LADY ANN'S DRIVE - HOLKHAM GAP - STIFFKEY MARSHES - WEYBOURNE - CLEY - HOLKHAM GAP
WEATHER: another beautiful start to the day with bright blue sky and lots of sunshine. However, the wind had picked up and a rain-storm was pending. Temp 2 - 9C
Guy summed up our birding efforts of today when he said we saw quality not quantity. saw most of our target species but not many other species, some got caught up in the crossfire or ended up photo-bombing some of my pictures.
It was very cold once again as we left our accommodation in Brancaster Staith, we drove eastward toward Wells and soon we were seeing many Pink-footed Geese flying from their shoreline roost to feed in the surrounding fields. I also called a couple of Grey Partridges but, because Guy was driving he missed them. We did see plenty of Pheasants, lots of Red-legged Partridges, a couple of Hares and lots of Red Kites during the journey.
Our arrival at Lady Ann's Drive car aprk was well timed because a couple of birders were walking away from the hedgerow that overlooks Holkham Freshmarsh, they told us that a Green-winged Teal was in the vicinity and where we should look for it. After a few cold minutes we found the bird fast asleep on a grassy bank. We also saw Wigeon, Eurasian Teal, Shoveler, Black-tailed Godwit and a few Red Kites. Skeins of geese filled the sky, I do love birding in Norfolk during the 'geese season'.
The Green-winged Teal as we found it, asleep! You can make out the vertcial white stripes on the flanks. Shoveler and a Eurasian Teal (horizontal white stripes on the flanks) are also in the picture
Our long walk out to Holkham Gap took us a while, we searched for birds along the way finding a flock of Redshanks, a nice bunch of Linnets and a few Common Shelduck. The usual roped-off area where Shore larks and Snow Bunting hang out was totally deserted, not a single bird was found!! So, we abandoned our search and walked over the dunes to the beach, we found a nice sheltered spot, away from the biting wind, where we could scan the sea and the shoreline. We saw Sanderling and Oystercatchers along the shore and large numbers of Common Scoter on the sea.
We had to sift through very large flocks of Scoter looking for anything different, but we found nothing! Many Red-throated Divers flew past, we saw lots of Great Crested Grebes, Cormorants and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers which were new for our trip list.
Back at the roped-off area we made a second attempt to see the Larks and Buntings, but alas, none was found, so we gave up and walked back to the car.
From Holkham we took the A149 and headed eastward, before long we reached a village called Stiffkey, news of a Glossy Ibis had been put out earlier so we stopped to scan the marshes from the side of the road. The small pools were iced up, so the Ibis was not near those. Scanning a little further afield we located the bird, it was distant, but definitely a Glossy Ibis.
believe it or not, there is a Glossy Ibis in this picture with a Black-headed Gull in flight.
Next we drove to Weybourne to look for some uncommon Geese amongst the throngs of Pink-footed Geese that were feeding in a large field. It took us a while but we located at least four White-fronted Geese, six Barnacle Geese and two TUNDRA BEAN GEESE. The latter was our main target species, we saw them well even though they were difficult to pick out from the Pink-footed variety at such a distance. Guy found our first Mistle Thrush too!
there are two White-fronted Geese in this picture with Pink-footed Geese and a Black-headed Gull
A Tundra Bean Goose showing off its very orange, thick legs.
Tundra Bean Goose on the left with Pink-footed Geese.
Pleased with our geese encounter we drove back to Cley and went into the visitor's centre of this famous reserve, which sits on a hillock above the reserve and gives great views across the reedbeds and pools. We sat down to a lovely cup of hot chocolate and a toasted tea-cake (well, we deserved it!), then we moved on and made a visit to Cley Spy optics shop.
an array of Pink-footed Geese
We had news that the Shore Larks were now showing back at Holkham Gap and so we made the decision to re-visted the area and complete the long walk for a second time. The weather forecast was grim, with high winds and rain forecast for later this afternoon, so we put our foot down as we headed out.
This time our visit to the roped off area paid off! We found a bunch of five Shore Larks with another two or three in a separte area. Perfect, that was just what we wanted. We also heard that a flock of 60 Snow Buntings were now in the area but we couldn't see those. Snow Buntings are notorious for moving from place to place in a short space of time.
four Shore Larks
a closer view of two Shore Larks
We did find a nice flock of Sanderling, a bigger flock of Redshanks and a very confiding Common Gull. Red Kites 'hovered' in the windy sky just like kites! It strated to rain around 3pm as we walked back, only light rain but it increased in intensity as we got back to the car park.
It grew very dark and as we left, so we decided to call it a day and drove back to our accomodation.