BIRDING BREAK NORFOLK DAY 2

I started the day off birding at Holme this morning, and as I was walking down the beach, I connected with 24 Snow Buntings.

Snow Bunting

These birds hadn't been reported from this area, so they were a nice find. Other birds of note on the sea were Long-tailed duck, Common scoter, Great crested grebe, Fulmar and a flyby Black throated diver. Walking back to the car, I had a Red kite fly over.

Red Kite

Moving on to Titchwell RSPB, there were good numbers of birds around, and a female Brambling on the feeders was a good addition to the holiday list.

Brambling

Walking along the reserve path towards the sea produced the following bird species: Avocet, Water rail, Grey Plover, Cetti's warbler, Water pipit, Black Tailed godwit, Spotted redshank and a flyover Marsh harrier.

Marsh Harrier

Reaching the sea, I soon connected with a raft of Velvet scoter, 2 Great Northern divers and a Slavonian grebe.

Titchwell Reserve

The morning's birding got better as the pager reported that the Pallid Harrier was showing again near Wells-next-the-sea. I headed straight there and got cracking views of the female immature bird hunting over the fields.

 Pallid Harrier

Birders on site

After watching the bird, I headed into Wells for some lunch and spent the afternoon back in Hunstanton.

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BIRDING BREAK IN NORFOLK DAY 1

I started my three-day birding break in Norfolk with a quick stop off at Willow Tree Fen reserve in Lincolnshire, where a first-winter male Bluethroat has been showing well since the beginning of February. I didn't have to wait long before the bird appeared by the path.

 Bluethroat

The Bluethroat showed really well, as you can see from the images above.

Moving on from here, I dropped my bags off at the B and B and headed for Holkham. As I was driving past Holkham marsh, I got great views of a Marsh Harrier perched up by the side of the road and a distant Great white egret.

Marsh Harrier

Great White Egret

There were also 5 Spoonbills on the marsh and well over 500 White fronted geese.

 White Fronted Goose

Arriving at Holkham Gap, I started to walk west along the beach, and after about a mile, I connected with the 34 Shorelarks that have been around this area since late November last year.

Shorelark

After stunning views of these great birds, I left them in peace and headed back to the car as it had started to rain. The final bird of the evening was a Barn owl near Stiffkey, which I watched from the car hunting over some fields.

Barn Owl

A great end to the first day of my holiday, which was followed by a nice Indian meal and a few beers.