A well-planned (or so we thought) 5 day trip to Norfolk started last Sunday. It would be our first visit to the area and we were pretty excited at the prospect. We had our target list and were hoping for between 10 and 20 lifers (shown in CAPITALS). I'd be fairly happy with 10 and overjoyed with 20. We had done a fair bit of research and got a few tips from BF members to help us on our way, so we were pretty confident.
Set off from Bury in Lancashire at about 1.30pm, and drove down to Frampton Marsh for a couple of hours before the light faded and the cold started to get us! Ended up being a good start to our "holiday". Great view of Short-eared Owl, being chased off by a Lesser-black-backed gull. This was followed by a male Hen harrier flying past us. Other highlights were a few Curlew flying past, and our first ever sighting of a RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE (we don't get them up where we live!) Also heard a Tawny owl as we left the pub before making our way for a well earned bath and bed in a £10 Travelodge.
Monday saw our first full day and a trip to Hickling Broad. Had a couple of hours driving round with not much to see - brief flight of a Bittern, and Marsh harrier was about the only thing of note. Moved on to Horsey Windmill expecting better and was pretty disappointed. Saw a Kestrel, which seemed to prove fairly scarce down in Norfolk. You can hardly look into the sky up here in Lancashire without seeing one! Decided to move on to Stubb Mill and enjoyed good views of Marsh harriers, a Sparrowhawk, and a Barn owl. Saw what looked like a female Hen harrier, but turned out to be a Harris hawk (apparently, it's been in the area for a couple of months, enjoying it's freedom!) Woodpigeons and Rooks seemed to be everywhere. All-in-all, not a very good day, but we did manage to get CRANE, albeit, distant views. We would have liked to have stayed a bit longer, but we were freezing!
Two lifers in two days was disappointing. When you've not yet hit the 200 mark, you would expect to do better than this! Oh well, Minsmere to come - things must improve!