Norfolk Trip (12 – 14 October 2022)
Wednesday 12 October
We broke our journey to Norfolk with a visit to WWT Welney for a quick lunch and walk around the hides. There were plenty of duck, geese and waders with two Whooper swans. Others saw many more. The highlight was 39 cranes close to the Friend’s hide. Several gave us a delightful, dancing display, bonding for next year’s breeding season. It is great to hear how successfully they are returning to Britain. The last treat was to see so many tree sparrows on the feeders.
After checking into the Caley Hall Hotel, we headed off to find the group in the Holme Dunes. It was a lovely evening and as it went dark, we eventually saw 3 barn owls and a wonderful skein of pink footed geese.
Thursday 13 October.
The Snettisham Spectacular. We got up very early, grabbed our packed breakfasts and set off for Snettisham. The 2km walk, in the dawn, freshened up our minds for the wonderful sights we were about to see. There must have been over 200 birders eagerly waiting for the tide to cover the last bits of Wash mud. The RSPB warden was very excited because he’d estimated there were 80,000 knots that day. There were also many other species such as oystercatchers, geese, duck and waders. We marvelled at murmurations and streams of birds as they escaped from the flooded mudflats over to the lagoons. The hides were crowded but all with excellent good humour. It is fascinating to focus in on the knots as they rest on the lagoon beach. The mass of birds is almost like one enormous animal as they all mill around, not really sure what to do. Equally interesting is the sight of thousands of birds flying back to the seashore, at low level, as the tide slowly drops, and the fresh mud re-appears. A truly wonderful experience. The sighting of Iolo Williams leading a tour group added an extra treat for some!
After a welcome cup of coffee at the hotel, we all went on to Titchwell Marsh, for a lovely afternoon in the sunshine. There were not only birds to marvel at because overhead, and much higher, was our trusty RAF practising all their Top Gun tactics. Rather noisy, to say the least. However, the birding was excellent with highlights of bearded tit, razorbill, red-throated diver and at last, snow buntings. Most of these wonderful little birds which winter in the UK have made their way from Iceland to spend their time feeding on our beaches and in the dunes. They are not fearful of human beings, possibly because they spend so much time in northern tundra where there aren’t any. However, Rebecca has seen them feeding happily on scraps in an Icelandic car park, rather like house sparrows. Seeing fifteen humans within twenty feet with huge, long lenses and telescopes doesn’t bother them at all.
Friday 14 October
We had a more leisurely start this morning to catch our seal trip boat from Morston Quay. There were plenty of birds to see in the estuary including sanderling, ringed plover, skylarks and one lone scruffy looking eider duck. The grey seals were all lounging about on the sand spit with two rather aggressive males keeping guard between the boat and the shore. Most of the smaller, common seals have now migrated south following the smaller fish to warmer seas but two had remained with their much larger cousins.
After a quick lunch at the Cley Marshes Visitor Centre we all split up to enjoy the hides with large numbers of birds. Some of us walked towards the east end of the reserve, to find the jack snipe bobbing up and down by a small pond. We were also rewarded, at some feeders on the hillside in the Wallasey Hills NOA reserve, by many different finches, tits and a lone brambling.
A final visit to the beach gave us glorious views along the sands and glimpses of red-throated divers whenever they popped up. Their varying states of eclipse confused the writer into thinking he was seeing different species. There is always more to learn about birds.
Some of us stayed an extra night but we were all celebrating a marvellous two and a half days of lovely birdwatching.
A big thank you to all those who had put in so much effort to make it a great success. The group bird count was 96+ species.
by Christo Impey