So this year I took Friday (10/10) off and as is standard, I set off first thing. The Burnham Norton Steppe Grey Shrike was my first port of call before meeting up with Kieran. The bird had been present just under a week and was seemingly loyal to a particular fence line.
It was a stunning, clear morning and as I approached the coast I was greeted with the impressive sight of skeins and skeins of gabbling Pinkfoots heading towards farmland to feed.
On arrival at Burnham, several other birders were already present. Slightly worryingly, they were yet to find the Shrike...uh oh! Thankfully, after a few minutes scanning around, another birder picked it up on a distant fenceline. Steppe Grey Shrike in the bag! I went on to enjoy decent views, seeing it even sharing the same bit of fence as a Kingfisher! The sun wasn't in the most ideal place so photos were not going to set the world alight.
Next, having had my fill of the shrike, I headed onto Holt to pick up Kieran. It was decided another filthy twitch was in order with our target being the elusive Little Crake at Minsmere, Suffolk. Another big old drive lay ahead of us and after we polished off a hefty McDonalds, we stopped off at Lowestoft on the way down, to see the apparently showy Red Backed Shrike at Ness Point.
Having wandered around a bit looking for the bird we eventually stumbled across a couple of photographers looking at some scrub. Let's just say showy doesn't really describe it!
It was just incredible how close the bird was willing to come, catching bees and insects around us and even perching in the bush no more than 5 feet away from me. It was unreal!
Having feasted on the point blank shrike, we hit the road again onto Minsmere. Having paid the extortionate entrance fee and enjoying a bit of banter with what must be the hottest RSPB employee in the land, we scooted down to the Bittern Hide to wait for the Crake to show.
The hide was pretty packed but we found a decent spot fairly quickly and laid in wait. After 40 mins or so the shout went up that it was out, the only problem was we couldn't see it from our angle... shit panic!!!!! Thankfully someone let us look through their scope and eventually it was viewable from our position...Little Crake, getinnnn!!!! Over the next 20 mins or so, it showed on and off and actually gave us a really good show, often suddenly zooming back into the reeds, more like a lizard than a bird! Horrendously shoddy video and pics below.
We were properly buzzing after that and getting two lifers in a day was awesome for me! We had a quick look at one of the scrapes but nothing out of the ordinary other than a handful of Swallows flying straight through and point blank views of a couple of Little Grebe.
On the way back we popped into the nearby Blyth Estuary to have a scan. The area was full of birds with excellent numbers of Redshank in particular. Best birds were an adult & 1st-winter Med Gulls, 2 Spotted Redshank, 3 Knot and several Curlew and Black Tailed Godwit among other things. It had been a seriously long day, but a bloody good one!
The next day was far more chilled starting mid morning at Morston Quay, finding a couple of Stonechat and several Rock Pipit. After that we gave Holkham Pines a good going over. Sadly we found very little with best being a flyover calling Spotted Redshank, plenty of Pinkfoots, a few Buzzards, a couple of Marsh Harrier & a Chiffchaff.
We then had a look at Thornham Harbour on the off chance we might find some recently reported Twite. No Twite, but again a few Rock Pipits near to the car park.
Nearby Titchwell produced the usual array of waders, including a couple of incredibly handsome juv Little Stints in poor light.
Walking back to the car we stopped in our tracks as we heard a Yellow-Browed Warbler in the Meadow Trail area calling it's head off. We headed straight to where it was coming from, wondering whether it was real or somebody playing a tape! Eventually it called again from a dense bit of foliage fairly close by. It was real! Sadly it didn't show or even call again.
We finished the day, (just before a bloody huge thunderstorm!) back with the Steppe Grey Shrike. It was now showing amazingly well close to the path after photographers had laced the area with mealworms! Sadly the impending thunderstorm frustratingly destroyed the light and while the bird was very close, getting good shots was tricky in such low light. But not the worst results considering. The poor light even brought out a hunting Barn Owl along the path!
My last day in Norfolk & with Kieran, we spent much of the time battering the Warham Greens/Stiffkey area looking for our own birds and you know what, we did alright!
There were clearly lots of birds on the move and after setting off along garden drove, there were good numbers of Chaffinches, a couple of Brambling, other common Finches, Skylarks, Snipe, Reed Buntings & Yellowhammers all going over or grounded. A male Blackcap showed and there were also good numbers of Dark-Bellied Brent Geese on the saltmarsh.
There was a report of a Yellow-Browed Warbler at Stiffkey Campsite Wood and not long after our arrival there we found one with a tit flock, calling & showing occasionally. Not too long after, we found an incredibly vocal second bird further east, however views were sadly brief in the canopy. After having a good wander around, we stopped to grab a bit of food. Here we had bird of the day as a Hawfinch slowly cruised east giving out a call slightly different from the 'tick' they usually produce, being a little more slurred. A brilliant surprise and a seriously rare occurrence on the coast. A flock of about 10 Jays going over soon after, heading west was an impressive sight
We saw little else after that so after heading back east, last stop was Kelling and Muckleborough. The Water Meadows held a very illusive and largely obstructed Jack Snipe together with 3 or so Common Snipe. We also had a couple of calling Brambling and several Stonechat. The sea was so calm and produced very little other than 2 Razorbill, a couple of Gannets and 2 Grey Seal, one of which was an enormous bull.
Lastly on the circuit, we walked around Muckleborough Hill and after a fairly bird-free few minutes we eventually came across a vocal tit flock. Within this was a lovely Firecrest that showed fairly well in bushes by the path. Was a great surprise and the perfect end to a brilliant weekend...good banter and great birds!
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