For those of you that don't know, this is now a bit of a tradition among myself and several others that we all hit Norfolk for a few days in mid-October with the anticipation of enjoying an east coast fall, or at least a few eastern rares. More often than not, we get the timing just about right too!
This year, myself, Gareth Blockley & Dan Watson set off after work on Thursday 13/10 with 4 full days birding in front of us. The winds were looking ok for at least the first day or two, so there was certainly potential for finding some decent birds.
Day 1
After a night sleeping on possibly the hardest bed known to man at our digs at the YHA, Wells, we kicked things off in nearby Wells Woods first thing on the morning of Friday 14/10.
Team morale was high, as we began sifting through the Dell, which we pleasingly, largely had to ourselves. It was apparent that there were quite a few birds about with particularly good numbers of Robins, several Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests & Redwings. A Woodcock was flushed, a Fieldfare called nearby and there were quite a few Redpoll & Siskin in the general vicinity. We then heard news that the Olive-Backed Pipit was showing nearby so we scooted off past the NW end of the Dell, towards the back of the beach huts.
There were quite a few people there, where the bird was proving to be mega elusive. Gareth gained a fleeting view of it and then thankfully I managed to locate it in a nearby pine. I looked away to call people over and when I looked back, it had gone! Never did see it again either, which was a bit of a shame and a bit disappointing. I had at least seen it though. We wandered off in the rough direction of the dell locating a nice Redstart in the pines, as well as kicking up a couple more Woodcock.
We'd covered a fair bit of habitat by now, however we'd still failed to find a single Yellow-Browed Warbler which I have to say, was rather surprising! We did get wind of a Pallas' Warbler reported near to the drinking pool though, so we slowly made our way towards this general area but nothing.
We soon reached the main east - west track through the woods and began trying some habitat on the landward side of the path. A short way along a bird flicked up from in front of us and into a nearby tree. No way, another Olive-Backed Pipit!!!! Oh my word! we were quite some way from the first bird...this surely had to be a second. We gained some fabulous views for about a minute or so as it sat on it's branch in full view, diagnostically bobbing it's tail. Such a stunning bird up close. The combination of the camera not really coping with the light under the tree canopy, as well as the slightly excitable shake in my arms meant that the only photo I got was pretty blury, but oh well, we'd found an OBP!! I was really hoping we'd see one this year, but to find one was just epic! (1st pic by me, 2nd by Dan Watson).
Soon after, the bird flicked up to the tree directly above our heads, uttering a couple of buzzy calls. It then somehow just melted away as more and more people came over to see what we were looking at. Needless to say we were feeling pretty smug with what we'd just witnessed and we left the 15 or so birders looking for it, to carry on our search for new birds on a bit of a high!
We had a crack at the large scrubby area to the south of the pines / wells woods. Dan had a brief Lesser Whitethroat, that he considered probably of one of the asian races but it soon disppeared and never showed again. The area here had quite a few Redwing and several Blackcaps, but nothing too mega. It was then coffee time and a drive round to Burnham Overy Dunes.
We marched straight towards Gun Hill first, seeing a Wheatear and a couple of Stonechat en route. There were a steady number of birds around Gun Hill, without being super spectacular. Best things here were a Redstart, another Wheatear, quite a few Redwing, Song Thrushes, Robins and the odd Goldcrest.
Having picked through Gun Hill with a fine tooth comb, we walked back through the dunes and on towards the west end of Holkham Pines. On the way, we came across a nice Ring Ouzel, a couple of distant Great White Egret out on the marsh and the Great Grey Shrike that had been hanging around for the previous few days, which actually showed really nicely.
Before entering the pines, we got onto a couple of Lesser Whitethroats in brambles close to the west end. Despite our best efforts, we couldn't turn them into anything other than standard Lesserthroats. After that, we spent quite a bit of time grilling the tit flocks along the southern edge of the pines from the main track. We were pretty well rewarded too, with all-too-brief views of a Pallas' Warbler which also called, the first time I'd heard one. We also had a Yellow-Browed Warbler and prolonged views of an exquisite Firecrest.
A fantastic first day was by now, drawing to a close, however not completely finished, with us enjoying 3 Short Eared Owl & 2-3 Barn Owls hunting the marsh in the fading light. What a class end to the day! It was then time for some fish & chips and of course, the pub!
Day 2
Following a marginally better sleep (but not much!) it was back to Wells Woods again for another big effort.
Today, myself, Dan & Gareth were joined by our mate and Norfolk resident Johny. We began in the scrubby and wooded areas just west of the Dell. It was a pretty gloomy morning and there did appear to be quite a few birds about.
The first good bird of the day was one I didn't actually get to see! Dan got onto a Pallas' Warbler hanging around with a bunch of Goldcrests. The others got onto it too, however, despite moving around next to the Birch tree it was in, all I could get onto were Goldcrests, before it melted away. Frustrating but couldn't be helped!
Walking through this general area, and the Dell produced 3 Yellow-Brows, 5 Woodcock, several Chiffchaff and best of all another Pallas's Warbler in the dell, again discovered by Dan 'the Phyllosc Hunter' Watson. This one was far more obliging (poor photo below) and hung around in the same general area for quite a while. I do bloody love Pallas' Warblers, they're a serious treat! So I stood on the mound in the centre of the dell, for quite a while, watching it flit about.
As the morning went on, the gloom was slowly being transformed into clearer skies and sunshine. This didn't appear to stop birds moving initially though, with several small parties of Redwings coming in off. A Lapland Bunting heading over SW, calling loudly, was a nice surprise, swiftly followed by a cream crown Marsh Harrier. An even bigger surprise was a juvenile Whitethroat that Johny picked up flicking around a pine in the dell. A bit of a mad record to say the least!
It was then time for a coffee and a change of scenery and so we went for a wander along the coastal path east of Wells. 3 Wheatear were scurrying around along the bank while the sunshine and clear skies brought out a few raptors, with 3 Red Kites over the saltmarsh, flushing up tonnes of wildfowl and a group of 5 Buzzards drifting high south. 1 or 2 Brambling dropped into some nearby scrub, a big skein of Pinkfoots flew west and a Kingfisher flashed along a nearby channel.
We then came across a small copse, a real dense tangle of branches. It looked perfect to hide away some goodies and low and behold it was. We enjoyed 2, possibly 3 very local Yellow-Brows, however Dan stole the show with yet another Pallas' Warbler (the boy was on fire!) that showed all too briefly for him and despite our utmost efforts, was never seen again.
We traced our steps back to Wells and after a bit of a think, decided we would drive the short distance east to Warham Greens to look for raptors and also to catch up with the Radde's Warbler that had been lingering for a few days.
We parked up at the rather muddy surroundings of the concrete pad on Garden Drove and headed down the track. The Radde's was well and truly surrounded with an army camera wielders, peering into the hedge. We joined the back of the scrum and almost immediately I had some brilliant views of the bird skulking around in the bottom branches of a sycamore, allowing me to take in all those diagnostics; the pale chin, super duper supercillium and orange undertail. After that we were more than happy to move on. Great to see, but not the most enjoyable of birding.
We walked around west along the coastal path but found very little, although a handful of Brambling including a stonking male was nice.
Before dusk fell, myself, Johny and Gareth went for seconds on the Radde's and we were all glad we did, with now far fewer birders present. Over the course of 15-20 minutes, we were also treated to really good views (as Radde's views go!), no more than 10 or so feet away as it skulked around low in the hedgerow. Fabulous stuff!
Dusk brought a stunning moon and also the welcome sight of a distant, hunting ringtail Hen Harrier to finish the day. It was then yet again, dinner and pub time!
Day 3
We decided to have another go at Burnham Overy Dunes. Lesson learned here, always study the forecast! Sure we knew what the winds were doing and thought they'd probably be a chance of a shower, however we were blissfully unaware that it was set to rain for much of the morning! Urggggh!
It was bloody hard work both in terms of the the conditions and also the lack birds. Following a very clear night, it was obvious there had been a real clear out. A venture into the west end of Holkham Pines, largely for shelter, produced one Yellow-Browed Warbler but otherwise, very little.
We ventured out into the dunes & Gun Hill to give the area a bit more scrutiny, once the rain had ceased. There was little quality or quantity, however we did come across both a standard-looking Lesser Whitethroat at the east end of the dunes and what appeared to be a pretty good candidate for a Asian Lesser Whitethroat, probably of the sub-species Halimodendri. Views though, were limited as it flicked and skulked through small clumps of suaeda.
By this point it was very much lunchtime and we were all seriously knackered and ready for copious amounts of food and coffee!
Team morale was significantly increased with a bloody good feed at a little cafe in Wells (which produced some stupendous Carrot Cake!). In the meantime, a Cattle Egret had turned up, at Blakeney Freshes a little further East. Yeah, why not!
We headed for the vantage point of Friary Hills to view the area. It took a little while, but the bird did eventually appear, in flight about a mile away, on the far side of the marshes before landing amongst a small group of cattle. Not exactly the most exhilarating sighting of a Cattle Egret but cool to see and my first for a good 2-3 years. A Green Sandpiper was seen in flight a couple of times, as were 1 or 2 Marsh Harrier.
The weather by now was stunning with barely a breath of wind and golden, late afternoon sunshine. We completed our day with a walk out into the saltmarsh off Stiffkey. It was a stunner of a walk, with some fab light and some real evocative views of wildfowl and raptors.
For me there were two main highlights here. The sheer number of wildfowl, particularly Wigeon, Pintail & Brent Geese and also the backlit view of a hunting female Hen Harrier cruising backwards and forwards, hunting the saltmarsh.
Also seen was a fly-by juvenile Peregrine, an exhausted Redwing, a flock of Fieldfares in off, a lone Wheatear, and 2-3 Greenshank.
Coming back, we also enjoyed a steady trickle of Little Egrets heading over west to roost at Stiffkey Fen, numbering at least 60 and counting when we left.
Day 4
Our last full day in Norfolk. It was a fine, fine day weather-wise, however the winds were extremely anti-sibe with a southerly, coupled with bright sunshine. We decided to finish at the dudes paradise of Titchwell with the potential of seeing plenty of birds in good light, plus also to mix it up really, having spent the majority of our time sifting through birches and sycamores!! It made a nice change not having to look up at everything!
We began with a Kingfisher bombing across the path, before looking through a nice selection of waders on the freshmarsh with a fair amount of Golden Plover, still a handful of Avocets, plenty of Ruff and bucket loads of Teal among other things. Best birds here though were 3 Little Stints still about, milling around for food.
The next lagoon held a really confiding Curlew Sandpiper, busily feeding away, pretty close to the path.
On then to the beach and a bit of a look at the old sea. All the usual waders were on the beach including several Sanderling. It was nice to pick out a couple of Velvet Scoter (1CY male & a female). Also seen were a few Razorbills, Guillemot, several Red Breasted Merganser & a good 20+ Great Crested Grebe. What was also pretty cool was the sight of several skeins of Pink Footed Geese cruising in off the sea and inland. Proper migration in action.
We slowly walked back, noting a second Curlew Sandpiper on the freshmarsh, but otherwise everything was very much the same.
We took a minor detour along the boardwalk towards the meadow trail. Here Dan & Gareth picked out a foraging Brambling and I had brief views of a Yellow-Browed Warbler flitting through the willows with a small tit flock. We then had another calling like mad and showing for a short while in the car park, right by my car!
By mid-afternoon it felt like it was time to head for home. Before we did, we had a quick look up at nearby Choseley Drying Barns in the vein hope of catching a Corn Bunting. However, just like the previous couple of times I'd been up there, we drew a blank. Have they completely disappeared from the area I wonder?
We then hit the road, drawing to a close yet another magic, magic week(end)!