Easy like a Sunday in Norfolk

After a very long and busy week at work, it was nice to get up to Norfolk for the first time in years for some classic winter birding on Sunday. What was initially a trip to The Netherlands with Sam, plans eventually morphed into a big day in Alan Partridge country. Abel, Arjun and Matt joined and, for the former pair, it was their first proper trip to Norfolk. Subsequently many lifers were on the cards, which added to the planning and fun greatly. In all it was an excellent day, during which we tallied up some 109 species.

Pink-footed Geese and Wigeon, Holkham Marsh, 15 December 2019.

An offensively early start saw us pull up at Titchwell car park several minutes before sunrise, having scored a couple of Woodcock from the car near Sandringham on the way up. We’d timed our visit here to coincide with high tide, as pretty much any seabird was a lifer for Arjun. While this meant waders were somewhat thin on the ground, this famous RSPB reserve served as a wonderful intro for the two Norfolk debutants.

On the walk to the beach, a Barn Owl and Merlin were logged, along with 30 or so Marsh Harriers leaving roost. The usual assortment of wildfowl were on the pools, the iconic constant streams of Pink-footed Geese overhead and some nifty day list passerines, including Chiffchaff and Kingfisher, were bagged.

Red-throated Diver, Holkham Gap, 15 December 2019.

Dave S, of Mole Valley fame who’s recently moved to Norfolk, was waiting for us on the beach. Here a couple of Goldeneye and a distant alcid species kicked things off, before two Long-tailed Duck appeared on the sea in front of us – target number one. Four more flew past later on.

Also here was two 1st-winter Velvet Scoter, a female Eider (both other targets), several distant Red-throated Divers (also a target), many Red-breasted Mergansers, Fulmar and Great Crested Grebe. The stroll back to the car park produced two Water Pipits, though only one was seen. In all, we tallied 71 species at Titchwell – not bad!

We had a fairly fixed plan for the day, but allowed time to have a quick search of the farmland south of Burnham Market, where the Lesser White-fronted Goose had resurfaced yesterday. Unfortunately, we had zero geese of any description, but did add Fieldfare, Redwing, Stock Dove and Yellowhammer to the day list, as well as a few Hares.

Pink-footed Geese (including 'XFA'), Holkham Marsh, 15 December 2019.

Next up was a quick lay-by stop overlooking Burnham Overy marshes, with Short-eared Owl on the hit-list (no joy). Most stuff was distant, but we made out several huge Golden Plover flocks and a single Great Egret. After this were more lay-bys, this time to the west of Holkham Marshes. We were supposed to be looking for target number four – White-fronted Goose – but were heavily distracted by the beautiful sight of no fewer than 19 Egyptian Geese.

The number of birds out on the marshes was typically impressive. Thousands of Pink-feet included two collar-ringed birds (awaiting details on them), while five Barnacle Geese flew over. There were thousands each of Wigeon and Teal. The best moment, however, came in the space of a few seconds: a Peregrine took out a Redshank mid-air, before a Marsh Harrier robbed it of it’s lunch, all while a Short-eared Owl drifted past in the foreground.

Common Scoter, Holkham Gap, 15 December 2019.

SEO was looking unlikely so this fly-by was a bit of a bonus. Next up was Holkham Gap, where Snow Bunting and Shore Lark were hoped for. A long loop for four of us (while a somewhat hungover and sleep-deprived Sam disguised a rest in the café as ‘hanging back and scanning the geese’) yielded none of the targets, though a close Common Scoter and Great Northern Diver (the latter a lifer for Arjun) were bonuses on the sea, where several Red-throated Divers and many more Common Scoter were seen.

Thankfully, Sam had recovered in time to make it to the roped off section, where he called with news of both Snow Buntings and Shore Larks. We headed over, before spending half an hour or so admiring these most pleasant of species. I’ve seen a few Snow Buntings before (and recently, too), but Shore Lark I have only seen in Britain once before, so it was wonderful to soak up relatively good views as they fed in the saltmarsh. They even called a few times too.

Snow Buntings, Holkham Gap, 15 December 2019.

A better call was that of a Lapland Bunting, which flew over our heads as we watched our quarry. This was very much a bonus, and it was heard again a few minutes later. We suspected it may have been in a small Meadow Pipit flock nearby. The sun was out in force here (we were very lucky with the weather) but, with time of the essence, we moved on.

Shore Larks, Holkham Gap, 15 December 2019.

Wells-next-the-Sea was the next port of call. A juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard has been present just to the west of the village for a few weeks now, and it couldn’t have cooperated with our plans better as it sat under a bush upon arrival. We were keen to see it fly and, thankfully, after a while it did, albeit at distance. It also put in a novel hover, before disappearing to the north. We also scored Red Kite here.

Once we had our fill, we decided to gamble on the White-fronts one last time, having been recommended a lay-by with a higher vantage. Here we connected, with at least 20 birds out on the marshes. We had a few swigs of coffee, a bite to eat then commenced inland, towards the Yare Valley on the other side of Norwich, with Taiga Bean Geese set in our sights.

Rough-legged Buzzard, Wells-next-the-Sea, 15 December 2019.

An extremely convenient pull-over site for Little Owl, five minutes up the road from Buckenham Marshes, did the business – a lifer for Arjun. We then parked up at Buckenham and traipsed towards the river bank, from which these notoriously distant and elusive geese can be seen. En route we noted several Chinese Water Deer and Muntjac.

From the river bank, it was easy picking out White-fronted Geese, Barnacle Geese and a few Ruff, but the Taigas were not playing ball. A couple of very distant candidates soon slipped out of view among the thousands of Pink-feet – ultimately time was against us. To be honest, views of this recent split would have been rather unsatisfactory here. It’s mad to think more than 100 wintered at this site just a few years ago; this winter the best count has been eight ...

Anyway, realising sundown was upon us sooner than we thought, Abel broke several land speed records to get to Stubb Mill, Hickling Broad, for sundown. We walked with urgency to the view point, noting Water Pipit and Barn Owl as we went. When we arrived, light was already fading and the couple of folk already there had told us the Cranes had already disappeared.

Lapwings, Shackleford farmland, 14 December 2019.

However, it wasn’t long before another Crane flew past – phew. Tens of Marsh Harriers were whirling into roost too. Eventually we were the only people left. From around 4 pm, for half an hour or so, we were treated to a truly atmospheric end to the day. 25 more Cranes flew in, including a group right over our heads, calling as they went (see Matt’s video here) – a proper goose bump moment.

The amount of birds that flew over in near complete darkness was amazing – four Whooper Swans, a Bittern, hundreds of Pink-feet and ducks, a couple of Woodcock and a Sparrowhawk. As well as this, we had two Tawny Owls and another Barn Owl. Superb stuff and a perfect end to the day.

After such a fun day, it seems moot whether any comment on my other birding over the weekend is worthy. However, for what it’s worth, on Saturday, Winkworth held two Mute Swans, but otherwise patch was quiet.

Little Egrets, Unstead SF, 14 December 2019.

Unstead produced two Little Egrets, but not much else. The water meadows there are extremely flooded at the moment, and thus holding more birds than normal. A look at Shackleford produced no Hen Harrier (which has presumably moved on), though 20 Lapwings flew over and a Chiffchaff was in a tit flock.