Burnham Overy Dunes & Gun Hill!

Gun Hill, Burnham Overy Staithe.

With all the news at Blakeney Point and beyond, I just had to go birding after work. Sadly there isn't time to walk Blakeney Point after work now, which is very frustrating indeed. So I opted for one of my favourite places to look for migrants, Burham Overy Dunes and Gun Hill.

I was very taken back at the amount of trimming that had been carried out. I was only thinking the last time I was here, how lovely all the flowers and plants were either side of the path along the sea wall, which held insects and butterflies on route. The entire sea wall has been trimmed to a few inches – its basically scalped!!! The equivalent to a number 1 hair trim – it looks so bare and unnatural. Did it have to be cut back so dramatically – I can't see why to be honest? It got worse..... quite a large area of brambles have been removed at the end of the sea wall, this made me pretty angry!!! Just coming up to the time now for exciting birds to be found in that brilliant area of bushes and they go and remove a load of brambles, revealing loads of rubbish aswell, great!

 Whinchat at Gun Hill, Burnham Over Dunes.

I was quite disappointed with the lack of birds to be honest! I only found 2 Hedge Sparrows in the bushes at the end of the sea wall, a Whinchat in the large area of bushes in the big dip just before Gun Hill and a Reed Warbler skulking about in the bushes on the seaward side of the hill, which didn't want to be photographed. I flushed a warbler out of the sueda (where I found my recent pied fly) by the 'Grey Goose' but it flew high south and landed in the middle of the marsh, miles off.  5 Spoonbills were in the pool east of the sea wall. Walking back in the semi-dusk I flushed what could only have been a Wryneck, in the dunes (going by size and flight pattern) just east of Gun Hill itself - it bounded across into cover and melted away into dust when I went to the area it dropped into! I was so annnoyed I couldn't find it!!! I didn't take my eyes off the spot where it landed, but it just vanished! The light was disappearing fast now and I walked the last half of the walk back in complete darkness. There was alot of sea mist which made all my coat and rucksack wet. Lots of Pink-footed Geese flying over my head. No sign of the Barn Owls tonight.