Burnham Overy Dunes!

Packed my birding gear up in the car before I went to work this morning and went birding straight from work. I had planned on going to Cley again to see the Wilson's Phalarope, but annoyingly there was 'no sign' today!!! Plan B: find my own stuff at Burnham Overy Dunes. It took almost thirty minutes to get out of the hospital grounds, from when I left off at 4.10pm. The traffic is getting increasingly worse every Friday afternoon.

Arrived at Burnham Overy at around 5.30pm. It was a dull evening and the light was already fading. Thousands upon thousands of Pink-footed Geese filled the skies in their typical 'V' formations – a sure sign of winter! Walking along the track I saw a Chiffchaff flicking about in a large sallow bush, but little else. A few redshanks in the tidal creeks, but nothing else at all. Nothing in the sueda bushes, no reed buntings or pipits or anything – a distinct lack of bird life! It was depressingly quiet. At the bushes at the end of the sea wall, I got excited when a bramble moved quite violently, which to me indicated that it must be a heavy duty, bulky kind of bird, possible a nice barred warbler maybe? No, wrong it was a massive great rat feasting on the blackberries!!! That will make you think twice about picking blackberries for your pie won't it?!!! No birds in these bushes at all, nor in the apple tree.

I continued up to Gun Hill where there were two birds in the elder bushes, immediately seaward side of the hill, but they melted in the undergrowth like chocolate. There is always at least one bird in here and every time they bl**dy well disappear!!! I tried every trick in the book to get either of those birds out, but they both sat laughing in the bottom of the bush!!! Well that's what it felt like anyway! I thought I was the only birder out here, until I realised there was another birder with large rucksack/ camping gear, who looked like he was going to camp here for the night.

I walked back in the semi-darkness and saw nothing else apart from thousands more Pink-footed Geese flying towards Holkham. I did see two types of bats, one larger than the other, but I am not an expert on bats at all.

Drove home listening to 'Example'.

Hope to see some nice birds somewhere tomorrow, as I'm working all day on a double shift on Sunday!