A bright if cold morning, so we made another visit to Cantley/Buckenham but unfortunately the few geese out on the marshes were distant and against the sun so we headed on to Great Yarmouth.
Three Mediterranean Gulls were enticed by the usual bread-chucking ritual, along with larger numbers of Black-headed Gulls, several Herring gulls and at least one Common Gull. It was noticeable that the Black-headed Gulls were by far the boldest, with the larger gulls reluctant to come in at first.

After a foray into Suffolk we headed back to Filby Broad, where the assortment of waterfowl included a distant red-head Smew. A Kingfisher made a couple of appearances and we were joined briefly by Mike Passant and his friends from the North-East. En route we had a tickable fly-over ring-tail Hen Harrier and a collection of untickable Storks, Cranes Egrets and geese, as there's a small Wildlife Centre to the South-East of the village! Mike P and co gave us directions to a nearby Hooded Crow at a pig farm, after which we popped back to Acle Bridge in the hope of seeing the 2 Common Cranes reported there. No luck with that so we paid a quick visit to the rather scattered herd of wintering Swans at Ludham before heading on to Stubb Mill. We were lucky with the weather, as a heavy winter shower passed to the north of us over Horsey Mill, but the conditions seem to have reduced activity there today, with lower numbers and variety of raptors than usual, although we saw more male Marsh Harriers than in recent years. A pair of Cranes danced in the usual area and two Barn Owls were hunting and scrapping in the area as well. The bonus bird for this year was a distant fly past from a Spoonbill! A Tawny Owl was calling as we left, with Venus and Mars showing in a clear winter sky.

found some more birds to add to my previous list I turned over two pages of my notebook
Brent Goose (both races)
Sparrowhawk
Common Sandpiper
Great Skua

Late post for Sunday 19th June.

Spurn looked a no show for anything of interest so I decided that 3 and half hours to RSPB Titchwell from Strines Moor was just too tempting seeing as though the Great Knot had turned up again.

- Great Knot 1 (Lifer)
What a cracking Wader this was, almost Turnstone like in this plumage, stood out from the masses of Red Knot, and a Turnstone actually turned up and was feeding next to it momentarily. Showed well from Fresh Marsh and the beach albeit a bit distant but a brilliant bird.
- Red Knot few 1000, some in ad sum plum
- Spotted Redshank 4, 2 sum plum
- Redshank
- Bar-tailed Godwit 20+ incl sum plum
- Black-tailed Godwits
- Avocet
- Oystercatcher
- Lapwing
- Ruff 2 cracking breeding plum on Fresh Marsh
- Sanderling 2 on beach
- Spoonbill 1
- Little Egret
- Mediterranean Gull 8 (more reported)
- Little Gull 4 showing well
- Common Gull
- Little Tern 15+ fishing just off the beach, 2 over the marsh
- Common Tern
- Sandwich Tern 1
- Marsh Harrier 1 put everything up
- Cetti's Warbler 1 possibly 2, seen on and off, singing all day
- Whitethroat 1
- Reed Warbler seen up close showing well
- Stonechat 1
- Reed Bunting
- Yellowhammer
- Bullfinch
- Shoveler, Gadwall and lots of Wildfowl around
- Swifts and Hirundines about
- Lots of usuals around so just listed birds of note, and picked the best of the shots of the stand out species. My 1st time here and certainly not my last, what a great place, so much so I ended up staying until gone 7pm and it was worth getting home at 11pm.





-- Edited by Rob Creek on Wednesday 22nd of June 2016 08:12:00 PM

-- Edited by Rob Creek on Thursday 23rd of June 2016 08:45:32 AM

I decided to leave my last report until this morning because of an interesting experience at titchwell and I wanted to synchronise my experience with flickr.

. But first, on the 4th Wednesday, we went to kelling where we found Dartford warbler and a nightingale in the area. It was a much quieter day then previously. Now on Thursday, at titchwell marsh we had 5 cranes that were found flying high up, Shortly after, near the meadow trail, a Cettis warbler perched out in full view and started to enjoy sitting in the sunshine for a whole 2 minutes, giving me an opportunity to get reasonable pictures of it from which I'm most proud of. Sea watching produced (worthy to note) sandwich tern, little tern, 4 common scoter, grey plover, bar tailed godwit, whimbrel and knot. 60 species were clocked on that day.

The whole holiday has been fantastic. 131 species in just 10 days. My top 10 moments are as follows.......

1. Wryneck at Cley on Apr 26th
2. Woodlark at Dersingham on Apr 27th
3. Whinchat at Cley on May 1st
4. Sanderling at titchwell on Apr 29th
5. Turtle dove at Holme on May 3rd
6. Ring ouzel at Holme on May 2nd
7. Black headed wagtail at titchwell on May 2nd
8. Cettis warbler at titchwell on May 5th
9. Ruff at Cley on May 1st
10. Red crested pochard at titchwell on Apr 29th

My favourite trip has to had gone to Titchwell marsh on Apr 29th, I had forgotten to write in Artic tern, which brings the total species to 74 for that trip.

Many thanks for reading. ....

An afternoon visit to Cley marshes. My favourite moment was 3 whinchats (2 male and 1 female) giving excellent views, spoonbill, Spotted redshanks, summer plumaged ruffs was fantastic to see, a greenshank, and still hanging around was a large flock of Brent geese with a few barnacle geese in with them. For only 2 1/2 hours I clocked 45 species.

A visit to the area of Dersingham proved fruitfull. Highlights including 3 buzzards, about 5 siskins, a brief close encounter of a green woodpecker was a nice surprise. A few treecreepers were seen close through the woods too. But, the biggest highlight was a woodlark that first flew overhead and then landed in a nearby tree, giving fantastic views dispite a bitter wind. Even though it feels unseasonably cold, its a nice warm feeling when one can get great experiences out in the field.

Today at Holme
NOA:
Black Redstart and male
Ring Ouzel in field next to NOA car park.
Birds were close to each other; Black
Redstart on post.
Seen from access track this pm
Also 52 Curlews.

A couple of weeks ago I visited Norfolk to boost the year list. Golden Pheasant finally seen at Wolferton after many many visits. Twite at Thornham were nice to see too.
I managed to take a visit to Abbey Farm, Flitcham for the Pallid Harrier that has been around for some time. I had a little wait before it showed itself. Rising up from the stubble field before disappearing again. Then it proceeded to put on a great show as it took to the air for a good 15 minutes before being lost to view.

Joined last night by Matt Potter, for a day of better weather, which began and ended well, but dipped a bit in the middle.

A total of seven Mediterranean Gulls were found along the seafront at Great Yarmouth, with a surprise appearance of a Woodcock, which flew down one of the paths to the beach before turning back and heading off inland. No sign of yesterday's Snow Buntings though.
After visiting Lowestoft for Purple Sandpiper we headed back to Great Yarmouth but failed to find the Glaucous Gull reported at the north end of the town.
Luddon Airfield had it's usual flock of Bewick and Whooper Swans, c110 of the former and c40 of the latter. From here we headed to Stubbs Mill and arrived it time for a nice fly past from the Common Cranes as 17 flew east to west in parties of 3 and 4. A pair were also in a regular spot to the east of the viewing platform and remained more or less in view until dusk, feeding, occasionally calling and displaying briefly. A ring-tailed Hen Harrier gave good views as it hunted west to east, but was the only sighting of the afternoon until we left, C45 Marsh Harriers came in to roost while we were there, a Merlin was seen briefly, and a very pale Short-eared Owl gave good views as it quartered the area. At least two Barn Owls were seen, with a bird hunting close to the viewing platform appearing darker mantled than the birds hunting further away. Woodcock over the car park and another Barn Owl in the hedge as we drove home completed the day.

-- Edited by Mike Chorley on Saturday 23rd of January 2016 08:58:35 PM

Originally posted today by Dave Ousey:

A juvenile Pallid Harrier had been found near Flitcham in Norfolk in early December. What with bad weather, work etc in the way, a trip to see it was not possible until the Christmas break. We planned to go on the 27th, the day after the floods in Rochdale, but coupled with the heavy rain forecast for Norfolk, we cancelled. The bird was not seen on that day, so, a wise choice. Tuesday 29th dawned and four A Team members left Newhey with a promise of good weather and a number of species being lifers for a couple of us. A 5 o`clock departure meant we got to Norfolk by 8-25am in Steve K`s car. We entered the packed hide just as a Barn Owl and then a Woodcock flew by, then minutes later the Pallid Harrier was seen about 200 yards away eating the remains of a pigeon! A lifer for 2 of our crew, we had good views of the bird out of the hide and along the road as it hunted a large field. The weather at this point was truly good, with a blue sky and temperatures well into the teens, very unseasonal. We watched the bird for about 30 minutes on and off and decided to head along the coast to see other species. In the Choseley Barns area the hoped for Rough legged Buzzard was not seen. After watching another Barn Owl in a roadside field, news that a Rough legged Buzzard had been located at Choseley, we made our way back and were rewarded with distant, but good clinching views, were there 2 birds in the sky at once as we arrived? No news was forthcoming regarding a Red rumped Swallow in the Holkham area, so we pushed on towards Cley, where a Black Brant was in with a flock of Brent Geese. The goose was soon located, which resulted in another lifer for a team member. We admired the bird for 30 minutes or so, but could not find any other of the rarer goose species at Cley. We were well entertained by around 3 Marsh Harriers that kept putting up all the smaller birds on the marsh. We called in at Holkham on the off chance that the Red rumped Swallow had been found but alas it was not (The bird returned the day after though). A Bittern was a nice find as it flew around and again 2 Marsh Harriers lifting all the birds up in the bright sunshine. A call in at Holme Dunes to see the Shore Larks was our next stop. We were told that the birds were a mile walk away and we gave up as time and daylight were against us. We had all really enjoyed the day and headed for home around 3-30pm. The amount of birds of prey and large numbers of Pink footed Geese were really impressive. An accident on the bypass near to Sleaford, meant a half an hour`s diversion through the town centre, not ideal, but we enjoyed all the pubs and quaint buildings in this never before visited town. We reached Newhey by 7-30pm, a long but memorable day. Well done to Steve K for all his efforts behind the wheel.

Dave Ousey

First visit for me today to Norfolk. We headed to Beeston, finding the Isabelline Shrike had gone. Next up was Wells Woods. The two scarcities I got were both new lifers - red flanked bluetail and olive backed pipit, although the later wasn't easy and views brief. Any rare warblers were missed by me! Pallas's by mere inches. We picked up red kite and marsh harrier at Stiffkey, as well as a flock of Brent geese. What great birding!

-- Edited by John Doherty on Tuesday 20th of October 2015 09:33:57 PM

Beeston Common Sheringham,

Not a birding trip as such but whilst in the area visiting some friends I couldn't resist the opportunity of seeing an Isabelline Shrike that had been at Beeston Common for a week or so, And I wasn't disappointed, a very showy bird offering close views perched out in the open for long periods and taking the odd short fllight hunting Insects on the wing, just a shame I'd didn't have time to visit nearby Holkham/Wells woods

Originally posted by Dave Ousey

Norfolk trip, Saturday 6th June:


We did our annual trip into Norfolk a little bit later than usual this year, but we still saw around 100 bird species. I left home at 10-30pm Friday and got home at 10-35pm Saturday night, a full 24 hours job, it was well worth it. My turn to drive and with nearly a full "A Team," we left Newhey around 11-15pm. On the way a diversion on the A1 around Clumber Forest saw us see a couple of Barn Owl`s really close to the road, good start. We arrived at our first stop at Dersingham Bog around 2-10am and waited for Martin Q to join us from Rutland. The night was fairly still as we all descended into the bog at 2-30am and as we passed John Denver`s seat, a Nightjar and a Woodcock were heard. On the boardwalks another Nightjar was seen in our torchlight as we stumbled around, it was a male, what a splendid bird. More Woodcock along with a Grasshopper Warbler at the side of the path and then as the first vestiges of dawn appeared a singing Stonechat was heard, it had us stumped for a while did that bird! As we got back on the boardwalk a Nightjar was churring as it sat on top of a tree in full view of us all. We were all then listening to a Tawny Owl, when a Nightjar flew past us and we were treated to an amazing display by the bird as it hunted about 30yards from us for 5 minutes, great! The Golden Pheasant did not put in an appearance, though that is not unusual at the triangle. We headed off towards the Brecks and as we arrived the wind had gained in strength rendering a search for a special species quite useless. Next stop Lakenheath and at 5am as we arrived, around a dozen cars were already present. A male Little Bittern had been present for a while calling / singing trying to attract a female. After the long walk down the river, passing the wood that used to have the Golden Orioles in it, we reached the reed bed were the Little Bittern was still calling / singing. What an unusual sound, its likened to a distant barking dog. A Hobby passed over and a couple of Marsh Harriers were seen. Bearded Tit and Bittern were also seen. What a great reserve this place is. Back up towards the coast we headed for Kelling Heath, now after last year`s resounding success, surely we could not see all target species again, or could we? No, was the answer, it was sunny but very windy so no Woodlark or Turtle Dove anywhere. Now we all like to ask people if they have seen anything of interest and as luck had it, a couple told us where to look for some Dartford Warbler`s. We struggled, but we all managed to see these great little birds, eventually. A Spoonbill had been seen from the Iron Road at Salthouse, but it had gone when we got there and so had the car park that was buried under many ton`s of shingle as a result of the winter storms. We watched the sea and got a few passing terns and we would have all fallen asleep if had been allowed to! Along the East Bank at Cley some amazing plumaged Black Tailed Godwit`s were seen along with the regular breeding birds on Arnold`s Marsh. We called in at Chosely Drying Barn`s but still no Turtle Dove`s. At Titchwell we soon located 10 or so Red Crested Pochard, on a "new" lagoon to us all, but the Garganey that were present tested our skill`s. We saw what we thought was a moulting Garganey and this was later confirmed by photograph, well done Steve B. Then 2 Spoonbill flew over the lagoon, great birds to watch in flight! We said goodbye to Martin Q at Titchwell, it was nice to see him again and enjoy his birding skills. We headed towards home calling at Whisby nature reserve just west of Lincoln. It was a little late in the season for Nightingale but after about an hour one bird burst into song, got to be the nicest British songbird. We headed of home all very tired but a really good day was had with between 10 and 22 year ticks having been seen between us.
Dave O.

It`s a cinch with a Citril Finch. 10/5/2015
A quiet weekend doing household chores had been carefully planned, after the birding excesses of recent times. A good lie in on Sunday morning until 9am and then even before I had chance to check out the bird news a phone call from Mark K, who was birding near Sutton Bank,Thirsk. His pager broadcast the news of a male Citril Finch near Holkham Pines in Norfolk, PANIC ! Only a second for Britain. Quickly asking for time off from my understanding wife and ringing a couple of the A Team members, who could not get away, I arranged to meet the York team in Fairburn village with Nige, Paz and Mark K making up the team. We headed off to Norfolk with Nige at the helm at around 10-15am and after a few negative messages on the pager, the bird seemed to settle into a routine and was showing well as we parked on Lady Ann`s Drive at Holkham around 1-20pm. What followed was a 1 1/2 mile slog (like the walk to the Pacific Swift, though not as far) through the pines with lots of smiling birders heading in the opposite direction, all saying It`s still there. By the time we reached the sand dunes my legs were seizing up and I felt like a boil in the bag (ta Mark) after donning my big coat in good, sunny conditions! As we reached the birds chosen feeding area, the birders had it almost surrounded, with some high on the dunes and some within 25 yards of the bird.The bird was pointed out to me and our panic was over, what a cracking bird! Scope views were even better once you could get into the scrum. We all admired the second for Britain (the first had been on Fair Isle a few years ago) for a good 50 minutes and the bird suddenly flew back into the pine tree area calling as it went. Time for a social with fellow birders from near & far, all part of the scene. The bird came back about 30 minutes after we left and it was nice to see Lee Evans heading (running) towards the bird as we had a much more sedate walk back to the car, now we could smile at birders still arriving! A few Egyptian Geese were seen, along with a real Barnacle Goose at Holkham. We called in at Chosely Drying Barns to see the distant Dotterels that had gathered there and counted up to 12 or 20 depending on were you were stood! Our last stop was Titchwell RSPB Reserve, always a good place to stop at and we saw Little Stint, 3 Barnacle Geese (dark bellied form) but missed Scaup & Red Crested Pochard. Marsh Harriers doing a food pass and a booming Bittern made up for that though. Time for home after a cracking day out and all of us seeing a new bird, what could be better! Thanks to Nige for driving and the good company of the York lads. Reached my home by 10pm.
Dave O.

Jan 16th - 19th.

Riggers, Karen F, John R and I met up with Matt Potter at about 9 a.m. on Friday 16th at Roydon Common for the start of our usual January long weekend. An extensive search failed to find the Great Grey Shrike, but we did connect with a single Woodlark. Plenty of Fieldfares, looking very smart on a bright winter's morning, together with Red-legged Partridge, Redwing, Stonechat and Green Woodpecker were the highlights among the common species seen here. From here we headed to Chosely Barns where root vegetables were being dispatched for cattle fodder, so not much avian activity here. A quick scan of the hedges produced a single Yellowhammer and Song Thrush, then, as we headed back to the cars the 10,000 strong flock of Pinkfeet we'd seen and scanned en route relocated to fields just to the east of the barns. A quick circuit brought us a good viewpoint to scan the flock and eventually Riggers located a juvenile Tundra Bean Goose within the flock. As we all attempted to lock on to the bird the possibility of a second juvenile was discussed, but we were never able to confirm its' presence. The flock made a spectacular departure, with the Bean Goose obvious among the first group to leave, so we headed on to Titchwell. Here we had good views of a Water Rail and 3 Bearded Tits on the drained Thornham Marsh, but just missed a Jack Snipe. A small flock of Twite were located on one of the islands in the fresh marsh, along with the more usual collection of Greylag and Brent Geese (no Black Brant ), assorted waders, gulls and seven species of ducks including a single Wigeon and some smart-looking Pintail. A watch from the Fen Hide produced 4 Marsh Harriers, a ring-tailed Hen Harrier and a Merlin but no Bittern, with 3 Woodcock emerging at the usual spot as we headed home .

Jan 17th started at Cantley on a very frozen marsh, where another large flock of Pinkfeet conveniently debunked to pastures new, leaving us with good if distant views of 32 Taiga Bean Geese on yet another crisp, sunny morning. We headed on to Great Yarmouth to continue the tradition of hurling cheap supermarket bread about the beach and attracted a mixed flock of gulls with at least 3 Adult and 3 juvenile Mediterranean Gulls among them. Our visit to Corton failed to find any Firecrests this year, so we continued to Lowestoft in the only snow we saw all weekend to add Rock Pipit and at least 5 Purple Sandpipers to the trip list. Heading on to Ludham Airfield we found a mixed herd of Bewick's and Whooper Swans, passing a flock of 25 Egyptian Geese on the way. (There was some discussion of the exact composition of the swan flock, but of there were at least 6 adult Whoopers among the 46 birds). We took the roundabout route to Stubbs Mill, to see if any Cranes were visible in the fields surrounding Hickling Broad but apart from completing our set of swans with a small herd of Mute Swans and finding a huge flock of feeding Golden Plover, we drew a blank. A Crane had just disappeared from sight when we arrived at the viewing platform, but there were plenty of Marsh Harriers kept our interest up as we waited for the bird to do more than bugle from behind a screen of reeds. Mr Potter spotted a cracking male Hen Harrier, a Kingfisher shot by in front of the viewing platform and 2 Merlins perched up in front of the harrier roosting area. Finally two juvenile Cranes appeared, indulging in rudimentary display, dancing and throwing clumps of grass before heading out of view. Three adult Cranes flew over before we left, and we had good views of Venus and Mercury as we headed back to the car park on a beautiful winter evening.

Jan 18th. We started Sunday morning with a Blackcap in full song in the bushes next to our hotel in Acle. Halvergate Marshes were fairly misty, but we were able to pick up a possible Rough-legged Buzzard upon our arrival. Visibility varied but viewing from the bridge over the railway line finally gave us good enough views to confirm the i.d. We had no luck finding the reported Twite flock at Salthouse (only a flock of 40 Linnet) and Cley seemed very quiet, so we headed on to Lady Anne's Drive. 59 White-fronted Geese were visible from the Jordan hide, feeding in two groups close to the edge of the marsh; both parties became alert when a Barn Owl appeared giving good, if mainly back-lit views, before a spectacular arrival of wave upon wave of Pinkfeet dropping into the marsh all around the 180 degree view from the hide. As we left Riggers was the only one to get a good view of a Firecrest in a large mixed flock of 3 Treecreepers, Blue, Great Coal and Long-tailed Tits and the largest number of Goldcrests most of us could remember seeing outside of an autumn "fall". We moved to a favourite viewpoint further west with views towards Burnham Dunes, where we had a good view of a Rough-legged Buzzard trying to steal prey from a Barn Owl. Several Marsh Harriers, a Merlin, a Sparrowhawk and at least 1 Common Buzzard were also in this area. Matt Potter headed off home to Aberystwyth and we set off back to Acle, seeing another Barn Owl near Fakenham.

Jan 19th. The Blackcap was singing from the bushes again this morning as we set off. "Gandalf" Rayner's weather spells were more effective this morning and visibility at Halvergate Marshes was much better. The Rough-legged Buzzard was in almost exactly the same area when we arrived, before going to perch in its' favourite tree. It hunted low along one of the fences before heading further out onto the marshes, hunting and hovering regularly in silhouette as the sun rose. Just as we began to lose the bird against the light it conveniently flew west across the road, giving good views of wing and tail patterns, then even better ones as it flew further away and hovered almost directly tail on to us. From here we headed back to a very frosty Roydon Common. It looked as if it was going to be another fruitless search for us but as we were heading back to the car park Karen looked back and spotted something perched near to what we'd been told was the bird's favourite tree. Scope views confirmed the i.d. (sorry Matt) so we went back for a slightly closer view, before heading home via Pugney's Country Park at the end of a good weekend.

Other wildlife seen: Hare, Muntjac, Brown Rat, Rabbit, Chinese Water Deer (Stubbs Mill), Grey Squirrel, Roe Deer (3, Roydon Common), Red Fox.

Just spent two weeks on the north Norfolk coast based at east Runton walked the coastal path from Burnham ovary staiths to cromer birds seen as follows
Buzzard lesser whitethroat snipe woodcock wheatear jay sandwich tern whitethroat little egret pink footed goose oystercatcher sanderling common tern hobby little ringed plover turnstone redshank common sandpiper curlew black tailed godwit icterine warbler spotted flycatcher pied flycatcher redbreasted flycatcher linnet Egyptian goose marsh harrier ringed plover curlew sandpiper greenshank shelduck dunlin marsh tit grey plover garden warbller barred warbler whinchat redstart bearded reedling olive backed pipit yellow browed warbler gre. skua red throated diver gannet Brent goose common gull cettis warbler long tailed skua spotted redshank little stint red crested pochard ruff eider plus all the usuals five lifers in a fortnight quite a. Brilliant fortnight altogether

A smashing weekend which took in Cley, Titchwell, Holkham pines, and Holme.

Highlights were a Turtle Dove at Holme this morning along with a Cuckoo.
Yesterday, Titchwell graced me with a Spoonbill, Cetti's Warbler (and yes I had great views), Marsh Harriers, Little and Common Terns, Grey Plover, single Turnstone, Red Crested Pochard, Grasshopper Warbler and more Cuckoos.
Nothing out of the ordinary at Cley, but the beach held 5 Little Terns. I missed a Curlew Sandpiper that was reported earlier.

A few of my ''Bits and Bobs'' during last week's holiday in North Norfolk.

Sunday 27/4...... 3 Red Kite up, near Little Walsingham.
...... At least 4 coveys of Red-Legged Partridge seen by the roadside while driving ( Walsingham area)
Wednesday 30/4.
....Spoonbill stood, just out on the mudflats, at Snettisham RSPB
.....Barn Owl hunting, mid morning, near the A149 at Burnham Overy Staithe
......A full on view of a Fox, as it paused in the grass verge of this same road at Thornham.


-- Edited by keith mills on Monday 5th of May 2014 06:10:48 PM

Visit to Cley NWT Reserve on Monday 28th. April.

Since my last visit, just after the storm surge, much restoration has been undertaken. The East and West banks have been repaired, and a new fence against the shingle has been pushed out to help ground nesting birds. The broadwalks have been returned to position and the hides (except north Hide, which has gone) are now fit for purpose.
Sightings:
Yellow Wagtail...1
White Wagtail...2
Pied Wagtail...2
Meadow Pipit...4
Reed Bunting...1
Sedge Warblers....regularly seen.
Wheatear...4
Skylark....7
Little Ringed Plover...2
Black-tailed Godwit...1
Ruff...4.... one very dark
Whimbrel...1
Redshank...12
AVOCETS.. widespread ( hundreds in the areas)
Teal...6
Wigeon...2
Gadwall..2
Snipe...3
Pochard...pair
Little Egret....3
Shoveler...3
Swallows...12
Marsh Harrier...2
Grey Heron ...several.
Oystercatcher....c30
Shelduck... everywhere in good numbers on the reserve and the area (several hundred)
Greylag Goose.... everywhere as well! c1000 with broods up to 14.
Canada Goose 12
Brent Goose...4 on the reserve, but several hundred found later in the evening on Stiffkey Mash.
Mute Swans
Lapwing in good number.
Common Whitethroat.
Pheasant/ Chaffinch/Goldfinches
Herring Gull...2
Brown Hare across Arnold's marsh.






-- Edited by keith mills on Saturday 3rd of May 2014 10:28:21 PM

Late post for Monday 14th April.
Missed a Golden Oriole by just a couple of hours that had been singing at Sculthorpe Moor before I arrived. I'm counting that as one that got away
Nice Marsh Harriers over the marsh. Marsh Tit pair and all the usuals from the hides.

Saturday 12th April 2014

Lynford Arboretum Highlights
1 Hawfinch
1 Two-barred Crossbill
24 Common Crossbill

Sculthorpe Moor
Alive with Blackcaps
2 Marsh Tits
4 Brambling
1 Reed Warbler heard

Just got back from an afternoon at Hinckley Broad finishing off at the Stubb Mill Raptor Roost. An amazing sight of Marsh Harriers converging from different directions. Numbers got to 40+ until the mist spoilt the view. Unfortunately no Hen Harriers or Cranes, however 2 were seen earlier crossing the reeds nearby. The raptor roost is a must for anyone visiting Norfolk at this time of year.

As usual on any Norfolk holiday: the mandatory visit to Titchwell RSPB reserve on the 12th December.

The guy who calculated the heights for the new sea walls in last year's makeover, used his slide rule well!
Both on the bank along the public footpath to the beach, and the bank at the new Parrinder Hide the
tidal surge was contained by a few inches! Debris covered the front top edge only of the footpath bank.
The main damage is to the wooden walkway to the beach which is wrecked and the beach viewing platform
which has gone.
The sand dunes at the beach have also been greatly reduced and sadly the seal colony at the sea entrance
is not there now.

Off shore close in :
Long-tailed Duck...3 ... including 1 drake
Goldeneye...16
Great Crested Grebe...2
On the beach:
Bar-tailed Godwit...30
Knot.... 12
Grey Plover....2
On the reserve:
Golden Plover...90
Rock Pipit...3
Water Pipit...1
Pied Wagtail...3
Brent Geese...c250 coming and going
Shovelers...6+
Shelduck...c50
Black-tailed Godwit....6
Bar-tailed Godwit...1
Oystercatcher...c40
Redshank...c12
Avocets...c12
Curlew...1
Teal ...widespead
Wigeon...few only.
Pintail Duck...4
Gadwall...pair
Ruff....32 numbers increased to this by a flock landing as I watched.
Grey Heron...1
Marsh Harrier....1
Little Egret...1

Visit to Cantley Marshes by the River Yare (RSPB) on the 13th December.

My first visit to this site.

Taiga Bean Goose....60+
Canada Geese...250
Egyptian Geese....38+
Greylag Goose....1
Wigeon...c250
Lapwing...c150
Pied Wagtail....20
Meadow Pipits...2
Grey Heron....1
Cormorants....3
Kestrel...1
Marsh Harrier...1
Mute Swans...20+
Moorhen...4
Mallards.