January Birdseeker

14^th January 2007
The Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers' Trip to Norfolk

I deliberately didn't advertise a destination for this outing so we could choose where to go on the day in order to maximise the chances of seeing as many good birds as possible. This option left me with two realistic choices (disregarding a blast up to Scotland!): Norfolk or Lincolnshire.

Lincs offered a brace of Red-breasted Geese, a Ring-necked Duck and other winter visitors while Norfolk had a potential first-for-Britain in the shape of a Black-eared Kite, a couple of Snow Geese and a newly-arrived Lesser Yellowlegs, as well as the usual goodies at this time of year. I opted for Norfolk, crossed my fingers and laid out my lucky socks.

The journey east produced five Barn Owls (none in Notts) and two Red Foxes. Once in Norfolk, I couldn't resist another attempt to show Notts Birders the Golden Pheasants at Wolferton. After three circuits it seemed obvious there were too many people stomping around to have a chance of seeing these elusive birds so we moved on.

We arrived at Snettisham at 8.00am to see thousands of Pink-footed Geese leaving their Wash roosting site. The sun was out and there was a biting wind as we made our way onto the seawall. There was no sign of the Shore Larks or Scaup.

We dived into a hide and were soon admiring a handsome drake Smew on the lake. The water was brimming with other wildfowl too, mostly Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Gadwall. The Smew swam closer to the hide affording excellent views.

We walked further along the footpath and were met by a group of birders returning from seeing the Black (-eared) Kite. We quickened the pace and were treated to flight views beyond the barns and perched views in the surrounding fields and trees.

Although distant, the extensive pale patches under the wing were strikingly obvious and on the ground the bird looked very pale. Not the best of views of a very rare bird but views nonetheless!

We made our way back towards the minibus, some two miles away. One person (who shall remain nameless but let's call him Jim) left his telescope at the kite site and wandered off to retrieve it. This gave the rest of us plenty of time to find the small flock of Shore Larks that obligingly flew in and landed directly in front of us on the shingle!

We also wondered at the mass of waders on the mud of The Wash as they periodically took to the air in a swirl of wings only to settle once more. The colour reflecting off the thousands of Golden Plovers had to be seen to be believed. What a magnificent sight.

Further along the track, the drake Scaup had magically appeared on a pool that had been extensively scanned by us earlier. This bird performed beautifully in the sun for us very close to the bank.

With all four target birds in the bag at Snettisham, we set off for Thornham. We arrived to find people already watching the Lesser Yellowlegs in the creek by the car park. It obligingly flew closer to us for unbelievably good views.

One of our group mentioned he hadn't seen the Twite yet. As the words left his mouth, the flock of twenty four circled over our heads and landed on the bank opposite our position. Their stay was brief as another group tried to get closer and flushed them.

The birds were falling nicely into place for us leaving us plenty of time to get to Holkham for the geese. The sun was still beaming down from the cloudless sky when we arrived half an hour later, making it ideal conditions to scan through the (Dark-bellied) Brent Geese and handful of Pink-feet for the Black Brant. Lynne soon found it and the group were presently all confident that they could pick it out too (whiter flanks, thicker neck collar and a shade darker than the Brents). Further towards the pines we saw a group of White-fronted Geese and Richard found a lovely Stonechat.

We tromped across the saltings, just about managing to avoid the host of dogs and their feckless owners. A quick scan of the water revealed a lot of sea and not many birds! We moved higher up the dunes and Greg K signalled for us to be quiet as he had found a small flock of delightful Snow Buntings just in front of us! After they had flown onto the beach, we could see their tiny footprints in the sand. Aah, bless.

From our higher perch on top of the dunes we were able to confirm our first impressions: there was very little out there but sea. A few Common Scoters flew by and a handful of Red-throated Divers passed at some distance. Meanwhile, Rae had tromped a few hundred yards east to see the Shore Larks, as he had missed them at Snettisham.

Time was slipping by and we decided to end the day at Titchwell (scoring our seventh Barn Owl of the day on the way). The group assembled on the beach to scan the sea. Thousands of gulls were milling around, a mixture of Herring, Common, Black-headed and Great Black-backed, though a few Little Gulls were seen amongst the throng. Neil found an adult Mediterranean Gull and Rae picked out a first winter bird.

As the light faded, we made our way back to the car park but still managed a host of new species for the trip. Waders included two Avocets, a few Black-tailed Godwits, Bar-tailed Godwits and a dapper Spotted Redshank. What looked like a swarm of mosquitoes appeared at the back of the marsh. On closer inspection, these turned out to be thousands of very distant Pink-footed Geese flying in to roost on Scolt Head: an amazing sight.

To bid us farewell, the resident Cetti's Warblers gave us a blast of song and the Bittern performed a flypast to a few lucky observers. All in all, a wonderful day's birdwatching; I just wish I could have kept the group here for another few days to see all the other species we didn't have time to see in this spectacular county.

Not surprisingly, the Black-eared Kite was voted as the Bird-of-the-Day (we will just have to wait to see if the BOU split it from Black Kite and accept this bird as a wild one) with the Lesser Yellowlegs being a close second.

Neil Glenn

Species seen on the trip

Mammals