Another top day in Norfolk with the gang

So on Sunday (11/08) Dave, Jon, Kirsty & I decided a grand day out in Norfolk was in order. The plan was to head to East Norfolk for the Horsey Roller. Also close-by was the small possibility of 2nd brood Swallowtail and after that anything else worth seeing in North Norfolk.

We arrived late morning and as soon as we got out of the car we had several Purple Hairstreaks flying around our head and the roadside Oak trees. Good start! We then headed off down the Nelson's Head Track down to Horsey Gap. The Roller was a few hundred yards south of Horsey Gap so it was a good old walk ahead of us.

We eventually arrived at Horsey gap in good sunshine. The dunes were full of butterflies with Dave latching onto his first Grayling and we were pleasantly suprised to find good numbers of Dark Green Fritillaries, a first for us and great to see having failed to find one at Aston Rowant the week before. I briefly had a Wall Brown and there. After the distractions of the butterflies we focused our attentions on the Roller.

It wasn't long before I was enjoying good but distant views of my first UK Roller sitting on a fence post. Happy days! It proceeded to sit there, before occasionally going down to the ground to feed. The colours on the bird were amazing, most obvious and spectacular when in flight.

After enjoying the Roller we turned our attention to the beach and dunes. On the Beach were a good old number of Grey Seals either waddling about or just having a doze!

There were several Grayling around the Dunes, being pretty inquisitive at times landing with one landing on my hand and camera (see Dave's photo below!)

  















We had further good views of several more Dark Green Fritillaries, as well as a couple of Painted Ladies among several other common species and tonnes of Silver Y Moths.

It was then time to walk back to the car, including a well earned pint at the pub. While there we had a single Crossbill over calling.
Next we went on to nearby How Hill to look for second brood Swallowtails. Despite there being a fair few butterfly species about, we failed to track down any Swallowtails. After an hour or so there we headed off to look around Cley and to hopefully see a Juvenile Red Necked Phalarope that arrived there the previous day.

We parked up by the East bank at Cley, before heading down to the beach, taking in Arnold's Marsh and then having a scan from North Hide. I really like Arnold's Marsh as it always holds a nice selection of waders. On show there were brief singles of both Grey Plover & Whimbrel, a Spotted Redshank (a belated year tick), good numbers of Black Tailed Godwit, a Bar Tailed Godwit, several Knot (both in summer & winter plumage) and all the other more common waders.

From North Hide we soon got onto the Juvenile Red Necked Phalarope, associating with a small group of Dunlin. There wasn't to much else here other than a rather lonely looking Golden Plover!

Before finishing the day at Kieran & Leila's, we popped into Kelling Water Meadows to see Wood Sandpiper. We weren't to be disappointed with at least one showing well along with a few Ruff, Snipe, a Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper, Greenshank, several Black Tailed Godwit & a showy male Stonechat.

We were then treated to a wicked BBQ at Kieran and Leila's in Holt. Great seeing them again, was a dead good laugh too! Big thankyou too for Kirsty for driving us about, sterling effort, much appreciated!