Monday 1 October 2018

A day in West Norfolk - September 28, 2018


The forecast today was for a fresh northerly wind and so David, Malcolm, Roger and I discussed the option of where to go to do some sea watching.  It was a toss-up between Flamborough in East Yorkshire and Cley in Norfolk but as there had been an American Golden Plover at Titchwell and three Black Redstarts at Heacham we opted for Cley.

Roger picked up David and I and then drove to Malcolm’s who was the designated driver for the day.  We left Malcolm’s at around 06:30 and arrived at the beach car park at Cley just after 09:00.  We had seen a Red Kite from the A43, two Common Buzzards, one leaving Market Harborough and the other just after leaving Eye and a Eurasian Jay on the Langham Road as we were approaching Wiveton.

The car park was quite full and there was a reasonable crowd on the beach sea watching but when we enquired they hadn’t seen a great deal, with a single Sooty Shearwater being the best.  There was a good northerly blow and there was a good swell on the sea and we stood to the left of the old shelter and spent a good two hours scanning the sea.  During that time, we had ten Common Scoter, twelve Red-throated Diver, two Manx Shearwater, eighty-four Northern Gannet, two Sandwich Tern, three Great Skua and a Guillemot.  There were a few other auks, which we were unable to identify and also Eurasian Wigeon and Eurasian Teal.

Malcolm had noticed a Northern Wheatear on a fence post on the edge of the reserve and so Malcolm, Roger and I walked along the beach to get a better a view as we suspected there was more than one.  When we got closer we scanned the fence and had three Wheatear and a Stonechat before re-joining David, when we called a halt to the sea-watching.

We headed for Titchwell hoping that the American Golden Plover would appear this afternoon as it had done yesterday.  We stopped briefly at Burnham Overy Staithe to view the marsh towards Holkham and saw twelve Pink-footed Geese drop into a field, a Western Marsh Harrier towards the pines and a Red Kite and a Common Buzzard over a wood nearer the road.  We then had another Red Kite near Burnham Deepdale and another doing a detour around Choseley Barns, where we also had a couple of Common Buzzard and a Common Kestrel.

When we reached the Titchwell Reserve it was 12:40 and so we had lunch before venturing onto the reserve.  We checked the sighting book in the centre and there had been a good selection of birds seen on the sea here this morning that included a Sooty Shearwater, a Black-throated Diver and a Sabine’s Gull.  The wind had now died down a little and we didn’t really expect too much on the sea.  As we came out of the centre I heard Pink-footed Geese calling and twenty flew over before we reached the west bank.  Malcolm and David had gone on ahead and when I reached Malcolm he had found a Water Rail in the ditch alongside the path, which Roger failed to see.

When we reached the Freshwater Marsh there was a nice group of Ruff feeding near Island Hide and we could hear Bearded Tits calling.  Another sighting of a Water Rail distracted us and this time it was my turn to dip, but I did have a brief view of a Bearded Tit, whilst looking for the Water Rail.  As we walked beyond the hide there was a Little Egret and a single Eurasian Curlew visible on Thornham Marsh and plenty of birds to go through on the marsh.  There was a flock of Black-tailed Godwit along with twenty-five Red Knot roosting in the centre of the marsh.  There were just two European Golden Plover on the marsh and six Pied Avocet.  There were good numbers of Eurasian Teal with smaller numbers of Common Shelduck, Gadwall and Eurasian Wigeon and a single Northern Pintail and also thirty-four Common Shelduck.

We continued along the path but found very little on Volunteer Marsh with just a couple of Eurasian Curlew and several Common Redshank in the channel.  The Tidal Marsh, which is no longer tidal had more water in it than I have seen before and consequently no birds.

David and Malcolm had reached the beach first and when I joined them David had seen Northern Gannet but very little else.  There were good numbers of Eurasian Oystercatchers on the beach along with both Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits and I did eventually see seven Grey Plover, three Sanderling and a couple of Ruddy Turnstone.  On the sea I saw fifteen Common Scoter, a Red-throated Diver, a Northern Fulmar and two Manx Shearwaters and we also found six Brent Geese.  I then picked up a large flock of waders over the sea and eventually realised that they were European Golden Plover and as we watched them they appeared to come down on the Freshwater Marsh.

With little activity on the sea we made our way back to the Freshwater Marsh hoping that the American Golden Plover would be there.  When we got back there were only five European Golden Plover on the marsh, but the Red Knot had increased to about eighty.  As we sat watching the marsh hoping that more European Golden Plover would drop in I heard a Common Greenshank and picked it up flying over the back of the marsh.  Malcolm and David had been watching from the first bench and joined us saying that they thought one of the Golden Plover looked different.  They had called me earlier about the bird, but Roger and I considered it was just a European Golden Plover, which it turned out to be.  I then heard what I thought was more than one Common Greenshank calling and we then had five over our heads with nine flying around together a few minutes later.  More European Golden Plover then dropped in and there were now around 140 but there was still no sign of the American Golden Plover and we called it a day but not before David found an adult winter Mediterranean Gull.


Moulting juvenile Dunin


Seven of the nine Common Greenshanks

As we were getting ready to leave, two flocks of Pink-footed Geese flew over to the south, totalling about 100 birds and a Common Kestrel at Choseley and a Common Buzzard from the A43, were the highlights of the return journey.

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