Bee-eater & Norfolk Tour!

News of a Bee-eater at Winterton South Dunes got me racing over there to find only one birder, who have travelled all the way from Hertfordshire for this bird! He had been searching for two hours by the time I got there and found nothing. Someone had kindly put the news out, but had no one seen the bird fly off? If they did see if fly off, it would have been great if they had phoned RBA. To be honest I didn't expect to see it and remained in a positive mood. Birds seen here: pair of Stonechats, pair of Yellowhammers, Linnets, Hedgesparrows, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Blackbirds and Jackdaws. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I walked the whole length of the dunes as far as another cafe and then back to the beach cafe at Winterton where my car was parked. I decided to treat myself to egg and chips. The last time I had egg and chips here, was when there was a Pallid Harrier in the area (can't remember the year now). I walked in the cafe and was very disappointed to hear 'sorry we don't do egg and chips anymore'. I walked out and back to my car – that saved some weightwatchers points anyway!

I cruised around the Norfolk coast and stopped at Happisburgh to photograph the lighthouse which looked beautiful next to the yellow rape field. Stopped at Walcott to watch the gulls. Went to Sheringham Cemetery and found only House Sparrows. Was going to walk Beeston bump, but changed my mind and carried on to Walsey Hills NOA. Even though no news had come out today about the Marsh Warbler I still had a gut feeling it was still there.

On arrival at Walsey Hills, the heavens opened with a torrential downpour. I put the seat back and had a snooze whilst this was going on! When the rain finished the sun came blazing out. I could not hear or see the Marsh Warbler at all. Willow Warbler singing in here and a couple of Chiffchaffs. Spent quite a bit of time photographing cute juv. Long-tailed Tits who were drying out from the downpour. Went up to the top of Walsey to photograph swifts again, but there weren't any here. Found Eddie birding here also – we walked along the bottom path, but still no sight or sound from the marsh warbler. In the carpark Eddie left to go to the East Bank. I stood here alone and suddenly heard the Marsh Warbler singing deep in the scrub by the Walsey Hills sign were I had seen it yesterday. No signal on my phone, so waved like hell at Eddie who had started walking along the bank, he saw me and walked back. Now the rest of the evening was really annoying and frustrating to say the least. Eddie came back and said that it was a Reed Warbler singing – yes it was when he came back, but the bird I heard WAS the Marsh Warbler. Andy Johnson then joined us and Eddie agreed with me that he could then hear the Marsh Warbler. Then Stuart White and party turned up. Basically we ended up seeing three Acros skulking about in here and none of us were 100% if one of them was the marsh warbler or not. The general feeling was that they were all Reed Warblers, but that Marsh Warbler was definately singing in there too! I took tons of pictures and intend putting them on a DVD to give to RM to analyse. Drove home late again!

PICTURES TO BE ADDED