Day 1:
A bit of a lazy Saturday afternoon (after the long drive) saw myself and the wife on Cley Marshes where I picked up several year ticks in the shape of AVOCETs, several BEARDED TIT flitting over the reedbeds, a pair of MARSH HARRIER, a WATER RAIL squeeling from the edge of a shallow pool and a Life Tick in the form of a couple of REED WARBLER (first heard, then seen, clinging onto reeds along the channel that runs along the walkway nearest the road). Not a bad start I thought, then it decided to rain and we headed back to the cottage for a few glasses of wine.
When it brightened up that evening, I decided to check out the surrounding area which resulted in a wander along a nearby farmtrack that headed to a small wood. This wander uncovered several WHITETHROAT, alarm calling at my presence, in a hedgerow and a TURTLE DOVE purring away while perched on the ubiquitous telegraph line alongside a couple of STOCK DOVE.
I've seen RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE on a few occasions but have never noted their 'steam-train-like' call before so when this eminated from a field of crops, I was baffled - that was until a pair of heads popped up from the very spot. Oh, and there was also a male MARSH HARRIER hunting over the fields as well.
And then it was back to the cottage and that bottle of red, before the missus drank the lot, and an early night in preparation of a full day’s birding the next day.
Day 2:
It's at this stage that I need to point out that Julie (my long-suffering wife) is a non-birder who happens to enjoy (I hope!) being dragged along with me from time to time. Although she does enjoy birds & other wildlife I think she just enjoys the being out there aspect of it more than anything.
So, with this in mind, we decided to combine some of her preferred interests (wandering aimlessly around shops, etc) with birding and after a bit of touristy stuff we found ourselves a Titchwell RSPB. This turned up more of the same as we'd seen previously day had at Cley with the resident MARSH HARRIERS holding both our attention for most fo the time we were there.
A BARN OWL hunting over fields a couple of miles east of Titchwell Village was a pleasant encounter and kept Julie's attention longer than most other birds on the trip, even if it did entail an Emergency Stop into a small lay-by in order to view it !
From Titchwell, Julie kindly agreed to stop off at Choseley Drying Barns where, almost on opening the car door, I heard a CORN BUNTING and a few minutes of walking along the hedgerow it was calling from, I had one in my bins as it perched on the branch of a tree. I had a couple more during a stroll along the hedgerow as was as another MARSH HARRIER over a field nearby.
That evening another gentle wander along the same track near the cottage brought one other species, although only heard - CUCKOO. I never did see it, despite hearing it on several occasions in the area not least (as well as those TURTLE DOVES) from the cottage patio while were drinking our wine one evening.
Day 3:
This was designated a day of 'Raptor-Watching' at Gt Ryburgh' & 'Wandering around Sandringham' - no prizes for guessing which bit was my idea!
And so it was off to Great Ryburgh viewpoint and a 9am start to allow a mid-morning arrival and the prospect of my first view of a Honey Buzzard. Unfortunately, not knowing the area I'd set off quite early in case we got lost en route but managed to find it first time and we were on the viewpoint (with ''one or two'' others) for 9:30.
I thought this may have been a tad early and would entail a bit of a wait for the termals to kick in but no sooner had we settled down for a wait than a dark shape appeared over the wood, then another, near the green dome - HONEY BUZZARDS!! They proceeded to circle slowly but surely until they were nothing but specks against the clouded sky.
The experience was made all the more pleasurable by the presence of a COMMON BUZZARD in the area which allowed for some comparison of the two species. The Honey Buzzards soared on much flatter wings and the head shape was also noticeably different - a couple of key features I was aware of but it was nice to know that these subtleties could be picked up relatively easily in the field.
We also had great views of several HOBBY, giving an awesome aerial display over the wooded area around Gt Ryburgh. All in all - a couple of hours well spent.
Day 4:
This morning I woke up with the larks (5:00 am) and headed to Cley & Salthouse Heath but my early start didn’t really afford me anything additional other than a LESSER WHITETHROAT (seen) & a CETTI'S WARBLER (heard) at Walsey Hills Viewpoint. The Cetti's call was coming from some deep thicket and I didn't bother hanging around too long for a sighting as I suspect I'd still be waiting there now.
I stopped off on the way back to the cottage at Blakeney Freshmarsh but it was early (around 6am) and I was the only one there and looking for a Pratincole in an area that size was an unenviable task so I gave up after a while and headed back, tripping over another BARN OWL perched on a fencepost that was tearing something to pieces, before promptly shovelling the whole thing down it’s gullet – a nice reminder that it was time for my breakfast!
Day 5:
Again, we mainly did some touristy stuff during the day (a visit to Holkham Hall produces GREEN WOODPECKER yaffling but not seen) but it was the evening I was looking forward to - another wander around Cley Marshes followed by a trip to Salthouse Heath at dusk.......I wonder what for???
The walk along the East Bank at Cley this evening turned up a cluster of BLACK-TAILED GODWIT in their summer best, a few LITTLE TERN, several SANDWICH TERN, a LITTLE EGRET over the marshes, a LITTLE EGRET on Arnold's Marsh and a couple of EGYPTIAN GOOSE.
I was pre-occupied with trying to pick up on a small wader in the grass on the edge of Arnold's Marsh through the scope (I never did see it properly) when Julie casually mentioned that something big had just flown into the reedbeds behind me. Her words were ‘’it was big and brown with white bits on it and had frondy wings’ (she uses the word 'frondy' a lot when it comes to describing bird's wingtips!).
A few minutes of waiting around and a sound 'like a didgeridoo' as Julie put it emanated from the very spot she'd seen it fly into. Bugger, I'd just missed a BITTERN ! Another spell of reedbed watching turned a blank as it wasn’t seen again although we heard at least 2 more BITTERN booming from the reedbeds on the walk back to the car.
Julie proceeded to rub it in with tongue in cheek phrases like 'Ah, Alan, it was beautiful' when in reality she wouldn't know a Bittern it had stood up in her soup although, admittedly, I was a tad gutted to have missed it. Would I get another chance I wondered?
So it was onto Salthouse Heath where we found we were way too early - it was something like 20:45 and we had at least an hour or more to kill before dusk so we headed up the road to the woods we'd passed a couple of times in search (I hoped) Nightingale or maybe Wood Warbler or Garden Warbler but not before hearing a TREE PIPIT calling on the heath, although I couldn't see where from.
The woods turned up nothing of note and after maybe 30 mins of wandering, watching and listening, we were headed back to the car when something flew across the path in front of us and stuck to the trunk of a tree. Voila - I had a LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER in my bins.
This was another lifer and a bit of a surprise as with all the other birds I wa hoping for while we were away LS Woodpecker had slipped my mind. PLus, with the trees in full foliage I think myself very lucky to have one clinging to the lower part of a tree trunk in front of me.
A few minutes of watching and it decided it had had enough of us two staring at it and scurried up the trunk and disappeared into the canopy. Still, it was a nice bird and a nice surprise.
Now it was time for Salthouse Heath:
Never having been here before I pulled into the parking area along the track that is signposted for 'Salthouse Heath' (well, it seemed to make sense to me?) and we waited as the sun slowly moved down the sky. A couple of other cars turned up whose inhabitants swiftly disappeared up a track which made me wonder if we were in a good spot (I presumed not) and I decided to follow them in order to gain some local information.
I happened upon a chap sporting a pair of Swaros who advised that we weren't really in 'the' spot. In fact the preferred spot was further over the heath, and so off we trooped in that direction where we found a few folk lingering and watching over an area maybe a few hundred yards from where were standing. Unfortunately we couldn't reach this area from where we were and, with the light fading fast, I'd given up the ghost this night and decided to head back home and maybe head out the following night better prepared.
But on the walk back to the car there they were - two NIGHTJAR flying over some bushes less than 15 feet from the car.
It was around 9:45 and although the light was fading we could make out their long-winged silhouettes against the sky and their white wing patches were also very visible. I was in my element and Julie, well....she wasn't!!
To be fair, it wasn't the warmest of nights and as she headed back to the car I went in search of more views which I got in the form of a NIGHTJAR heading straight at me as I walked around a bush as it hooned past me, not more than perhaps a few feet in front of my face before banking away and heading out over heath.
And that was the last I saw of them and, as I left the Heath with the churring of NIGHTJAR in my ears, I thought things couldn't get any better.....but they did!
Day 6:
This was designated a non-birding day, although the the steam train we planned to ‘play about on’ that day (the North Norfolk Railway) stopped at Kelling Heath so the bins came along for the ride as well. That was until we arrived at Sheringham Station that not only did the train not stop off at Kelling Heath during the week but there wasn't another train for 2 hours.
An alternative plan was quickly hatched that involved a drive to Hickling Broad to check out another aspect of Norfolk (the Broads) for future visits. Oh, and there was the small matter of a RED-FOOTED FALCON that had been present all week that ''completely escaped my mind'' until we pulled into the carpark of the NWT reserve !!
The first bird we saw when we wandered around the reserve was a MARSH HARRIER followed by a HOBBY overhead. The views of the HOBBY were the best we'd had yet and the head patterning and rufous vent were on full view and the light was perfect to boot !
As we wandered around we picked up BEARDED TIT & REED WARBLER calling (the latter only heard here) and we wandered around the Observation Point overlooking the Broad. Julie decided to peer over into a small channel and asked 'ee, what's this duck?' at which point all I heard was a splashing sound as this duck attempted to avoid this human staring at it. I never did see it but Julie assures me it was brown and black and had a 'funny eye' – my best guess was it being a female tufty
It was at this point that I remembered that BITTERN she’d seen the previous day that I hadn’t (grrr!) and, as if by magic, not more that 10 feet away over the reed beds was a BITTERN - I couldn't beleive it. We had to step around a tree as it disappeared from view for a few seconds before picking it up again as it drifted out of view but what a great moment. And no more 'sarky' comments the wife anymore either, which was nice!
Anyway, onto that RED-FOOTED FALCON:
I'd spoken to a couple of chaps in the Observation Hide who said it was still showing from the Bittern hide so we headed that way until a singing CETTI's stopped me in my tacks - singing from a bush along the track we were standing on. This time I decided to hang around and was rewarded with a brief glimpse of the rufous upper parts of a bird as it dropped into the lower foliage of a shrub. And then, suddenly, it was out of the shrubbery as it flew across our path into another bush on the other side of the track, perched on a branch for a 30 seconds or so. And CETTI's WARBLER could be added to my list as ‘seen’ as opposed to ‘heard’.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, that Red-Footed Falcon:
We settled ourselves down in the Bittern hide but there was no sign, and the heat haze over the reedbeds to it’s favoured perch in a row of dead trees wasn’t helping matters so after a period of watching BEARDED TIT flit over the reeds, HOBBY aerobating above and MARSH HARRIER hunting we gave up the ghost and headed towards the car.
Along the track on the way out were a couple of fellows with scopes aimed at something and things suddenly looked promising. After being pointed in the direction of the perch the Falcon was sitting on I was still struggling to get decent views until a kestrel came along and flushed it and with that it was up and about (don't think I've ever been more grateful to see a kestrel !). Now the views as it flew first over the row of dead trees then over the reedbeds and over the track we were standing on near the NWT shop were much better. A real cracking little raptor!
We ended our trip to Hickling Broad a bit further along the track with views of 2 COMMON CRANE in the fields near the exit, albeit a case of seeing their crowns popping up every few minutes. And that was Hickling Broad - probably, in the circumstances, my favourite site of the whole trip.
A couple of other things that came of the trip to Hickling: The look of surprise from a local birder when he discovered I hadn't seen the Collared Pratincole (despite being based about 5 mile from it) and a tip-off for a Montagu's Harrier site also wasn't far from where we were staying which was even better. Tomorrow couldn't come quick enough.
Day7:
Day 7 started with a trip to Blakeney Freshmarsh and a long-overdue appointment with a COLLARED PRATINCOLE that had been there for a week or two. I located a couple of birders with scopes trained on a spot and within a minute or two of landing at the Freshmarsh I had the bird in my scope.
I still enjoyed my 30 minutes or so watching the Pratincole flitting about trying to dodge the cows that were grazing alongside it, although it would have been nice if it had getting into full flight - but we can’t have everything can we?
Now onto the Monty's site:
I had a feeling I'd struggle to find the place but the small cluster of birders in the middle of nowhere gave the game away and the position of this 'secret' and I hurridly set up the scope and joined in with scanning the fields.
We didn't have long to wait before the female was in view, flying over the fields behind us, and missing a couple of secondaries (or were they primaries?) before getting up to height and disappearing from view. Another around 15 or so later and we had cracking views of a superb male as it flew low over the fields in front of us.
Now becoming conscious that I'd promised to be back by lunchtime I begrudgingly headed for the car, very satisfied with my views hours out and about that morning.
The rest of the day was spent pottering about which invloved passing Cley so it seemed rude to drop in one more time. Birds seen on this visit that I hadn’t picked up so far on the trip included a drake GARGANEY and a BLACK SWAN (can I tick the Black Swan I wonder?).
And that was basically it - my first trip to Norfolk.
In total over the 7 days I picked up 106 species, 20 of them year ticks (and of those 20) 13 were also Lifers.
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable trip away and will I be going back - you bet I will.
Alan