CATTLE EGRET and Classic Birds of the Norfolk Broads

On Monday, we headed up to the Norfolk Broads, as I was very keen on seeing the Cattle Egret that has been present up there for a couple of weeks. We started off at Buckenham Marshes, to look for Geese. We got round to the viewpoint, and we picked out 2 distant Taiga Bean Geese amongst the pink-feet alongside 2 other birders. There were also 6 Eurasian White-fronted Geese present amongst the other geese. A Dunlin flew over as did a Brambling, and there were some distant Cranes calling on the other side of the river. A male Peregrine was causing a lot of havoc amongst the ducks, but it didn't stop the Wigeon from showing very well by the path...

We then made our way up to Sea Palling, and onto the Hickling Road that connects Sea Palling and Hickling together. We found the cow field with with the white cows in, and Dad soon clocked on to the Cattle Egret, a lifer for me, and we got very lucky as it showed very well...

We then headed to Stubb Mill, at the Hickling Broad Raptor Roost. We got their quite early, and we picked out 2 Cranes in the field. We went on to see 5 in total. The pictures below show a juvenile in with this flock...

The totals of the roost were as follows:

2 Hen Harrier, 5 Crane, 34 Marsh Harriers, Goosander (flyover), Sparrowhawk, 6 Red Deer, 3 Chinese Water Deer (we left a bit early hence the short list)

What A Birthday Treat!

For my Birthday, Mum and Dad decided to take me out birding on Sunday. We were initially going to go to Cley, and Holkham, but the weather forecast wasn't brilliant, so we decided to go to Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. As we were all going out, that meant that I had the little camera, so I could take videos. Yipeeeeeeeeeee! I left Mum and Dad to do the pictures, and me to do the videos. Splendid.

We started at Great Yarmouth, looking for the Shorelarks. We parked about 1/2 mile north of the pier, and then walked south. There was one birder, who we met, and asked if he had seen them. He said that the Shorelarks couldn't be towards the pier because the amount of dog walkers and fisherman down there was unreal. He was right, but we still went down there to have a look. On the walk, we saw 2 Med Gulls flying around.

I then had a scan around on the beach about 300 yards north of the pier, and blow me down I could see 4 Shorelarks flitting and feeding around the shingle. AAARRRGGGHHH! We got down there, and we got within 15 feet of some these birds. It was an incredible Lifer that I have tried for humpteen times, but we finally connected.

We then met 3 birders. A man, a woman and their daughter Lucy who was a late teenager, and she was a person who was looking for young people who are interested in birds, like me. She is part of the BTO. We enjoyed the birds together, and then left them to it. 

We then went to Links Hill Beach, in search of any Snow Buntings. Once again, there were plenty of fisherman, so no chance in them, but we did get 2 self found Purple Sandpiper on the rocks with Turnstone. Also, there were 4 Med Gull in the car park.

We then decided to go and try for the Glaucous Gull at Hamilton Dock, Lowestoft. This again would be a lifer. When we got there, there were about 13 birders, but we went away from them, and closer to the gull, which was one of the easiest lifers I'll ever get. It was soooo close. 

Then we ambitiously thought to go to Winterton to get the massive flock of Snow Buntings. We got there, and the 3 people we met at Great Yarmouth were there. We were at the North Dunes at this point, and we had seen nothing. We asked them if they had seen anything, but they had seen nilch too. They had just been to Sea Palling, to see the Humpback Whale, but they had seen nothing. However, I just had a message in the Whale was seen 5 minutes ago. I told them, and they couldn't believe it. They ran back to the car park. We thought about doing that too, so we started to follow them. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a view of some small birds with white wings. I shouted to Mum and Dad "Snow Buntings," and we went back and got pics. There was about 40 birds present. The light was poor though.

We then started to head back to the car park, to go to Sea Palling. As we started to walk back, a further 60 flew over our heads really low. It was incredible. No picture though :( 

We then got to Sea Palling, and got to the crowd of people on the dunes. The viz was poor, and you could hardly tell the sky from the sea. We didn't see the whale, so we headed back and had a great lunch at The Countryman. The food was great. What a birthday treat.

Happy Birding!

Norfolk - Day 1

Arriving at Sea Palling on Thursday, with the wind and rain nearly blowing our static caravan away, not much to produce for Thursday afternoon. We did go out for a bit of a drive for start, driving through Waxham, but no further. In case your wondering, we did stay at Sea Palling, at the Golden Beach caravan park. This day was just a settler.

Friday was a sea watching day, but we didn't understand that getting up at about 6 in the morning was a key feature, so as you would expect, we didn't see much. We headed all the way up to Sheringham, and finished up at Cley in the afternoon. We stopped off at several vantage points, and with my first Common Scoters of the year seen at many of the sights, I was well pleased.

Common Scoters at Sea Palling

Common Scoters off Sheringham

Turnstone at Sheringham

During the day, we stopped off at Waxham, Sea Palling, Happisburgh, Cromer Sheringham, and then Cley in the afternoon. We arrived here at about 2:30pm. We parked in the East Bank car park, and walked along the East Bank. The pinging of Bearded Tits ringed our ears, as only fleeting glimpses were seen. A group of about 15 Curlew were on Arnolds Marsh.....

Curlew in Arnolds Marsh fields

We reached the large pool on the right going towards the sea. This held some Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, and  Black-headed Gulls. Not much, but the main highlight on here though was the big flock of about 100 Black-tailed Godwits.

Black-tailed Godwits at Cley

Little Egret at Cley

One of the local Spoonbills flew past the East Bank behind us while watching out at sea, and a Dunlin flew in land. Another sighting was my first Grey Plover of the year fly over the reserve , then, the Godwits came to rest...

The long line of Black-tailed Godwits on the stretch of Mud

The last action of the day was a Marsh Harrier flying over the East bank