I had some birding friends visiting this weekend - Dave Foster from Whitburn and Richard Crossley from Cape May were in North Norfolk, so I spent the weekend on the coast birding with Dave and Mark Golley, but not managing to catch up with Richard. The weather started off quite wet and overcast on Saturday morning, but this soon passed and the rest of the weekend was lovely clear skies, albeit with a rather bone-chilling wind.
There were loads of birds around, mainly waterfowl and seabirds, but also some decent non-waterbirds. The Northern Harrier continued its stay in the Thornham area, but only being seen in the couple of hours after sunrise and before sunset, spending the rest of the time in various sites east of Thornham. A couple of ringtail Hen Harriers in the area provided a good comparison. Titchwell had quite a hoard of birds on it over the weekend. The freshmarsh was host to an imm. Greater Scaup, whilst 50+ Twite and 3 Water Pipits fed on the seeded areas of the brackish-marsh. The sea and beach were the highlight though. 9 Shorelark fed just inside the dunes, whilst at sea 2000+ Common Scoter, 7+ Velvet Scoter, 3+ Red-necked Grebes, Slav Grebe, 4 Long-tailed Duck, juvenile Iceland Gull and a smattering of Common Eider and Red-breasted Mergansers made exciting viewing.
One of the Ross's Geese put on a nice flyby at Holkham with a spectacular flock of about 20,000 Pink-feet, whilst a juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard put in a nice aerial display. We also found 2 Tundra Bean Geese in a field next to Stiffkey Fen before they all upped and offed towards Blakeney and a nice flock of 12 Pale-belled Brent Geese with some Dark-bellieds showed close to the road at Crabbe Castle Farm, Whighton.
Cley Marshes was a bit quiet, but even that had a lovely drake American Wigeon.
Photos below (in order from top): Pink-footed Geese in flight, Dark-belled Brent in flight, Pale-bellied and Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Ross's Goose in flight with Pink-footed Geese (x2), Eurasian Curlew (x3), Spotted Redshank (x2), Little Owl, Water Pipit (x2) and video of Shorelarks.
There were loads of birds around, mainly waterfowl and seabirds, but also some decent non-waterbirds. The Northern Harrier continued its stay in the Thornham area, but only being seen in the couple of hours after sunrise and before sunset, spending the rest of the time in various sites east of Thornham. A couple of ringtail Hen Harriers in the area provided a good comparison. Titchwell had quite a hoard of birds on it over the weekend. The freshmarsh was host to an imm. Greater Scaup, whilst 50+ Twite and 3 Water Pipits fed on the seeded areas of the brackish-marsh. The sea and beach were the highlight though. 9 Shorelark fed just inside the dunes, whilst at sea 2000+ Common Scoter, 7+ Velvet Scoter, 3+ Red-necked Grebes, Slav Grebe, 4 Long-tailed Duck, juvenile Iceland Gull and a smattering of Common Eider and Red-breasted Mergansers made exciting viewing.
One of the Ross's Geese put on a nice flyby at Holkham with a spectacular flock of about 20,000 Pink-feet, whilst a juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard put in a nice aerial display. We also found 2 Tundra Bean Geese in a field next to Stiffkey Fen before they all upped and offed towards Blakeney and a nice flock of 12 Pale-belled Brent Geese with some Dark-bellieds showed close to the road at Crabbe Castle Farm, Whighton.
Cley Marshes was a bit quiet, but even that had a lovely drake American Wigeon.
Photos below (in order from top): Pink-footed Geese in flight, Dark-belled Brent in flight, Pale-bellied and Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Ross's Goose in flight with Pink-footed Geese (x2), Eurasian Curlew (x3), Spotted Redshank (x2), Little Owl, Water Pipit (x2) and video of Shorelarks.
There were loads of birds around, mainly waterfowl and seabirds, but also some decent non-waterbirds. The Northern Harrier continued its stay in the Thornham area, but only being seen in the couple of hours after sunrise and before sunset, spending the rest of the time in various sites east of Thornham. A couple of ringtail Hen Harriers in the area provided a good comparison. Titchwell had quite a hoard of birds on it over the weekend. The freshmarsh was host to an imm. Greater Scaup, whilst 50+ Twite and 3 Water Pipits fed on the seeded areas of the brackish-marsh. The sea and beach were the highlight though. 9 Shorelark fed just inside the dunes, whilst at sea 2000+ Common Scoter, 7+ Velvet Scoter, 3+ Red-necked Grebes, Slav Grebe, 4 Long-tailed Duck, juvenile Iceland Gull and a smattering of Common Eider and Red-breasted Mergansers made exciting viewing.
One of the Ross's Geese put on a nice flyby at Holkham with a spectacular flock of about 20,000 Pink-feet, whilst a juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard put in a nice aerial display. We also found 2 Tundra Bean Geese in a field next to Stiffkey Fen before they all upped and offed towards Blakeney and a nice flock of 12 Pale-belled Brent Geese with some Dark-bellieds showed close to the road at Crabbe Castle Farm, Whighton.
Cley Marshes was a bit quiet, but even that had a lovely drake American Wigeon.
Photos below (in order from top): Pink-footed Geese in flight, Dark-belled Brent in flight, Pale-bellied and Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Ross's Goose in flight with Pink-footed Geese (x2), Eurasian Curlew (x3), Spotted Redshank (x2), Little Owl, Water Pipit (x2) and video of Shorelarks.
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