It was also a chance to catch up and do some birding with my pal Kieran again. We started at Wells Woods for an early stomp about. It was a lovely clear, mild morning as we slowly worked the dell and further west towards the drinking pool. We latched onto a couple of roving tit flocks, however nothing more exciting than a couple of calling Chiffchaff, a handful of flyover Siskins and plenty of Goldcrests. A large concentration of birds around the drinking pool eventually produced a fine Firecrest that after a bathe, spent a bit of time preening in a nearby sapling (rubbish photo below).
We walked back towards the Dell and promptly heard a Yellow-Browed Warbler not too far away. I strolled off to find it however soon returned as Kieran found presumably another nearby and showing very well. It took a couple of moments before it duly showed well for me too, flicking around a silver birch, pausing perfectly in the morning sunlight. I could probably have got a decent photo but was keen to just simply enjoy it. These were probably my best views of YBW so I went back to the car pretty happy!
We gave Warham Greens and 'the pit' a decent going over, finding little. There were a few groups of Dark Bellied Brent Geese on the saltmarsh and a decent flock of Golden Plover too, while 1-2 Marsh Harrier loafed past and a Swallow flew through. Stiffkey Campsite Wood also was deadly quiet. I finished my birding with Kieran with a bit of a seawatch off Weybourne after a well earned Lamb & Mint pasty. Again this was fairly fruitless. Best birds were 4 Common Scoter west, the odd distant auk sp. past and occasional groups of Gannets heading through.
We then parted ways and I decided to finish my day at Titchwell to enjoy some good views of waders etc. The freshmarsh was a hive with activity with big numbers of Teal in particular.
A scan from the Island hide revealed a very distant Little Stint busying about. Other waders included a decent sized flock of Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Tailed Godwits, a handful of Knot, Dunlin, 4-5 Avocet, a small number of Dunlin, a few Ruff, Snipe, Golden Plover and a vocal Greenshank. As well as the commoner stuff, a handful of Brent Geese were also bathing.
A walk further along the path also produced some Grey Plover and a single feeding Spotted Redshank. The sea appeared relatively quiet so I moved back to the freshmarsh to enjoy the evening golden light. A couple of Marsh Harrier appeared and went to roost in the reedbed and it was nice to see a rather mobile Curlew Sandpiper which did for a short while, give great views.
The day finished with a small skein of Pink-Footed Geese over heading to roost.
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