A full day out with Andy Brown, Chief Bird Specialist of Natural England who very kindly accompanied myself, Kim, Claire & Rob around some birding hotspots in North West Norfolk.
Gore Point - bright & sunny, crisp with a slight southern breeze.
A new location for me, one recommended for getting close to waders at high tide, unfortunately it was out when we got there so the sandbanks were not overly crowded: Cormorant, Little Egret, Oystercatcher, Great Black-Backed Gull on the shore-side; Pink Footed Goose in the distance in growing skeins; Redshank, Curlew, Black-Headed Gull, Herring Gull, & a nice group of Gannet flying east; heading back to the car & some good visible migration of Meadow Pipit as well as a Rock Pipit which was heard from the bushes around the golf course, & Pied Wagtail.
Thornham Harbour.
Yet another new location, some excellent mixed agricultural land adjoining rough areas of grassland & marsh on the eastern fringes of the Holme reserve: Sparrowhawk above the nearby trees; Pink-Footed Goose & a small group of distant Brent Goose near to the shore-line; a nice group of ten Grey Partridge blending into the field; Skylark & Rock Pipit overflying; Teal, Wigeon, Redshank on the exposed mud of the creek & Bar-Tailed Godwit, Little Egret, Herring Gull further out towards the beach; Reed Bunting on nearby bushes; Curlew &, Grey Plover again nearer the shore; a lone Snipe went up high & quickly away.
RSPB Titchwell - still sunny & quite warm, later some light clouds moving in.
From the visitors' centre: Robin, Great Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Magpie, Blue Tit & Long-Tailed Tit; along the path for Dunnock & Cetti's Warbler (heard) low-down in the undergrowth; Chiffchaff (heard), Coot, Water Rail (heard) from the first reed beds.
Just after the rail was heard a Bearded Tit darted up from the reeds & flew for 20 metres or so low over the reedbeds, an unusual sighting of these normally elusive birds. However, something even more unusual followed when six bearded tits then flew straight up & over the path seemingly headed off the reserve in some irruptive behaviour. However there was a breeze which seemed to push them back or they thought better of it & quickly dived back down into the reeds on the other side of the path. Quite a spectacular & most unusual sighting!
Further along the path, overflying &/or visible on the first scrape: Cormorant, Starling, Lapwing, Grey Heron, Teal, Dunlin, Redshank, Shelduck, Linnet, Egyptian Goose, Ruff, Avocet, lone Ringed Plover, Wigeon, Shoveler, Mallard, Moorhen, Pink-Footed Goose on the agricultural fields adjacent to the reserve, lone Golden Plover & lone Grey Plover, Black-Headed Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Black-Tailed Godwit, Wren.
Further along the path near the saltmarsh area: Meadow Pipit, Turnstone, Herring Gull.
At sea or along the shore: Eider, Oystercatcher, Common Gull, Sanderling, Bar-Tailed Godwit. As I watched the sea a curious grey plumaged & large bird flew directly towards the shore & only when it reached the beach did it swerve to fly westwards parallel to the shore: a confused juvenile Gannet.
Heading back to the car: Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Kestrel.
Choseley Drying Barns.
A few days earlier Andy had seen a great grey shrike on the barn roof, obviously worth a look to see if it was still there, but unfortunately the intervening few days of heavy rain had apparently sent it on its way. However whilst we scanned the area we came across Pied Wagtail, Kestrel, Robin, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove & in the far distance towards Holme a lone Marsh Harrier over the fields & a couple of Buzzard over trees.
Holkham Nature Reserve.
From the George Washington hide: large numbers of Pink-Footed Goose across all the fields from the hide & those leading up to the hide; a lone Barnacle Goose was also amongst the pink-feets; Wigeon also & a lone Marsh Harrier drifted across the reserve & behind into the woods towards the beach; back along the path a group of Long-Tailed Tit.
Back to Thornham Harbour for dusk & a Barn Owl, just as Andy had said there would be.
An excellent day, yielding 64 species, which may be a one-day record for me in Norfolk, none new though.
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