We decided to head to Welney before realising half way there that it wouldn't open up for another hour or so. Change of direction midstream took us to RSPB Ouse Washes to be met by driving sleet/snow in some deeply unpleasant conditions. A few tree sparrows cheered us up and the surrounding fields held good numbers of whooper swans.
Further north, we dodged (mostly) trees shedding branches onto the road and a sort of emergency stop (it certainly woke me up) before reaching Sculthorpe Moor reserve, which promptly closed due to falling branches! Frank had a half hearted go at at collecting the local cockerel on the front bumper and we ended the day at Titchwell of which more anon, apart from mentioning that the woods near the car park still hold roosting woodcock, one visible which as ever, sat still in the knowledge that we couldn't see it (we could). This black headed gull had worked out that birdwatchers equalled food and managed to consume a significant portion of my cereal bar (thanks Heather!).
Saturday saw us start the day at Holkham Gap and woods, having first screeched to a halt (a bit over dramatic that to be fair) to view a barn owl, always a highlight of this part of the world. The gap was supposed to provide shorelark but it is a big area and we had no luck. The place itself however looked somewhat dramatic with heavy clouds contrasting with bright, cold sunlight.
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A gloriously moody Holkham Gap |
Oh and this the Braddock looking smug having traversed a stretch of water that defeated the more timid souls amongst us.
After a gentle stroll along the main woodland path (marsh tit and Heather's first goldcrest), we stopped at the hide and looked out over countless thousands of pink footed geese and one magnificent great white egret, looking about the size of a small aircraft as it took off.
Talking of thousands of geese, brent were the dominant wildfowl at Stiffkey Fen in the afternoon, arriving as we stood overlooking the open water, then departing short while later as the afternoon faded. Stiffkey also provided a distant hen harrier and an ID conundrum, Iceland gull or glaucous? I have no photo but after much discussion and earnest studying of guidebooks (or in our case, the iphone version of the Collins guide, how times change), we came down on the side of 2nd winter iceland gull on the basis of head and bill size/structure. A glaucous soon followed as we reached the car.
Sunday saw us back at Titchwell where we spent the whole morning, first occupying the big Parrinder hide overlooking both fresh and brackish water. On the freshwater side, this snipe did its best to stay hidden and a little further along the bank, a shoveler arrived, looking somehow commanding in amongst some teal.
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| Shoveler and Teal |
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| Common Snipe |
Peaking into the brackish side just as the tide receded gave us a really nice selection of waders, redshank, curlew, grey plover, avocet, dunlin, knot, bar and black tailed godwit. The little grebe, normally very wary indeed, was rather obliging for once.
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| Avocet |
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| Curlew |
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| Little Grebe |
The beach was a little wild as these images back up; two bar tailed godwit looking isolated against the waves and a herring gull, struggling along just offshore.
Monday, before dawn, saw us blundering about the car park at Snettisham trying to find the pathway to the beach in the pitch black. This we eventually did and dawn saw us in position for the incoming tide. That tide wasn't high enough to produce the hoped for wader spectacular, what was spectacular were the countless thousands of pink feet (or pinkies as some of our number insisted on calling them), lifting off the water to feed in the fields of north norfolk; a truly stunning sight and memorable sound.
Our weekend finished at Sculthorpe Moor, our 'closed' reserve from Friday. Highlights here were the finches really; greenfinch, goldfinch, brambling, bullfinch and even the humble chaffinch managing to look rather lovely.
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| Brambling male |
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| Brambling female |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Greenfinch |
