Norfolk Northerlies

I had originally earmarked Saturday 29/08 (as part of the Bank Holiday weekend), to meet up with Norfolk birding mate Johnny, to give Blakeney Point and general area a go if winds were any good. As it turned out the winds were good, but more for seawatching than anything else, with a howling northerly and rain forecast.

We would've had to have got to Sheringham for ridiculous o'clock to get a spot, so we decided to meet at Cley Coastguards and give the sea a go.

It was indeed pretty rough conditions on arrival, but thankfully no rain set in as yet. There were a stack of others with the same idea - a right long line of tripods crowning the shingle!

It was immediately apparent quite a few duck were moving W, mostly Teal, together with Wigeon, Shoveler and a handful of Pintail. A female Tufted Duck leading a line of Common Scoter was also pretty weird and good to see!

A steady trickle of both Arctic Skuas and Bonxies began to appear, all heading E. Plus a total of 3 Little Gull were knocking about offshore. Star of the show appeared out of nowhere with a juvenile Long-Tailed Skua together with 2 Arctic Skuas in tow very close in moving swiftly E. The Arctics were far more purposeful in carrying on east, however not before you could notice the size difference between themselves and the Long Tail, which did a bit of dip feeding and 'faffing about' before carrying on behind them. Johnny and I had another possible Long Tail but the views were not conclusive

The rain was beginning to set in and while things never properly kicked off, the tap had been well and truly turned off with zero birds coming through out there - weird considering the conditions. So we headed around to the reserve, to the only open hide (Bishop's?), overlooking the SE side of Pat's Pool. Unfortunately this was looking right into the wind and rain and not bloody pleasant at all! Still, we made the best of it for a short while, seeing a flyover Spoonbill, 5 juv Curlew Sands, a couple of juv Ruff and a few other bits and bobs. The conditions were minging so Johnny decided to head home while I decided to give nearby Gramborough Hill a look, for any skulky migrants, as the rain eased slightly.

It was mega blowy up on Gramborough, however I did find a brief Whinchat in a slightly more sheltered spot, as well as the more expected Stonechat and a very confiding Dunlin sat in a puddle by the path.

I decided to try and finish the day at Sheringham with the wind still strong and skies gloomy. Hopefully the sea would pick up again. Luckily I was able to get a spot in the shelter and while it was again not crazy busy on the bird front, there was a decent trickle of stuff to enjoy until late on:

x2 possible Long Tailed Skua - slight structure, boyant tern-like flight, dropping to feed while Arctics more direct, but just too distant to get any plumage detail on. 1 Sooty Shearwater W, 23+ Bonxies, c20 Arctic Skuas including several chasing Sarnies, 7+ Manx Shearwater, 1 Little Gull E, 1 Whimbrel W then E, 1 Barwit W, 1 juv Kittiwake E, 3+ Fulmar E, 3 Grey Plover W, 15+ Common Scoter through, c10 Gannet E, 7 Shoveler W, 50+ Teal W, c50 Knot E, 1 Guillemot E, 2 Wigeon W, several Oystercatcher & Turnstone, good nos of Sandwich Terns through.

I can't really complain, it was a pretty decent day, but I did leave Norfolk thinking the weather promised so much more!