North Norfolk - January 25th-27th.
Common Cranes at Clippersby.
We
were told of some Common Cranes that were frequenting Clippersby which as the
Crane flies was not too far away, so we headed off down there, watching numerous
Common Gulls in the ploughed fields, Linnets, Meadow Pipits and Woodpigeons. We
located the Cranes – seven in total as they enjoyed feeding in a field. A distant
Common Buzzard was perched up on a tree. We began heading into the direction of
Cley stopping off en-route at Reeps Fields, where 100+ Golden Plover shared the
fields with numerous Lapwing and several Curlew. We started to see the first of
many Kestrels. Several Grey Plovers were
noted at a roadside stop and we scanned through a flock of 60+ Mute Swans, but
there were no Whooper’s or Bewick’s mixed in with them.
Cley Beach close to sunset.
We
arrived at Cley East Bank late afternoon but there was no sing of the Glaucous
Gull that had been frequenting the area. We did however have a good mix of
birds which included Wigeon, Teal, Curlew, Greylag Geese, Black-tailed Godwits,
Shoveler, redshanks, a single Common Snipe, Pintail, Gadwall, Lesser
Black-backed, Herring and Black Headed Gulls coming into roost, 1 Grey Plover,
2 Turnstones and Avocets. A stunning male Hen Harrier drifted past the hide
giving us exscellent views, what a stunning looking bird. A male Peregrine was perched up on the top of
a shingle bank and sat there contented for some time. Three Little Grebes were
diving in the top pool and Great Black-backed Gulls were joining the gull
roost. Dunlin, Shelduck and a Little Egret joined the groups.
Sunset over Cley village
The
light was fading fast so we made our way back to the car, watching at least a
dozen Marsh Harriers making their way to their roost site. Skeins of Pink
Footed Geese passed overhead on their way to the neighbouring fields. Their calls
could be heard from some distance away, and it was a lovely sight watching
groups of many hundreds strong passing overhead calling.
Skeins of Pink Footed Geese
We
arrived at White Barn b+b (a place I have stayed in six times before) and one which
I always use due to both its ideal location to Cley and Blakeney Point and for
the lovely hospitality of Wendy and Ray. The rooms are spacious, very clean and
comfortable. I thoroughly recommend this place to anyone and the contact
details are as follows: raymillard@btinternet.com 01263
741359 White Barn, Back Lane, Blakeney
NR25 7NP. After dropping off our gear
and having a long catch up with our hosts, we made our way down to the restaurant at
the end of the lane and enjoyed a hot meal and some pale ale before returning
to a quiet and comfortable nights sleep. We got talking to a guy in the restaurant who had
a similar interest in birds and it transpired that he works as a volunteer at
Goldcliff where I go birding and we follow each other on Twitter – he was also
from Wales, Cardiff to be exact. Another small world.
Day
2. After enjoying a legendary cooked
breakfast with a pot of tea and toast and jam, we were set up for the day, and
so very contented we made our way to Choseley Barns for a reported
Rough-legged Buzzard, stopping off along the way to watch several Hares in a field with
Rooks, Lapwing, Jackdaws, a Stock Dove and 3 Red-legged Partridges. At Choseley
we quickly located the buzzard perched up in a low bare tree. Four Yellowhammers
and a Grey Partridge were added to the list.
Titchwell at low tide.
Next
stop was Titchwell Nature Reserve where we saw an abundance of species
including Robins, Wrens, Greenfinches, Reed Buntings and Dunnocks. High tide
was in so the lagoons were full en-route to the beach, but we did find a line of
waterbirds along a raised bank, and scanning through the masses of
Oystercatchers and Wigeon we were able to pick out Black and Bar-tailed
Godwits, Grey Plovers, Turnstone, 60+ Knot, 2 Greenshanks and a Spotted
Redshank. Teal, Shoveler, Pintail and Dunlin were also mixed in. As we walked
closer to the sea we watched a Brent Goose out on the marshes with Skylarks
calling overhead and Shelduck criss-crossing the salting's. At the beach, Nick
was there who were talking to the night before and a small line of birders all
with their scopes set up were scanning the vast sea. This
was to be one of my best visits to Titchwell Beach as the diversity of sea
birds was brilliant. Along with a Sanderling, Turnstone and Oystercacthers on
the water’s edge, the birds just got better and better, and we started to pick
out specialities out on the sea amongst the numerous Great Crested Grebes, such as Red-necked
Grebes, a Black-necked Grebe, Red-breasted Mergansers, Eider (males and
females), 15+ Common Scoters and a fly-by Red-throated Diver. A Guillemot was
gently riding the waves and later a pair of thicker billed Razorbills came into
view. A Slavonian Grebe was an unexpected surprise, but what made it for me was
the lovely views of the male Long-tailed Ducks – what a beautiful duck they
are. After
a few hours on the beach we made our way back to the car park, stopping to
watch a number of Brent Geese out on the marshes and a male Hen Harrier that
made an appearance across the saltings. What a great way to end a visit at
Titchwell.
Pink Footed Geese
We moved on to Holkham as
Shorelarks has been reported from the beach area. After we parked up we took
the time to scan through 6000+ Pink Footed Geese for any other species mixed
in, but not today. The fields were filled with noisy geese with groups coming
in to join them all the time. Four Egyptian Geese were alone in the opposite
field. At
Holkham Gap we managed to find a flock of 13 Shorelarks but they were flighty.
60+ Linnets formed a separate group and fed closer in and in the roped off area
where a selfish dog walker deiced to let her two dogs off their leads into this
special area where they flushed 40+ Snow Buntings which flew off some distance
away and were not seen again. We got talking to a lad from Scotland who whilst
watching some Stonechats in the Sea Buckthorn he had seen a glimpse of a
Dartford Warbler. After a while we all had another brief view as it flew
further along into some thick scrub and we could not relocate it. A Coal Tit
was calling from the Pine trees beyond.
Brent Geese
We
finished off the last few hours of light back at Cley but this time we birded
from the car park and along the shingle in the direction of East Bank. Around a
1000+ Brent Geese were in the field by the car park giving us lovely close
views, as more skiens of Pink Footed Geese passed overhead.
This
evening there were plenty of Pintail on the lagoons and a small flock of Canada
Geese were added to the list. There was no sign of the Glaucous Gull again but
on the return to the car park we were delighted to run into a group of 50+ Snow
Buntings.
One of 50+ Snow Buntings
Unfortunately the light was fading so although they were about
fifteen foot away from us, my camera struggled to get a good clear shot. It was
nice though just to watch them flitting about, and showing off the white wing
patches as they did so. Heading back to the b+b I stopped off at Crabtree Book
shop in the village of Cley, where I was able to source three books by local
wildlife artist James McCallum entitled North Norfolk a summer sketchbook, wild
goose winter and wild skeins and winter skies. Another excellent meal at the local restaurant
was followed by another good nights sleep and another great breakfast.
Twite at Thornham and a Robin with Bramblings at Lynford
Day 3. We spoke for some time with Wendy and
Ray and Wendy kindly gave me some Snowdrops and Aconites for my garden. We said
our goodbyes and the plan for the day was to do some birding at a few more
sites before heading off home around 1 pm. We were lucky with the weather as it
had been raining heavily through the night, and although today was dry, there
was a biting north wind. en-route to Thornham we noticed a Great White Egret on
the little pools at Stiffkey which was a good find, and prior to Thornham we
saw a pair of Red Kites for the list. Thornham was the first stop for a Waxwing
that had been frequenting an orchard but sadly not today, so we headed down to
the nearby Thornham Beach for the Twite reported there. A Water Pipit was a nice
surprise, and as we walked towards the boats we saw a flock of 14 small finches
flit into the Glassworts. We relocated them and they were indeed the
Twite. We watched them for some time as
they flew around, settling each time for several minutes. One of the birds had
two red rings on the lower right leg so I have sent the sighting in to the
ringing group to see if I can find any history on this bird.
A flock
of Redwing and Fieldfares were feeding on the edge of a field in some Hawthorn
bushes as we made our way to our final destination. The cold was relentless so we made the decision of heading inland to
the shelter of the woods at Lynford Arboretum and this proved a good move. Not only
was it cooler, but we had a good mix of woodland species including Nuthatch,
Common Crossbills and Siskins. We found a feeder close to a puddle of water on
the woodland floor so we were optimistic of seeing birds coming down to drink. This
was a good move as soon we were watching 30+ Bramblings feeding on the
ground and drinking from this pool. A Marsh Tit joined them on one occasion. We
found some food that had been placed on top of a stone pillar and here we had
close views of more Bramblings. As we walked around the area we passed one of
the ornamental ponds which had Gadwall, Moorhen, Coot, Mallards and Mute Swans
feeding on it, and elsewhere we watched numerous Blue and Great Tits, long
Tailed Tits, Chaffinches and Blackbirds taking advantage of the food placed out
in the many feeders. Sadly, the Hawfinches that are famed in this area did not
make an appearance, but it was now 1.30pm, and as we reflected on an excellent two and a half days of birding, and the 108 different species seen, we headed off on the
long journey home.
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