Cley NWT & Beyond!

Blue-headed Wagtail

The 'Eye Puddle', Eye Field, Cley NWT.

Considering I've had the entire weekend free, I've not been birding much at all, which is dreadful really, especially being as its April! However, I did have some quality birding this afternoon, with some new Spring birds and fabulous sunny weather!

Saturday
I spent yesterday with my family at Holme, including both my sisters. I also helped my sister Lucy to choose a lovely vase of Spring flowers, to be delivered on the day from Interflora, to a very dear older friend of Lucy's, who has been extremely ill of late. Lucy's friend has been very supportive of her throughout the tough times in her life and has been very kind, spending time with her, lunches etc. Lucy was very upset over how ill she has been and wanted to show her support. The flowers arrived early evening and Lucy received a lovely thank you text from her friend later on. After we ordered the flowers, I took Lucy to Holme via Ringstead where we stopped at the shop and bought some lovely cards to send to Lucy's friend.

At our parent's house, Father looked very pleased, when he realised all of his daughters were there and he looked pretty well. But..... later on he was not a happy bunny at all – all too much for him I think, plus he can't stand lots of noise and people. No wonder Mother is finding it difficult to put him into a residential home – she's right, he would hate it. Its really, really difficult at the moment for all of us. We tried to persuade Mother to go out with Vivien for a short while, whilst I kept an eye on Father, just to get her out of the house, but she refused point blank and said she was too tired. Vivien left early evening and Lucy and I left shortly afterwards. We stopped to buy some chips in Hunstanton and drove to the promenade, where we watched the Fulmars soaring round the cliffs as we enjoyed our chips. It was wickedly cold!

Sunday
It was a glorious day, but still cold with the NW winds. My hip and lower back are still annoyingly painful from my recent accident at work and this is made worse by driving. I used cruise control on the Skoda for the first time today and this helped reduce the pain considerably! On route to Cley I saw a Common Buzzard overhead at Bayfield Lake.

I parked the car close to the wire fence along Beach Road at Cley, yards behind Steve G! The Blue-headed Wagtail feeding around the Eye puddle was magical to watch in the sunshine, silhouetted in the blue water. Also saw 2 Pied Wagtails, lots of Wheatears, Linnets, Redshank, Oystercatchers x 2, Shovelers x 2, Marsh Harrier. There were several local birders standing on the path above the road, enjoying the Blue-headed Wagtail.

Blue-headed Wagtail at The 'Eye Puddle', Eye Field, Cley NWT.

Wheatear at The 'Eye Puddle', Eye Field, Cley NWT.

Walsey Hills NOA produced a singing Willow Warbler, male Blackcap, Cetti's Warbler, several Chiffchaffs, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches and Robin. A pair of Pochard and Little Grebe were on Snipe's Marsh and a Peregrine flew south overhead (shouted out to me by John F. from the other side of the marsh!). Lots of bees around, but didn't see any butterflies. A Heron flew over as I stood talking to Eddie M., who I haven't seen in ages. The white flowers of the blackthorn and yellow gorse looked so beautiful in the sunshine.

I returned to the Eye Field and had much closer views of the Blue-headed Wagtail, but still too far for my 300mm lens, but did manage to get some good record shots. Eddie was standing on the bank with others and phoned me to point out a Peregrine distantly in the white clouds.

Stopped at Beach Road, Salthouse briefly and saw lots of Wheatears east of the road and also bumped into and chatted with Rob and Jill Wilson who had seen 4 Short-eared Owls here.

I spent the evening at Kelling Water Meadows. It was colder now, but the light was still good and the sunset this evening was stupendous. Saw my first House Martin this Spring, just above me as I parked the car. A Barn Owl flew over the fields along the track. Just before the pool I heard my first Whitethroat of the Spring, in the hedge along the path. There was a wonderful frenzy of hirundines skimming over the pool: Sand Martins and Swallows – lots of them! A pair of Egyptian Geese were feeding around the pool with cute babies, waddling through the long grass. A pair of Teal and Gadwall were in the water. Two Stonechats in the brambles, lots of Rooks feeding amongst the sheep on the hill, but I couldn't spot any Ring Ouzels – there had to be one there somewhere! I also saw a Wren, Chaffinches, Goldfinches and Heron. It was too late in the day to see any wagtails.

I stopped at Beach Road, Salthouse again and saw a Heron and 2 Pied Wagtails. At Cley Sluice I stopped briefly and listened to my first Sedge Warbler singing and a Cetti's Warbler burst into song. A Barn Owl flew over my head and across the reedbed, just as I left to go home.

I have heard some very sad news from several people this weekend. Sending my condolences, best wishes and support to you all – you know who you are x x x.

PICTURES TO BE ADDED

Penny's Coastal Tour!

A Special Day With My Mother

I've been hoping for a long time, to get my mother out of the house and out birding for the day. It's taken her months to get used to the idea that she can leave the house, now that father has gone into a care home.

We headed east along the A149 and stopped at Burnham Deepdale shopping complex for mother to search for a birthday present – mission completed, we continued east.

Showed mother Garden Drove at Warham and the route out to East Hills. We started to walk along the track to the copse, but after a short distance Mother decided to she wanted to go back. She didn't feel her usual self this morning. We did manage to see at least three Red Admirals and a few Speckled Woods on the mass of ivy on the left hand side, but no birds of note in the short time we were there. I heard later that Pete Dolton had been down there and found nothing, so I'm sure we hadn't missed anything.

We went to Cley NWT Visitor Centre for lunch and managed to get a window seat! We both had a jacket potato with salad and a mug of coffee each. This was the first time my mother had visited Cley in years and years! The entire visitor centre was new to her!

Went to Weybourne to pop two belated (sorry Pete!) birthday cards into Pete Snook's door and then returned to Beach Road at Salthouse. The skies blackened and the rains fell. Mother and I snoozed in the car. A local man Dave (who seems to live in his van next to the coffee man) came across to chat and showed me a lovely snow bunting mug he had bought at a local boot fair – he bought 4 mugs for £5 he told me – 'far cheaper than the bird mugs in Cley Visitor centre which are £17.99 each!!!' I replied. Mother didn't believe me when I told her the price – she said I had read it wrong and it must be £7.99 – she responded with a loud 'I don't believe it' when she read the price herself in the visitor centre earlier!

I wanted to walk to Gramborough Hill, but Mother didn't feel up to it, so I stayed with her and we bird watched from the car. Three Meadow Pipits landed briefly on tussocks of grass in the field, after the rain stopped. Didn't see anything else of note.

Walsey Hills NOA. Mother said she had not been here since the Cley ringing hut was here!!! That was way before my time! She said there was only a narrow path that climbed up to the hut, there were no steps and she said there was now a lot more scrub than there was in 'those days'. She really seemed to enjoy sitting on the seats at the top of the steps and we sat for a while soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the views over the marshes and Blakeney Point. It was really quite warm sitting here. Saw a Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Blue Tit and heard a Robin singing. No sign of the lizards on the logs. A Comma butterfly was on the ivy along the bottom path. She also loved standing by Snipe's Marsh and we watched a couple of Little Grebes on the pool along with some dodgy ducks. There were tons of dragonflies over the pool, glittering as they danced in the sunshine – it was a magical scene.

Coastguards at Cley – stopped here briefly for sandwiches and scone with cup of tea. Birds of the day were seen here: a Wheatear and a Whinchat on the wire fence, along Beach Road. The 'Eye Puddle' was indeed a puddle, evaporated to a very small patch of water! The light was beautiful now and the sea looked a crisp deep blue. Fishermen were on the shore and only a handful of people were around, you could tell the school holidays were over, thank goodness!

Detour to Glandford Ford – I was quite disappointed to find the meandering river up to the mill house was very overgrown on both sides and not visible at all now. I used to enjoy watching the Grey Wagtails flitting up and down the the river – hopefully this will be cleared again. Last detour of the day to 'Natural Surroundings' to show mother one of her favourite plants – the huge gunnera's that grow along the entrance road – sadly though, they looked a bit past their best.

Cruised back to Holme via the coast road as the sun was setting. I think mother enjoyed escaping for a while, but annoyingly she was worried about the 'poor cat' all day! The cat has had such a stressful day! The cat had the run of the house all day, choice of seats, chairs, cushions, beds, wicker chair to use as a scratch post, choice of food (dried, fresh and grated cheese!), water, litter tray, Careline button (emergency call bell for my mother) to jump on (it loves doing this!), birds to watch from window, stairs to run up and down, landing to do somersaults on..... poor cat!!!

The Big Puddle and Brancaster rediscovered!

BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY

Spent nearly all day shifting thousands of photographs from my old 'G4' and current Macbook Pro Lap Top onto two external hard drives - now finally completed and all Sansdisk cards containing 20011/12 photos now added to Mac - at last! Next job: to select photos from 2011 for an forthcoming publication and then finally to select, edit and add photos to tons of my blog posts! Busy, busy bee, no more TV for me!

Late afternoon - couldn't take anymore, had to get out of the house. Beautiful sunny day, wicked to be indoors really.

The Big Puddle – Brancaster
I drove to Brancaster, via Docking (B1153) and parked up on the concrete pad on the right hand side of the road at the top of the hill, to eat an ice-cream and enjoy the wonderful views of the coast. This spot has bad memories of a Bee-eater 'dip' when Paul King phoned me to say his friend Chris Everitt had found a Bee-eater swaying on the telegraph wires, yards from where I was parked now. I have since come back and parked here many times and live in hope of seeing a bee-eater here before I die! Only birds swaying on the wires today were greenfinches, goldfinches and a fat woodpigeon. The views are spectacular – you can see the whole of Scolthead Island from here – the sea was rolling in, high tide was around 7.30pm I think. I ended up staying here much longer than intended. Several birds were coming down to the big puddle at the edge of the field to drink, including greenfinches, goldfinches, pied wagtail, wood pigeon and swallows also skimming over for a quick drink. I re-positioned the car, opened the window and propped the camera on a cushion and sat there for over an hour photographing birds drinking at the pool. Unbeknown to be me – 4 Storks flew North East over Titchwell village at 5.50pm!!!! I am gutted I didn't see them – I couldn't have been located in a better place either, high up and with the whole coastline before me!!! Typical! Think I left here about 7.15pm.

Brancaster Coastal Path to Brancaster Staithe
Parked the car along the Broad Lane (adjacent to the church) and walked east along the coastal footpath, which is mostly made up of railway sleepers. I have not walked this path for a very long time and I had forgotten how potentially brilliant this is for migrants and how very beautiful this walk is. I had a good selection of birds including: common whitethroats, male Blackcap, wren, hedge sparrow, house sparrow, linnets, chaffinches, goldfinches, greenfinches, sedge and reed warbler, jay, cuckoo, kestrel, little egrets etc. The very high tide had covered the salt marsh between the golf course and the reed beds which lie adjacent to the coastal footpath, creating a beautiful scene. There are many different species of trees here, hawthorn, privet, holly, brambles etc all the way along, intermingled with fascinating old cottages and houses, some with huge gardens and lawns. Most of the old stone walls that line the gardens are low, enabling even someone as short as me to view over them for hoopoes etc that may be around! The walk is one and a quarter miles each way, although it didn't seem to take that long really – it was such a lovely walk, I didn't really notice the time - returned the same way. I left at just after 9pm, missing most of the Jubilee Concert that I wanted to watch this evening.

Managed to catch the last 45 minutes of the concert with Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and the Queen escorted on to the stage by Gary Barlow, Prince Charles's speech and the grand firework finale – it looked of course, spectacular. But I felt very sorry for the Queen – my mother and I were discussing this earlier – the hours she has had to put in for this 'celebration' - 6 hours standing yesterday alone, there's not many 18 year old's that can do that!!!! Four day's of celebrations is too much for a teenager, never mind someone age 86 – poor Prince Phillip couldn't cope with it all obviously, poor man! She'll be glad to get her slippers on and sit down with the corgies with a nice cup of tea! Only one day left to go Ma'm!

Highlights in Norfolk today:
4 White Storks, north east over Titchwell village!
Temminck's Stint at Titchwell RSPB and Welney WWT
Black Tern at Rockland Broad
Black Terns x 3 at Breydon Water
Woodchat Shrike still at Winterton
Quails x 2 at North Walsham
Puffins x 4 and a Great Skua at Cley

Just noticed the BEST picture of the Cley Bee-eater by Craig Shaw on the Britain and Ireland Scarce section on Surfbirds: HERE

PICTURES TO BE ADDED

Bluebells, Up Hill & Down Dale, Glittering Streams, Grey Wagtails & More!

GREY WAGTAIL

Perched on a willow tree at Sculthorpe Mill

The weather was far better than was forecast for this morning. I started the day with brilliant sunshine, but very strong winds. It turned very nasty later though, with lashing rain, increased wind strength and much colder. I hadn't planned the entire day, but know I wanted to head to 'Natural Surroundings' at Glandford, in an attempt to look for yesterday's Wood Warbler. I really wish I had gone yesterday now, but I had to complete some important jobs, so ploughed on. In any case, very few people saw this stunning little warbler yesterday, so don't suppose I would have been lucky anyway. Wood Warblers are just magical, with bright lemon yellow upper parts, throat and chest and contrasting white underparts and their distinctive trilling song is to die for.

Sculthorpe Mill
I had a wonderful time here, in fact this was the highlight of the day. Parked the car in the pub car park and walked down to the mill stream, sat at the picnic table and waited. 2 Drake Mallards and 1 female were having a massive fight in the mill pond – this subsided eventually. Blackcap singing in the willow tree and with the rippling water over the stones in the sunshine, it all looked very idyllic. Suddenly a streak of grey and yellow bounded across the water and under the bridge and there it was – a stunning Grey Wagtail! In fact there was a pair here and I spent a long time photographing them as they collected food, posed on walls and best of all perched on a leaning willow tree as a treecreeper would look! I could have stayed all day to be honest – so beautiful here. Got some good flight shots too – I was very pleased with the morning so far. Highland cattle were in the field adjacent to the mill. I watched a Blackbird and a Goldfinch collecting food for young, but no other birds of note seen here.

Grey Wagtail at Sculthorpe Mill.

Natural Surroundings, Glandford
I walked to the end of the car park by the 5-bar gate and followed the track up hill – who said Norfolk was flat! It was quite a climb up into the woods and the walk was stunning – bluebells adorned the slopes and Orange Tip Butterflies set the scene. It was so beautiful here and I felt quite ashamed that I had not explored this area before. The views from the top were wonderful and the walk back down was equally so. Chiffchaff and Blackcap singing, no hint of any trilling Wood Warblers though!

Had soup and a roll in the cafe, resisted the home-made cakes and then the heavens opened. Took pictures of the amazing gunnera plants that have just started growing and then left.

Glandford Ford
Watched another pair of Grey Wagtails busily collecting food and heading back and forth to the mill. Sedge Warbler singing by the stream, Blackbirds x 2 in the horse paddock, 2 Whitethroats in a bramble and that was about it here.

Cley NWT Visitor Centre
To use the posh new loos! But also far more importantly, had a long overdue catch up with Pat D., whom I have not seen for months and months – wished him happy new year! He has been going through a really rough time too and we sympathised with each other's situations.

Moved my car to car park by Old Woman's Lane and scanned the cows for Yellow Wagtails – but none seen.

Cley Coastguards
It was so peaceful here, there was only one other car in the car park! Nothing of note on the Eye Puddle other than a few Linnets and a Shoveler. Also Brent and Canada Geese in the field. Blakeney Point Ranger Ajay turned up in a little buggy type vehicle – I walked across to say hello and asked if there had been anything exciting turn up on BP – the best they had had recently was a Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff in The Plantation – 'we're waiting for the big one' he said. As I sat in my car to warm up, a Meadow Pipit flew down to have a bathe in a puddle and then had a preening session afterwards, which made some nice pictures from my mobile hide! The NWT have a new green pay hut in the carpark, as the previous one was stolen recently. I couldn't believe that, when I read Ajay writing about it in the Blakeney Point Blog – how did anyone get away with stealing that!? Obviously it must have done under the cover of darkness.

Walsey Hills NOA
Had a mooch round here, but didn't find anything really. The rain fell torrentially when I was round the back of Walsey, so made a beeline for the NOA hide (kept locked) which I never go in, but very handy when its raining. I couldn't open the hide flaps that faced Snipe's Marsh as the rain just lashed in there, so opened the side flap overlooking the yellow gorse and the East Bank/Arnold's Marsh. It was nice to sit in the dry, however it was freezing and had to put my gloves on. I was so pleased when suddenly I spotted a Spoonbill 'spooning' in 'The Serpentine' at 4.20pm – lovely! There were at least 5 Little Egrets, 2 Grey Herons, Greylags, Canada Geese, Mute Swans, Lapwings, Avocets, a Kestrel hovering over the East Bank and lots of Swallows, Sand Martins and a few Swifts flying through west. Bumped into Mark G. who like Pat, I haven't seen in months, so had a catch up with him. As we stood looking at the feeders, a blackbird with white in both wings appeared briefly, which explained my recent sighting of what I thought was a 'rare' the last time I was here!

I couldn't decide what to do next, I had planned on going to Kelling Water Meadows, but as Mark said, with these winds and rain etc there wouldn't be much to see and the day was disappearing. Went to Coastguards, had a coffee and had a lovely time photographing a very photogenic male Wheatear in the car park, who obligingly walked towards me – there was also a second one on the marsh, along with 2 Golden Plover, presumably the same Shoveler that I had seen earlier and more Linnets. Mark then left to walk along Beach Road and I continued taking pictures.

East Bank
After a tip off from Eddie that 4 Spoonbills had headed for 'The Serpentine', I left and started to walk The East Bank, but then found out that the Spoonbills had then left and headed west. I didn't walk too far along the bank as the wind was wickedly cold.

Bayfield Hall – River
Stopped here briefly to scan the fields. Lots of cows with inquisitive calves, 3 Grey Herons, Tufted Ducks, Jackdaws and hirundines. Suddenly I spotted a Common Buzzard with prey in its talons, sitting on big round post at the edge of the river! I decided this would make a fabulous phone-scope video and rushed back to my car to get my gear. I had just set it all up and was just about to start the video, when the cows got spooked by something and all lurched forward running and this in turn spooked the buzzard who flew off clutching his heavy prey, which looked like a rabbit or hare. I was gutted, as this would have made fantastic footage, oh well.

Drove home in torrential rain, which then stopped when I reached the Fakenham roundabout. The sunset was so dramatic, I had to turn off down a side road to take some pictures. No rares, but a fabulous day all round.

PHOTOGRAPHS TO BE ADDED

Spectacled Warbler Again & A Chilled Afternoon!

SPECTACLED WARBLER

Burnham Overy Dunes

With no other major birds around, I decided it would be great to see the Spectacled Warbler again and try and improve on my pictures too. Arrived at the car parking area on the A149 for Burnham Overy Dunes at 4.10am. My last early morning stint here was surprisingly warm early morning – today it was surprisingly cold, very cold! I was the first one there, great I had the place to myself! As I was getting my gear out of the boot, a second person turned up, who looked like they were in a massive hurry and grabbed their stuff and sped away, ahead of me. I didn't recognise them at first, but realised later it was Robin Chittenden. Walking down the track, I could hear the usual Whitethroats in the hedgerows and a Barn Owl was seen hunting. It was beautiful to be here at this early hour and watching the red glow of the sunrise as you walk along is spectactular!

Few Linnets by the bushes at the end of the boardwalk,  but nothing else really of note apart from the Redshanks and a few Little Egrets. Walked west along the path by the suaeda. On the note of suaeda.... Robin informed me later (I really should know this!) that the suaeda as alot of us call it, is actually called Shrubby Sea-blite (Suaeda Vera). When I googled to find out more, I found out that it is a nationally rare plant and that Norfolk has the biggest concentration of this! See distribution map here and info on the Blakeney Point blog here. Anyway, back to the Spectacled Warbler – positioned myself on the dune slope above where the bird has been making its nest and sat and waited and waited. No sight or sound at all! It was freezing cold sitting here and I wished I had brought gloves with me. I stood up to see where the other birder was (didn't know at this point it was R.C.) and I could see them intently looking and using camera in the sandy gulley where I saw the bird on the very first day. I walked across to join them and found the Spectacled Warbler was there, singing away and showing nicely at 5.15am! I got much better pictures this morning, so worth the early start.

 SPECTACLED WARBLER

Burnham Overy Dunes

The Spectacled Warbler was much more mobile this morning than on my previous visits and flitted to different bushes, singing and feeding. A bit later on, we discovered it was building a second nest! This nest site is much further up than the previous one, in the 'sueada' along the path, just before Gun Hill itself. I spent a long time with approx. 15 people photographing and watching this magical little bird, going back and forth with nesting material – at one point I watched it eating a bright, green small caterpillar. There was a camo clad photographer there with matching trousers, top and hat with no binoculars – I find it really weird that someone is photographing birds, but isn't actually a birder! Anyway, after a nasty little incident involving someone 'official' and someone I know (not RC) getting ticked off (very loudly) for being too close to the bird, I decided it was a good time to depart! In my opinion, that person was close, but I didn't see a problem with it, as the bird was happily singing away on top of a bush – the bird had flown from where we were all positioned, to somewhere in the sueda further up – that 'person' had walked quietly and slowly towards where bird had landed and got lucky when it appeared singing on top of a bush and started taking pictures, lucky him! I didn't see a problem. I could see this 'official' person speed walking past all of us and made a bee line for the 'person' and ticked him off (loudly). That's probably why he was singled out, he was alone, much easier to confront someone on their own than a crowd of people. I thought it was unfair to have a go at someone who wasn't doing anything different to the rest of us. If anything that 'official' person should have spoken to all of us, if he thought that person was too close!!! I didn't feel anyone disturbed the bird this morning – it went about its business and alot of the time would only be yards from us!

SPECTACLED WARBLER

Burnham Overy Dunes

The butterflies this morning were fabulous, saw my first 'Painted Lady' and these were loads of Tortoiseshells feeding on the flowers of privet. Saw a few Red Admirals and also some Peacocks. Also one Ringlet was seen and a few Small Heaths. On the seaward side of Gun Hill the Little Terns were up in the air on mass – a few moments later I found out why – a Muntjac deer appeared, it was completely soaking wet, my guess is that it had come across from Scolt Head Island, gone through the tern colony and was now heading straight for me – I remained still and it was only yards from me, before it realised I was there, then sped off round to the cover of bushes at Gun Hill.

I trudged slowly back to my car, it was boiling hot now. Sedge Warblers singing, more Linnets seen and also a Marsh Harrier distantly. Back at the car, I collapsed in the seat and snoozed for ages. I couldn't decide what to do next, it felt too hot to do anything much really. Drove to Burnham Deepdale and browsed in 'Relish' a funky jewellery and accessories boutique and fell in love with a ring which I bought. Bought an ice-cream from the garage shop and then drove to Brancaster and turned left along the B1153 Road and pulled onto the concrete pad (where I dipped a bee-eater once – see here) next to a large puddle. This puddle is brilliant for bird photograpy, had my ice-cream and then sat with camera positioned ready for any birds that might pop down for a drink. Some Goldfinches landed briefly and I got some lovely pictures. The views from here are amazing, you can see a big part of the coastline including Scolt Head Island from here. The colours of the turquoise sea and white sands made the whole scene look like the med.! Hirundines were skimming along and it looked good for a Bee-eater! I wish! Found myself feeling tired again and kept dozing off, heat, early start and impending old age combined!

Choseley Barns – good time I thought to see the recent Turtle Dove, mid week, less people, nice and quiet..... how wrong was I! Loads of cars there and birders walking around the concrete pad!!! Two things: how will birders see the birds that feed here with people standing WHERE they feed and no wonder the farmer looked cross, when he drove out of the yard and people had to move out of the way for him to pass!!! There are signs clearly stating to stick to the official footpath and that the rest is private property! The people here were definitely at an age where they should understand the signage! After a while the people left the concrete pad and a few birds started to return including Yellowhammers, Pied Wagtails and Chaffinches. Two Common Buzzards circling overhead which I managed to photograph. No sign of any Turtle Dove, I could have waited longer, but couldn't be doing with all the cars and people here.

Titchwell RSPB – there was no way I was walking along the main path in this heat, but decided to just do the Fen Trail. Passed one of the tame Robins on the path to the visitor centre. Had a brief chat with Sue B. in the v.c and was very impressed by the new layout in the centre, looks more spacious, less cluttered and well, smarter overall. A nice lady working there said she enjoyed reading my blog, thank you. Around the Fen Trail I watched cute baby Moorhens in the pond, Blackcaps singing and also some Damselflies were seen. I didn't see any dragonflies at all, which surprised me. Chiffchaff also singing. I don't quite know what's going on in the Fen Hide, but there were lots of paint splashes on the floor and paintings in the hide created by children, I guess. There was a low table with small stools adorned with crayons and paper – this hide definitily has a family feel to it now.

I had planned to go to the village hides at Holme next, but felt too hot and tired to bother. Visited parents very briefly and then went home. Fabulous day, but too hot for me!

MORE PICTURES TO BE ADDED!

Autumn Migrants – A 'Great' Day!

GREAT WHITE EGRET

Burnham Overy Dunes

Garden Drove, Warham Greens
Arrived at the concrete pad, Garden Drove at 8.30am. It was very cold, but sunny and it was great to be out birding again. A very familiar car was parked here already.... James Mc! This famous track is just so good for birds – I don't really know why it is – maybe its because it has a real mix of trees, bushes and vegetation, its sheltered and with the copse of the end, its 'hot, hot birding'!!!

Along the track, it was alive with birds, including good numbers of Chaffinches – a male Blackcap put in a brief appearance (at the section of the track which zig zags with the fallen ivy covered trees), a male Great Spotted Woodpecker called and landed on a high sycamore branch before flying off south. A tit flock appeared with Long-tailed, Blue and Great Tits and with them was a single Goldcrest. A few Blackbirds scattered as I walked along and also several Robins which I carefully checked, several hedgesparrows and one Chiffchaff! I had just reached the large sycamore tree near the end of the track when I was aware of a presence behind me! Kieran Nixon and friend John had crept up behind me. Together we heard and saw Bramblings high up in the sycamore along with some chaffinches. In the copse at the end a female Blackcap appeared in a hawthorn. I have never seen so many Wrens as I did today along this track, every LBJ that moved, blossomed into a Jenny Wren! James McCallum then joined us. Very unusual to hear the James had not seen as much as we had! I found it most interesting that we had all seen birds at different times – Kieran and John had seen 'loads of thrushes scattering' as they drove up the track, but I had seen none when I drove up a bit earlier. James had seen none of the warblers... as he said, he had probably been too early for them. We chatted briefly and then all split, James went west, Kieran and John went east and I stayed put! I spent a while here watching and trying very hard to find something really good. A couple of Jays flew over as I made my way slowly back along the track. Lots of Blackbirds scattering from the hedges and also equal numbers of Robins. I just caught a glimpse of my first Autumn Redwing which flew up the track and landed momentarily on a dead branch before flying off. Found another male and female Blackcap together. In the puddle at the end of the track by the concrete pad, Robins, Goldfinches and Hedgesparrows were coming down to drink. James caught me up and we saw a Grey Wagtail fly over and also a Common Buzzard being mobbed by corvids. More Jays flew overhead. James left to walk to one of his favourite places. Sat in my deckchair to have lunch – I had no intention of staying here as long as I did – don't where the time disappeared to! I watched a female Blackcap coming down to the puddle to bathe, 2 Meadow Pipits landed on the dead tree with 2 Pied Wagtails and also a Garden Warbler showed briefly in a hawthorn, which was a nice surprise. I drifted off and had forty winks and was woken by a very noisy Robin who was perched only a few yards from my head and looked at me as if to say wake up – it continued to serenade me until I moved! left here at 12.50pm.

Wells Woods
I drove along East Quay to stop and watch the Rose-coloured Starling garden bird feeder – remember that? The feeders were full of House Sparrows, busily feeding, chirping, socialising and bathing in the bath – love to watch these birds! Nothing else more colourful appeared though.

I would have been walking Blakeney Point this afternoon if my ankle had allowed me to, but it's not strong enough to be plunged and twisted into shingle for 10 miles! So I decided that Wells would be a safer place to search for migrants, even though I hate paying to park. Scraped together £3.00 for a 3-hour ticket and set off in search of goodies. I skulked around and covered all areas – crept down into the 'Dell' and pished, squeaked and whistled to find a 'bluetail' – there was quite a few birds in here, mostly Long-tailed, Blue and Great Tits along with a few Goldcrests, a Chiffchaff and a beautiful Treecreeper. Several Jays flying over. I was surprised I didn't see or hear a YBW whilst here. Bumped into a bird touring party who suddenly realised I was the 'lady that has the website' – nice to meet you all and hope you had a fab day's birding. There wasn't much bird action outside of the Dell area and there were no birds at the drinking pool. Very poor all round compared to Garden Drove earlier on.

Wells Lifeboat Station
Re-parked the car closer to the cafe to save time – I had 15 minutes left of my parking ticket. Nipped over the seawall to check out the underwatched scrub and buckthorn next to the lifeboat station. A Blackbird flew off from underneath a buckthorn bush and next to the station itself I flushed a Wheatear! Whilst admiring the amazing view of all the waders on the mud flats between here and East Hills, I noticed there was a massive flock of Golden Plover. This reminded me of something Dawn Balmer was talking about the other day... something about counting Golden Plover.... and I turned round to see Dawn, her husband and daughter walking towards me! When I think about Red-flanked Bluetails they don't appear and walk towards me! Huge numbers of birds here including the huge flock of Golden Plover, same of Oystercatchers, Brent Geese, a Grey Plover, Redshanks, Gulls and a single Avocet. I scurried back to my car before the ticket man got me!

Stopped along the quay for chips, yummy! As I drove along the coast road, I was trying to decide if I had time to bird Burnham Overy Dunes – well at least to try and see the Great White Egret that had popped up on the pager a few times today, having been seen east of the seawall. I guessed the views of this bird would be distant out in the marsh. The sun had gone in and it was dull and grey weather for the rest of the evening.

Burnham Overy Dunes
It was now 4.15pm and was far too late to walk out here really, but I had to give it a bash, afterall I was at work tomorrow, no chance again until next Saturday when I am then on holiday for a week – can't wait! I started to walk down the track and just as I reached the stile I glanced to look along the hedgerow and the big field on my left, when I saw a huge white bird – OMG!!! There was the Great White Egret strolling along the bottom of the hedge towards me!!! I couldn't believe it – best views I have ever had of one of this monster birds! How people can mistake Little Egrets for these I will never know, the size difference is massive! Anyway it carried on walking towards me, searching for food and suddenly it spotted something.... and stabbed into the ground and caught a mole! Awesome to watch this bird – it must have clocked me, as it started to look a bit restless – I had kept still enough and was kneeling by the gate with camera balanced through the bars, but suddenly it flew off to the furthest side of the field. I don't expect I will ever get that lucky with a GWE again! Wow!

 GREAT WHITE EGRET

Burnham Overy Dunes

I continued along the seawall to the 'magic' (as Stuart White called them recently) bushes and only found a Chaffinch and a Robin here. Nothing else of note on route and no birds on the pool east of the seawall. So now I had a choice.... either Gun Hill or walk east as far as the recent 'Barred Warbler' scrub. I decided to walk east for a change. Had a look in the hollow where the RBFly was recently, nothing. Got to the scrub where the BW was and again found nothing.... but then got really excited – a LBJ bombed out of a bramble and into another. I walked up to the bramble and kept my eyes fixed – the bird appeared, it was a Robin! Saw a few Grey Partridges on the way back and a Kestrel.

Got back to my car with just enough light to still see. Drove to Ringstead to buy some sacks of sticks for my parent's fire, went to Holme, dropped sticks off and spent a while chatting to parents before returning home. A cracking day for general migrants, even though nothing mega was seen. Bird of the day was most certainly the awesome views of the Great White Egret. A 'Great' Day all round!

MORE PICTURES TO BE ADDED

Burnham Overy Dunes & The 'Little' Surprise!

Last night, the entire street (and beyond probably) were kept awake. Two doors down there was tons of noise. I don't know if they had been having a party or what, but there was shouting, arguing and loud voices and it went on and off for hours. I eventually got to sleep but was violently woken up again at 3.30am by a huge commotion – I jumped out of bed to look out of the window – lads were shouting outside and threatening to have a punch up, women were trying to stop it and basically people were talking and shouting like it was daytime. If I had had to go to work today, I would have been fuming. Eventually some people left and it was then 4.23am – I remember this time exactly and then got back into bed and was then really worried, as I had weird pains in my heart – probably the lack of sleep didn't help. OK, so it was probably a one off – as since next door's dog has gone, its generally, extremely peaceful here at nights. My early start had to be abandoned.

When I eventually crawled out of bed, I spent most of the day with my family. It was disgusting weather all day, rained for most of it and was torrential at times. Did some shopping for parent's, delivered, then returned to Hunstanton later, to get fish 'n' chips for them. My sister Vivien arrived to visit as well. We were chatting about all kinds of things and later when Father requested a cup of coffee I thought it was about 3.30pm, when I looked at my watch it said 5.20pm! I had no idea it had got that late. The skies suddently got brighter and the sun came out! Now....with an Icterine Warbler at Walsey Hills, there had to be something else to be found after all this rain we've had. My mind immediately thought of Burnham Overy Dunes. A few minutes later I said my goodbyes and I was off like the wind!

I felt quite excited and had a spring in my step – there had to be something there surely?! The light was beautiful as I pulled up in the layby along the A149. When I scanned the sea wall at Burnham Overy, I could only see a couple of people and no birders to be seen anywhere. This was it!!! As I walked along the track there were hirundines everywhere – Swifts, Swallows, Sand and House Martins filled the skies – a magical sight. Everything looked fresh and extra green after the rain. There were a couple of Goldfinches in the sallows just before the stile and a Hedgesparrow singing, but nothing more. A couple of Mute Swans were on the pool east of the seawall and there were Egyptian, Grey-lagged and Canada Geese with youngsters filing behind on the marsh, along with Woodpigeons, Starlings, Lapwings and a Cuckoo was heard. Three Little Terns were fishing in the dyke east of the sea wall which I found unusual, I have not seen them this far inland at Burnham Overy Dunes.

At the bushes at the end of the seawall I found absolutely nothing, which was massively disapointing – an icterine warbler could at least have put in an appearance! There were a few Linnets on the marsh. I was going to walk to Gun Hill, but the wind was quite strong, so decided the good bushes on the seaward side of the hill would be too windy to reveal any migrants, so changed plans and walked east through the dunes and to Holkham pines. The hollows would be sheltered and I might be in with a chance of finding something good. I did have a bit of excitement with 3 Wheatears on route, more Linnets, Meadow Pipits and a distant Marsh Harrier. At the 'Subalpine' hollow (locals will know where I mean) I got VERY excited.... a very pale, almost white in places warbler (possibly) shot from one bush into another. Heart racing.... I didn't take my eyes off where it went in. I only saw it for a nano of a second and to be honest it could have been anything!!! BUT my instinct told me it was something good – or was that my imagination, possibly, who knows! Anyway, whatever was, I didn't see it again. I saw another LBJ later but nothing else of note. It was quite weird being here alone – the last time was for the Citril Finch and tons of people! I worked hard to find something, up dunes, down dunes, struggling over the sand etc etc. Sat down to rest for 10 minutes and then at 7.50pm started to head back.

Two Grey Partridges nearly finished me off – I do wish they wouldn't explode from the ground like hand grenades when you're not expecting it! I saw another two further along, who flew off at a more respectable distance! I speak to so many visiting birders that say they never see Grey Partridges in Norfolk and have a real job finding them. Maybe I'm just lucky, I see them almost everytime I go out (showing off now). When I reached the 'apple tree' I peered in and waited patiently, but nothing appeared. A few more Linnets were seen, oh joy. Headed back along the seawall and bumped into a couple who had seen a Spoonbill fly over earlier. When I reached the pool, east of the path I spotted a Spoonbill 'spooning' in the water with the 2 Mute Swans I had seen earlier and there were now lots of Black-headed Gulls having a wash 'n' brush-up and a couple of Tufted Ducks. The Spoonbill looked beautiful against the dark blue water and the sun was still shining. A beautiful sunset developed, casting rays of shimmering orange light over the mudflats in the harbour. Redshanks and Oystercatchers were calling. I didn't hear the Bittern booming today, as I have done on my last few visits, but did just catch a few 'pinging' Bearded Tits calling briefly, which was nice.

Just before the stile at the end of the track there is a big sallow bush on your right-hand side, which is also just before the large oak tree behind the newish, short wooden fence. I could hear a Whitethroat... well I thought it was a whitethroat, but wanted to make sure, so moved closer to the bush and mimicked the same 'tacking' noise. The bird refused to show itself, I moved closer and closer until was I actually peering in the bush! It continued to 'tack'! As I did this another bird errupted from the sallow like an explosion.... it was a LITTLE OWL!!! It really made me jump! It flew off to my left and landed somewhere in the midst of the large oak tree! Wow! What a lovely surprise! I did have crazy thoughts about Scops Owl, I must admit, as I have never ever seen a Little Owl sitting in a sallow before! But you could imagine a Scops Owl doing that!!! BUT, when the owl flew it was plump bodied and wide wings and instinct said it was definitely a Little Owl. But it did make me think I can tell you! I couldn't find it in the Oak tree, but the light was poor now anyway.

After the excitement of the Little Owl, I thought that was it, but there was more to come! On reaching my car I saw two Marsh Harriers just west of me, so moved the car to a concrete pad area, just before Burnham Overy Staithe to see if I could get better views of them. I sat here for a good while just watching. There were so many things to see! There were hares in the field, two Grey Partridges just in front of me with cute baby bunnies. The antics of these bunnies were hilarious – I have never watched such funny bunnies! One of them sprinted across the concrete, deliberately splashing through a large puddle as he went. Another was tumbling over and chasing round in circles only inches from the Grey Partridge, who appeared very chilled and didn't take any notice whatsoever. The rabbit that had ran through the puddle then daringly charged at the Grey Partridge who then about turned and flew after the bunny, chasing it around the concrete – which looked so comical! The two Marsh Harriers then glided over the field, giving excellent views and then, suddenly a Muntjac deer appeared from around the hedge, right next to my car with her baby (cute or what!) just behind her! I had to keep really still in the car, whilst they gingerly walked past my car, across the road and into the field. I should have just sat here the entire time, instead of walking miles of sand dunes to look for rares that don't exist! Goodnight.

PICTURES TO BE ADDED

EAST HILLS EXPEDITION!!!

A foggy start to the day, but the fog soon cleared and the rest of the day developed into blue skies and glorious sunshine.

EAST HILLS
Parked up on the concrete pad along the West Track at Warham and walked along the track. Lots of blackbirds, redwings and robins feeding amongst the autumn leaves, all along the track. On the way out to East Hills I saw lots of brent geese, several little egrets, curlew and redshank. It was not the easiest of walks out there today, the footpaths were immeresed by water most of the way out, but fortunately I didn't fall at all this time! The creeks had more water in than usual too. It really was like a summer's day, the sun felt warm and there were good numbers of meadow pipits and skylarks flying over. As I reached the dune ridge I could see a marsh harrier and a hen harrier over the pines. At the sycamore glade there were two chiffchaffs, several goldcrests, a couple of wrens, two chaffinches and a few robins. Two sparrowhawks were seen flying west. At least 50+ Blackbirds out here and approx 20 Redwings and a few fieldfare were heard 'chacking'. As I came out of the sycamore glade my heart was racing when I spotted a male Peregrine sitting in a tall pine tree - wow this bird was stunning. I pointed the camera to where I thought the bird was sitting and for some annoying reason I couldn't locate the bird with my lens - after the third attempt, I had been rumbled - this beautiful bird had seen me, took off and left me with no picture at all on the camera. It would have made an awesome picture – so annoyed with myself. Anyway, three carrion crows flew over east and several blackbirds were flying overhead towards Wells. There were lots of fascinating fungi and toodstools out here, a bumblebee and a peacock butterfly. I turned round sharply when I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling – the bird was bounding over the salt marsh and landed into the sycamore tree, not from where I was standing. Got some half decent pictures of the woodpecker which I was quite pleased with. I sat on the fishing box for my lunch and then slowly walked back. On the most northerly edge of the dunes I flushed a Woodcock which made both the bird and me jump! Back in the sycamore glade the goldcrests had increased in numbers, but nothing else of note was seen. Packed the camera away and proceeded to cross the beach, big creek and watery paths and smaller creeks back to base. Makes it sound like an expedition – well it is out here! You have to know the way, be very careful with the tides, be very careful where you tread and pray you don't have fog on the way back! More meadow pipits and skylarks on the way back, along with little egrets flying across the blue skies – it didn't feel like late October at all. Back at the north end of the West Track there was a tit flock, but nothing exciting with them. Several blackbirds and redwings were in the copse by the end of the track. Back at the car I battled to get the wellingtons off, changed socks and put my walking boots back on. My feet always ache badly after walking East Hills – wearing wellingtons for several miles, doesn't do your feet much good – it felt so lovely to get my walking boots back on for the rest of the afternoon.

Holkham Pines
I parked at the top of Lady Anne's Drive and a very nice person gave me their all day ticket as they were leaving – lucky me! Although I wasn't lucky with the Pallas's Warbler – I dipped again! Two jays were having a wash 'n' brush up by a puddle in the middle of the path as I walked along. I had wonderful views of a very bright male bullfinch by the pond near Joe Jordan's Hide. Several people were standing around in hope of seeing the Pallas's including John F. who had already seen and photographed it! There were a thousand plus starlings gathering to roost on a large hawthorn, opposite Washington hide in the evening – I love starlings I find them such fascinating birds - the different colour variations, their behaviour and their calls. At the Salt hole there were two little grebes and the most glorious magenta pink sunset, silhouetting over the ripples of the pond. Several redwings were seen searching for food amongst fallen leaves under the Holm Oaks and a Muntjac ran across the path.

PICTURES TO BE ADDED

Main Highlights in Norfolk – RBA
Good numbers  of Waxwings throughout Norfolk today.

GREAT WHITE EGRET over Salthouse
Pallas's Warbler remains at Holkham
Shorelark at Salthouse
Richard's Pipit at West Runton
Peregrine at East Hills
Little Auks at Holme and Titchwell
 

Local Birding & Lunch With Lucy!

I havn't spent any time with Lucy for ages and although I have invited her out several times in my holiday, she declined until today! We had a lovely day out, which involved not doing very much at all to be honest. Its a very long story, but Lucy doesn't/can't walk very far, so you have to organise a fun day out without any long walks!

Flew to the chemist to pick up a prescription, then to Argos to buy a very smart, but cheap new fold-up picnic table for my car – I don't know why I havn't purchased one before, so useful and much easier than trying to balance your coffee on the edge of the boot of the car, when you're sitting in your deckchair! Picked Lucy up at 9.30am as arranged and then headed to Holme Reserves.

Another stunning day! We parked up on the NOA car park and briefly stopped at NWT, to see some of the moths that Gary H. was studying with others, from their catch in the moth trap last night. Gary had also seen a Black Redstart by the Natterjack pond earlier this morning! We then paid our respects to where our parent's are at rest and then made our way to the observatory. We had timed it just right, as Sophie had just caught a colour-ringed Stonechat in one of the mist nets – Lucy enjoyed watching Sophie taking the usual measurements and weight etc, before the Stonechat was swiftly released. We sat outside the observatory on the seat where our father also used to sit and enjoyed the glorious sunshine. It was almost too hot to sit here – it has always been a suntrap in front of the observatory. Father loved the heat so much, far more than me – he would sit here and bake – he was at his happiest wearing his denim shorts in a heatwave!

We headed around the back of the observatory, along the path through the pine trees, past father's planted yew tree, which is huge now and onto the beach opposite the NWT access path. Lucy loved being on the beach and the tide was coming in, although it wasn't particularly high today. Surprisingly there were not too many people on the beach, which was nice. We walked back via the Firs house and to the NOA car park. As we left, we kept a sharp eye out for the Black Redstart, but no luck with that. Several Meadow Pipits were on the seaward side of the road. Lucy and I saw several Brimstones on our travels today and also a couple of Peacock Butterflies.

We then went to The Lifeboat Inn at Thornham and sat in their wonderful garden with smart picnic tables, adjacent to their large conservatory. We ordered the same amazing Superfood Salad that I had on the 13th February (link to see picture) along with chips and a dessert, washed down with a ginger beer – scrumptious! Lucy really enjoyed her lunch and where we sat was beautiful. With the red tiled roof and white buildings around the Inn, it felt almost Mediterranean and I imagined a bee-eater flying overhead in the cloudless blue skies! What a thought!

We then went to the family home at Holme to check everything was ok. Lucy had not been here for many, many weeks, but she seemed to cope with being there ok. We only looked in the house quickly and spent more time looking at all the new flowers springing up in the garden. The big potted wallflowers and some yellow daisy things, were all tinder bone dry and I gave them a good water from the water butt by the greenhouse, but this water is not exactly in a very good state. I think I will have to turn the water back on again now. I had turned it all off at the stopcock in case there were any frosts over winter and didn't want the pipes to burst in the house, but it would be nice to keep the bird drinking ponds topped up and plants watered until the house is sold. Today would have been our parent's wedding anniversary 💕😢

We visited Titchwell RSPB, but Lucy didn't want to walk anywhere – oh dear! The first thing I did was buy a new bird bath – mine at home is leaking. I have a wonderful heavy concrete one, but also have one of those plastic Gardman ones like this, but the plastic has split in the base of the saucer. So I purchased a bigger and much sturdier version from the RSPB shop, which looks like it will last far longer – they come in green or bronze, I bought the green one. Anyway, we parked up properly in the car park and then sat in the coach parking area with our deckchairs and table and sat drinking coffee whilst birding! Lucy doesn't have any binoculars, she borrows my spare Optricon Traveller ED's when she is out with me (they are excellent bins and extremely lightweight). This was the best part of the day in my opinion. We watched Common Buzzards sailing overhead, Chaffinches, Hedge Sparrows, Great Tits, Goldfinches, Chiffchaffs, Robins, Med Gulls and then heard the first Blackcap of the Spring singing!

Eventually, I persuaded Lucy to go on a 'short' walk around the Fen Trail. We bumped into Tony who had seen 6 Swallows! I havn't seen any Swallows yet this Spring. Lucy was very disappointed to find there were no toads or frogs to see in the Fen Trail pool – there were loads when I last visited. When we came out onto the main path, we made it as far as the first seat, but Lucy refused to walk any further, said she was tired, hungry and wanted to go home, so that was it! We returned to the car park. Blackcap singing again as we left.

Parked up at Choseley Barns to have our tea, which was a veggie sausage and fried egg roll each with more coffee. We watched several vivid male and female Yellowhammers, along with Goldfinches, Hedge Sparrows and a Blue Tit coming down to drink and bathe at the only puddle by the verge. We drove home via Docking, Bircham, Flitcham and Hillington and was very pleased to see that there were no queues of traffic at all or at the Knight's Hill Roundabout! Dropped Lucy home and managed to get back to my house in just enough daylight to put the new bird bath up ready for the morning!

Turned all my lights out for EARTH HOUR at 8.30pm. Don't forget the clocks go forward tonight. Lighter evenings commence tomorrow – YES! Its 10.50pm right now, which means you need to change your clocks to 11.50am! Good Night!

Seawatching Extravaganza & 'Surfin' at Holkham!

Sheringham
Got up in the dark and arrived at Sheringham at 6.35am. I could hear the roar of the sea as soon as I got out of the car. It was high tide at 6.20am, so I knew it wouldn't get any higher. As I walked down the steps to the shelter I hesitated. Was it really safe to be walking down here? Large stones were being hurled up from the beach and smashing onto the promenade, right in front of the shelter! The noise was terrific as they hit the concrete! When I reached the bottom of the steps, I waited before walking round the corner into the shelter, to ensure I missed the next wave of stones!

The first section of the shelter was full and Baz H. had pinched MY seat (only joking.... not!) The second section was almost full and I got the last spot on the right hand side. I sat next to someone I didn't know – a man from Cambridge who later told me he had forgotten his gloves and only had shorts on under his waterproof trousers – he must have been frozen! I had leggings, trousers and waterproof trousers and certainly wasn't hot! Dave Holman, Mick Saunt (I think), Ian P. and Baz H. were in the first shelter amongst others. Pete Dolton, Phil Heath and later James McCallum were in my shelter. The UEA lads who found the recent 'bluetail' at Stiffkey arrived to bag the last shelter – I'd dunno.. .these youngsters getting up late, LOL!

As I waited for daybreak I wished I was still in bed, felt wrecked. The stones continued to smash onto the prom. but fortunately didn't make the shelter! Turnstones ran along the promenade in front of us. It was dry and sunny the entire time I was here. Suddenly birds came into view and I saw my first gannets cruising past in the breakers. It was a fabulous morning and I enjoyed the excitement as always, but it wasn't the same without Justin L. and Andy W. being here – for their general banter and who I can hear very clearly when they call birds out. I've decided we need a speaker system set up, so we can all hear each other!

The main highlights were 3 Short-eared Owls that were picked up by Dave Holman and Phil Heath and unusually 2 Little Egrets flying west at 10.20am close in along the beach! Lots of discussion on ID on some of the distant skuas as always! Someone picked up a Grey Phalarope, but I just couldn't see it.

Several gulls on the beach, a couple of Turnstones, a smart Ringed Plover and even smarter Purple Sandpiper just before I left. Several people walking along the prom staring at us all like we were animals in a zoo and several toddlers in pushchairs merrily waved at us which made me smile!

6.45am to 1.20pm
List in no particular order – birds that I saw were:

Short-eared Owls x 3
Gannets x 128
Great Skuas x 42
Arctic Skuas x 13
Skua sp. x 1
Auk sp. x 6
Pomarine Skuas x 4
Velvet Scoters x 4
Common Scoters x 4
Arctic Tern x 1
Little Gulls x 8
Sooty Shearwater x 1
Goldeneye x 1
Great Crested Grebes x 7
Red-necked Grebe x 1
Cormorants x 25
Red-breasted Merganser x 1
Red-throated Divers x 5
Little Egrets x 2
Brent Geese x 2
Knot x 3
Curlew x 2
Turnstone x 1 

I was burnt out by the afternoon and the birds had tailed off for a while, so decided to leave. Plodded back up the steps to my car. I sat and amalgamated my list and phoned through to RBA. James Mc. had told us all in the shelter, that the sea had breached again at Cley and Beach Road was closed and marshes flooded at Salthouse. I headed west.

Salthouse
The marshes were indeed flooded either side of Beach Road and wildfowl had taken up residence in the newly created pools! I only had to drive through a couple of areas of tidal water and then parked up at the end of the road. Sat and had my lunch and enjoyed some of my home-made cheese scones – I shouldn't have made these, far too moorish! There was a Heron and Little Egret feeding by the side of the road in the flood and loads of gulls were happily socialising in their new home. I was looking forward to my walk to Gramborough Hill, when the pager bleeped up at 2.58pm with "SURF SCOTER Adult Male at Holkham Bay, 2.56pm with Common Scoter". I've seen one of these before in Norfolk and hesitated for a few minutes before deciding that I would go and see this, even though I guessed it would be distant.

Holkham
Parked up at Lady Ann's Drive and begrudgingly put £3.00 in the ticket machine for a 2 hour slot. News came on the pager that the Surf Scoter had been seen this morning at Holme at 11am... so why put the news out over four and a half hours later? It wasn't any of the Holme regulars or wardens etc, I found out. Seems very odd  indeed, especially as it suddenly came on the pager an hour after the finding at Holkham. So was it being suppressed at Holme and then the person realised he/she would have go public to claim it as their find when the Holkham finding was announced? Who knows! I'll probably get a load of grief for writing this, but who cares! I congratulate whoever found the Surf Scoter at Holkham and for putting it on the pager 2 minutes after finding it.

Anyway, I headed north, straight out to Holkham Bay. As I walked out across the beach, I heard from someone else that the Surf Scoter had been seen from the path the leads out to the beach from Washington Hide. I phoned Sue and Steve G. to alert them, Phil Heath and Sue B. who were standing out by the sea and we all walked further west.

Phil Heath re-found the Surf Scoter for us all! But the views as expected were distant. It took ages to find the Common Scoter flock, never mind the Surf Scoter and even then I only had a couple of brief nano second views in the rolling troughs! Good job this bird had a white nape to pick out! A few bonxies were flying through, but I didn't bother counting them. Felt tired and cold now. Trudged back to walk back along the path from Washington Hide.

Several Blackbirds scattering, a couple of Robins and a few Goldcrests were seen. Pink-footed Geese flying in and gathering on the marshes. Just before the end of the path I watched a little party of birds! 2 Blackbirds, a Robin, 3 Blue Tits, a Great Tit and 1 Goldcrest were having a wash 'n' brush up in a leafy puddle, just yards in front of me – beautiful scene to end my day.  Back at my car I had a nice catch up and chat with Geoff and Pat who I have known for years and we reminisced about the 'good old days', as you do! Feasted on another cheese scone and drove home exhausted.

Fell asleep as soon as I got home. Wrote this blog post up and was just about to publish it when Firefox crashed and I was mortified to find that it wasn't saved. I tried for ages to try and find a way of retrieving it, but no hope! I had to type the whole post again, not happy.... technology!!!

PICTURES TO BE ADDED

Cley, Salthouse & The Firecrest!

Cley Windmill

Arrived at Walsey Hills NOA just after 9am. It was really chilly this morning. I could see Eddie's bike parked up, which mean't he was looking for the Firecrest (reported yesterday at 4pm). Cetti's Warbler and 2 Chiffchaffs were singing, 3 Long-tailed Tits and the usual Blue, Great Tits, Chaffinches, Greenfinch, Hedgesparrows and Goldfinches were seen. As I walked along the bottom path – I skulked, stood still, crept along the path, waited.... no Firecrest and no Eddie to be found either! I spent at least an hour+ in there, but when the rain started to fall, I decided it was a good time to nip to the Cley NWT Visitor Centre for a cup of coffee.

At the V.C. I wrote in the sightings book: "Chiffchaff singing at Walsey Hills NOA, but no sign of the Firecrest yet!" As I settled down with my mug of coffee and a cheese scone (OK, I succumbed!), Eddie walked into the cafe area with a smug expression – that look, when someone has seen something that you haven't –  he had of course SEEN the Firecrest, half way along the bottom path about 5 minutes after I left and wrote in the sightings book, directly under my entry "Firecrest seen well" – B*ll*cks Mr Myers!!! Lots of rude remarks then followed from Eddie (after mine) such as "would you like me to point it out for you" and the list goes on....Ha ha ha!

Cormorants flying west past Coastguards.

I went back to Walsey with Eddie and spent more time, not seeing the Firecrest. Eddie went off elsewhere and I went to Coastguards. The sun was now out and it was beautiful, but remained freezing cold all day. I noticed on RBA that two Sandwich Terns had been seen at Blakeney Point today, so I stood and looked at the sea for a while, but nothing of particular note. I had a fabulous count of 6 Wheatears on the Eye Field, towards the end of North Scrape along with a few Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and a big flock of Golden Plover.

Went to Cleyspy to get some new eye cups for my bins and bought some new feet for my tripod (lost two recently) and Andrew sorted out my seized up (salt & sand) tripod for me. Back to the Visitor Centre for lunch and managed to get a window seat. Here I bumped into the birder who initially found the Great Snipe in Cley (forgotten his name, sorry).

Back to Walsey Hills AGAIN. I have spent so much time looking for that Firecrest, I have lost count how many times I went back!!! A couple of birders said they could hear it, but I couldn't and apparently it also flew across a couple of times, but all I saw here were 3 Chiffchaffs flicking about. Gave up.

Skylark at Gramborough Hill, Salthouse.

Parked up at Beach Road, Salthouse and walked to Gramborough Hill. Only 1 Wheatear was seen here briefly, sitting on a post. A few Meadow Pipits around. Nothing else of note and no birds in the bushes at the base of the hill. I got back to the car just in time before it started to rain again. 2 Pied Wagtails posed on the wire fence.

Coastguards – parked my car in the overspill carpark alongside the fence and used the car as a hide to watch and photograph the Golden Plover flock. A lone lapwing stood by the Eye puddle. Suddenly a black creature, larger than a rabbit came bounding across the marsh and was heading for the shingle and beach – it wasn't until it got closer that I realised it was a bl**dy dog!!! It obviously flushed the entire Golden Plover flock! A man then appeared, part way across the marsh to retrieve the dog – I am beyond fed-up with out of control dogs, I really am, enough is enough. As I 'tweeted' recently, I seriously think that all dogs should be kept on a lead in public – that way wildlife would not be disturbed, other people would not be accosted and there wouldn't be any dog attacks on children or adults – I really can't see what the problem would be, with this put into place. Anyway, back to birds. Mute Swans flew across the Cley Windmill in moody skies, which I managed to capture on the camera. Raining again, which I don't mind at all when I'm sitting in the car with a cup of coffee! The day seemed to disappear exceptionally quickly – don't know where the time went!

 Golden Plover at the Eye Puddle, Coastguards.