malcolm and I set off from Malcolm’s at around 06:30 for a day’s birding in Norfolk.  All we saw on note on route was a Common Buzzard alongside the A43 near Blatherwycke and we arrived at Cley at around 08:55. We drove to the beach car park where we intended to carry out a sea watch.

The north-west wind wasn’t that strong, and it was pretty quiet with the following being recorded: Eurasian Wigeon; Eurasian Teal; forty-one Common Scoter; a Red-throated Diver; two Northern Fulmar; eight Northern Gannet, an Eurasian Oystercatcher, three Red Knot; a Common Redshank and four Sandwich Tern in just over an hour and there was a Northern Wheatear on the beach.  David and Malcolm had a Great Skua, which I failed to pick up and eventually it disappeared before I got on it.

We made a brief visit to the visitor’s centre seeing a Common Shelduck, Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Wigeon, four Common Buzzard, twenty-eight Black-tailed Godwit and four Ruff from the centre.  A distant falcon caused some discussion, but we finally identified it as a Peregrine Falcon.

There had been a report of a Wryneck at Holme and so we headed in that direction.  We called Roger, who was on holiday for a few days, to make him aware and stopped briefly at Burnham Overy Staithe to see if anyone had news of yesterday’s Wryneck and Greenish Warbler but neither had been seen.  During our brief stop we saw a female Western Marsh Harrier, a Common Buzzard and a Common Kestrel over the marsh and there was a Sand Martin and three Barn Swallow overhead.

As we headed on towards Holme I had a message from Roger’s wife saying they were at Holme and that the Wryneck had been seen at 08:30 and then only by a single observer but not since.  I called Roger and he confirmed the message and so we went to Thornham for our lunch.  We didn’t see a great deal with seventeen Eurasian Curlew and a Common Redshank being the best.

The day wasn’t turning out too good and as we headed to Titchwell we weren’t very optimistic as recent visits hadn’t been too productive.  After parking we set off and checked the book in the centre, which indicated there had been a good range of species yesterday but fewer reported today.

As we walked along the west bank we found a European Turtle Dove perched in a distant dead tree in the centre of the reedbed and there was a female Western Marsh Harrier over the reedbed.  Twenty-four Common Pochard were on the Reedbed Pool and we could see three distant Eurasian Spoonbills on the Freshwater Marsh.  David then heard a Bearded Tit and we stopped and after hearing them quite a few times and still not seeing any we moved beyond Island Hide to view the Freshwater Marsh seeing a male Western Marsh Harrier as we did so.

There were plenty of birds on the Freshwater Marsh and a good range of waders that included thirty-three Pied Avocet, a European Golden Plover, three Common Ringed Plover, a Little Ringed Plover, circa eighty Bar-tailed Godwit, 170 Black-tailed Godwit, six Red Knot, two Curlew Sandpiper, twenty-seven Dunlin and two Common Redshank.  David moved further down the path whilst Malcolm and I scanned through the birds and I picked out a first-year Mediterranean Gull.  We could see David sitting on a bench further down the track and so we went and informed him we had seen a Mediterranean Gull and the Little Ringed Plover, when a Peregrine Falcon flew over.  When we reached David, we informed of our finds and started to scan looking for the Mediterranean Gull.  David then found a second-year and an adult, but we were unable to relocate the first-year bird again.  The Little Ringed Plover was still in the same area but as we watched it looked skywards and then crouched low and then most of the birds on the marsh took to flight and we picked up the Peregrine Falcon again.  It must have remained over the marsh for a good five minutes and appeared to be trying to pick something up in the northwest corner but failed on several occasions.  After it had gone we continued down the path and found there was a freshly dead Dunlin in the corner, which we assumed it had killed and dropped and was then too wary of the people on the bank to retrieve its prize.

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

There appeared to be very little on Volunteer Marsh and so we continued onto Tidal Marsh where we found a Little Egret, c.100 Eurasian Oystercatcher, nine Grey Plover, two Eurasian Curlew, 50+ Ruddy Turnstone, eleven Red Knot, three Dunlin and forty Common Redshank.  There was also another Eurasian Spoonbill and three Little Egrets on Thornham Marsh.

When we reached the beach the sea, like Cley, was quiet but we did find three Sanderling and two Red Knot along with more Eurasian Oystercatcher on the beach and there were several Sandwich Terns off shore.  Another three birders then arrived and picked up a skua almost immediately and it came quite close before settling on the sea and we were able to confirm that it was a Great Skua.  Roger then joined us and shortly after finding the Great Skua for him two skuas were in evidence, one smaller than the other.  The larger was the Great Skua and the other an Arctic Skua and we then found three more distant Arctic Skuas and a summer plumaged Red-throated Diver flew west.  Whilst staring out to sea we had also seen three Common Scoter and six Gannet, and a Eurasian Spoonbill flew over and a Whimbrel was heard.

As we walked back we stopped again to view the Tidal Marsh but there were now fewer birds and on reaching Volunteer Marsh the water was rising with incoming tide and unfortunately there was no sign of a Spotted Redshank Roger had seen earlier.  We scanned the Freshwater Marsh looking for the Spotted Redshank but was unable to locate but we did have a nice view of a juvenile Bearded Tit feeding at the base of the reeds.

Juvenile Bearded Tit

Juvenile Dunlin on the Freshwater Marsh

We didn’t see much else as we returned to the car park and rain was now threatening and it was noticeably cooler.  We were soon making our way home after a coffee and a snack and Malcolm decided to go around the coast road.  It was raining on and off by the time we reached the first of the Kings Lynne roundabouts and just after this the traffic ground to a halt.  Several vehicles began turning around and with no sign of the traffic moving Malcolm did the same and went cross country reaching the A47 Middleton. The rain and the traffic after this were quite heavy until we passed the A1 and continued through Corby to reach Market Harborough.