DAY 1
First thing Friday morning we were at Cley Coastguards with a strong north/northeasterly and rough seas in front of us. However despite the promising conditions, sea watching was rather slow with best being a Little Gull, 2 Bonxies, a possible but very distant Sooty Shearwater, plenty of Gannet, 3 drake Eider, a few Common Scoter, several Red Throated Diver & Brent Geese through. On going back to the car a couple of waders flew past and onto the beach. One was a Dunlin, however the other proved to be a smart Purple Sandpiper. We had good but brief views before it shot off again towards the west. Great to see one as I hadn't had one in years!
After that we decided to give Burnham Ovary Dunes and Holkham Pines a go. We joined another Norfolk birder, Marcus and headed off on the treck into the dunes in frankly rank conditions! A couple of short sharp showers later and the decision to wear jeans appeared to be a bad one, sodden! Anyways we ploughed on and before long we started to see a few things, flushing a Redstart and having a Short Eared Owl cruise in off the sea and land in the dunes. There were excellent numbers of thrushes moving in too, particularly Redwings and Song Thrushes. Birds were about in the dunes but were keeping their head down in the challenging conditions. At the western end of the pines a Brambling appeared, we flushed a Woodcock and had a Lesser Redpoll.
We took the path along the edge of the pines in the direction of Lady Anne's Drive. A Peregrine went past over the freshmarsh. By the crosstracks, a tit flock contained a Yellow-Browed Warbler. Kieran and I only managed to hear it call but Marcus did managed to see it. The flock were just simply too fast moving through the woods at a right old speed.
We went a little further and were rewarded when Kieran picked up a Black Redstart in scrub just south of the path, showing well for a short time.
After that we headed back to the car. We didn't see too much else appart from having the fright of our life when virtually trading on what was the previously seen Short Eared Owl, as well as finding one more. We went across to Gun Hill however there was little there other than several Robins, Thrushes, Goldcrests and 2-3 Little Gulls flying about.
Kieran & I then went to finish the day at Titchwell. We headed straight for the freshmarsh and before long were enjoying ok views of a Long Eared Owl rather bizarrely sat on the edge of the freshmarsh in vegetation on a spit just to the left of Parrinder hide!
A drake Green-Winged Teal was also in the centre of the freshmarsh along with all the usual stuff. The Grey Phalarope that had been around had since vanished.
A little look at the sea was the plan, however the strong northerly wind made it it impossible. We then got news of a Rustic Bunting at Warham Greens and we shot off down the path to the car! Sadly the bird was only seen by the finders and never reappeared.
On the way home, in the fading light, we were treated to around 13-14 Little Gull on flooding just west of the beach road at Salthouse. They were great to watch, virtually running on the spot, while hanging in the wind just over the water!
DAY 2
We were rather surprised to wake up to a still morning, with the weather changing rather dramatically over night. So we headed across to Warham Greens to look for migrants with the vain hope that the Rustic Bunting would re-appear. We'd barely been out of the car 5 minutes when a Lapland Bunting went over with Skylarks calling. Great start to the day!
There appeared to lots of birds along the hedgerows of the Garden Drove track. At the concrete pad there were birds everywhere with tonnes of Robins and Thrushes in particluar, as well as several Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Bramblings and 1-2 Ring Ouzel showing, chacking away (ropey shot of one below).
We carried on down the track checking every bird with amazing numbers of Robins in particular and smaller numbers of Goldcrest, Brambling and Chiffchaffs. Several Redpolls were going over and before long we had two in a hedge by 'the pit'. One of these was a stunning looking Mealy Redpoll, with the other a Lesser Redpoll. The Mealy was a tad illusive and before I could get a photo they both flew off to the west.
We then walked back to the car, enjoying a smart Snow Bunting which flew down right in front of us and fed there for a good 10 minutes.
Cley had to be next, with a Long Eared Owl apparently showing on the shingle bank close to North hide! We headed along the shingle only to be told that it was flushed by a runner and had re-located to a post closer to the east bank. We weren't to be disappointed however, with the Long Eared Owl showing superbly well. We enjoyed it for a good 25 minutes before moving on. I'd do flipping well to ever get better views!
We were then taken to a private site to gain great views of Jack Snipe; and I mean great views! We opened the flap of the hide and there it was resting no more than 15 feet away, incredible. I had to be patient with it remaining asleep for what seemed like ages, however eventually it woke up a bit allowing me to get some brilliant images! A big thank you to Julian for taking us there.
We suddenly got a call that a Pallas's Warbler was showing well on the eastern side of Warham Greens so we shot there in double quick time. I was so excited as this is a bird I've wanted for see for a hell of a long time! Arriving at the track, there were several birders staring into the hedge and then there it was a tiny little thing with a blindingly yellow arse zooming down the track, the Pallas's Warbler. I had to get better views though. After getting average views of it in what was a rather densely vegetated hedgerow, it kindly relocated to an off-shooting hedge with much less vegetation. After a while it showed incredibly well for a good 10 minutes right out in full view, allowing me to seeing all the features so well. It was such a buzz seeing it. For me, very few birds top seeing one of these, and to think that something so small is able to travel half way across the globe. Below is a great shot of the little stunner, taken by Julian Bhalerao.
The day was a hell of an exciting one and it wasn't about to let up as news broke of a Dusky Warbler at West Runton. Off we went again and arrived there in rather grey, drizzly late afternoon condtions. The bird was to prove frustratingly illusive with it just showing in flight a couple of times, however call quite a lot. It eventually melted away into the vegetation and everyone began to head off. While standing there chatting to Kieran, I noticed a pale shape in a willow thicket just the other side of the nearby farm buildings and got it in my bins. "That looks rather like a Great Grey Shrike". I got Kieran onto it and low and behold it was! A nice cheeky self-found Great Grey Shrike (terrible record shot of it below). A brilliant end to a really fabulous days birding!
DAY 3
My last day in Norfolk was a rather unsuccessful one and anyway would do well to surpass the previous day. Coupled with this, the weather was pants! We started by going for a recently arrived male Parrot Crossbill just west of Stiffkey. It sadly disappeared 5 minutes or so before we got there. We were joined by Robert Smith, with his stupendous balls of steel, managing to wear shorts and a beaming smile at the same time, in what were pretty autumnal conditions! We had a good look around Stiffkey Campsite Wood but despite there being a good 30-40 Robins, several Brambling, Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests there was nothing to write home about!
After grabbing some food in Wells, the plan was to have a look around Wells Woods however we instead decided to have a look at Holme, with the draw of a male Bluethroat too tempting. Before we left we did have a look for a reported Pallas's Warbler however failed to track it down. We also had a look at a poor old Tawny Owl, right out in the open. It was surely about to keel over and die, looking decidedly manky with flies buzzing all around it. In the words of Rolf, I don't think it'll make the night!
Soon after our arrival at Holme we had very distant views of a Great Grey Shrike (they were being reported everywhere along the east coast over the last couple of days!). There were also quite a lot of Redpolls about with us managing to pick out a couple of nice Mealy Redpoll amongst the smaller, streakier and browner Lesser Redpoll. The Bluethroat had not been seen, however a slight consolation was the chance to see a Mealy Redpoll in the hand at the obs.
The Bluethroat did reappear. I actually technically did see it, seeing a brown bird flit between bits of vegetation, however I just cannot bring myself to tick what I saw. So I'll have to wait before adding that one to my life list I'm afraid!
It was then sadly time to bring the trip to an end. In hindsight (that wonderful thing!) I don't 'arf wish I'd stayed just one more day with 2 Red-Flanked Bluetails and other bits and bobs turning up as I write this. However I can't complain, having seen some top, top things. A big thanks to Kieran and Leila for having me, was a great laugh and to Kieran for showing me around.
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