Day 2 of a 4-day Spring Migration tour in Norfolk. It was a bit cloudier than yesterday in the morning but brightened up in the afternoon again. It felt cooler and fresher though, in the moderate N/NW wind.
On our way up to the coast this morning, we noticed a Grey Partridge in a field by the side of the road. They are rather scarce at the moment, after two poor breeding seasons, so we stopped for a closer look. A second bird, which looked like the female, was hiding down in the crop nearby.
Moving on, we called in briefly at North Point as we were passing. There had been a report of a Smew and a Spotted Redshank there this morning but a few people were there looking and hadn’t seen them. We had a very brief look at the two main pools but we couldn’t see anything either, so decided to stick to our plan for the morning.
As we parked at the top of Whincover, we heard a Yellowhammer singing. Looking round onto the sheltered side of the hedge behind the parking area, we found it perched up in the branches. After a while, it seemed to drop down into the field but when we looked we could only find three Skylarks there in the bare ground.
A Common Whitethroat was singing in the hedge as we crossed the road. Further down, we found a couple of Chiffchaffs, one singing from the top of a bare tree above the stile. We could hear the Lesser Whitethroat in the blackthorn the other side, but despite stopping to listen to it, we couldn’t see it in the dense bushes. A Cetti’s Warbler shouted from deep in the hedge too.
Scanning the grazing marshes, we couldn’t find anything of note out on the grass this morning, no sign of any Whimbrel or Wheatears today. There were the usual Greylags and a few Lapwings. The pools here are drying out and suitable breeding habitat for waders is disappearing fast. Our first Spoonbill of the morning flew over and quickly came back the other way.
Looking over to the reedbed beyond, we could see several Common Swifts zooming back and forth. The fresher wind this morning and cooler conditions had presumably pushed them lower. All along the path, there were lots of Sedge Warblers singing again, although they were possibly a little less active today than they had been a few days ago.
Up on the seawall, the tide was in. Two Little Terns were feeding over the harbour channel in the distance. A roost of birds was on the rocks and through the scope we could see they were Turnstones and a couple of Common Terns were in with them. Out on the edge of the saltmarsh, we got a smart Grey Plover moulting into breeding plumage in the scope. There was a Whimbrel just behind too. Another Spoonbill flew over and landed on one of the pools beside the reeds to feed.
Several Reed Warblers were singing down in the reedbed and a Reed Bunting was doing its best from the top of a bush in the reeds. On the grazing marshes beyond, we put the scope on a single Pink-footed Goose out with the Greylags. We could clearly see it had a badly broken wing, presumably having been shot. The rest of the Pink-footed Geese have long since left for Iceland and just a handful of sick and injured birds are left behind.
The Brent Geese are always slower to leave and several groups were feeding out on the saltmarsh from the bend in the seawall. There were a couple more Whimbrel distantly from here too. A Golden Plover flew over calling plaintively, circled out over the saltmarsh and then came back over the bank and off east.
It was cool out on the seawall now, with the breeze coming in off the sea, so we pressed on towards the dunes, which would be a bit more sheltered. One of the rather pale local Common Buzzards was perched on a fence post. The pools before the dunes are almost dry now and no waders had dropped in. There were just a couple of the local Lapwings and Redshanks.
The boardwalk bushes are usually a good indicator as to whether any migrants have arrived and there was no sign of anything unusual here this morning. A couple more Sedge Warblers were singing, as was a Dunnock. A Wren and a Common Whitethroat flew up onto the brambles just beyond. A male Stonechat flew up onto the top of the apple tree.
We pressed on further into the dunes. There were lots of Wall butterflies and a single Small Copper in the grass. In the sheltered bowl a little further on, there were more birds. A flock of Linnets was feeding down on the short grass, two Skylarks chased each other round calling and there were several Meadow Pipits. A Wheatear appeared on a fence post briefly, but as we walked on we couldn’t find it again.
Scanning the bushes beyond, we found a Cuckoo perched on the top of the brambles. A Meadow Pipit was in attendance – it tried mobbing it, and then landed next to it. We got it in the scopes for a closer look, a female, and after a while, the Cuckoo dropped down into the dunes below. As we walked over to see if we could refind it, we had a couple of tantalising glimpses of a blackbird-like bird which flew from the dunes. It looked like a Ring Ouzel and seemed to drop towards the bushes were the Cuckoo had gone, but when we walked over we couldn’t find either of them again. Frustrating!
We pushed on towards the end of the pines, and up into the higher dunes to sit and scan and see if we could find anything. We could see a couple more Stonechats, a pair of Chaffinches and a Robin were in the trees beyond the fence, and a Lesser Whitethroat was rattling behind us, in the bushes on top of the dunes. There were no obvious migrants here and no further sign of the Ring Ouzel candidate.
As we made our way back through the dunes, we walked round to the area we had seen the birds earlier. The Cuckoo flew up into the bushes again, chased by a Meadow Pipit, then headed off strongly over the fields beyond.
Back on the seawall, a male Cuckoo started singing in the dunes behind us now. A Lapwing was displaying over the grazing marshes, so we stopped to watch it twisting and tumbling as it sang. An out of control dog was running amok out on the saltmarsh, flushing all the Brent Geese. Its owner saw us watching and whistled it back, putting it on the lead and determinedly avoiding our gaze as they walked on past. Back at the reedbed pool, there were now even more Swifts, at least twenty, and they had been joined by several Sand Martins and House Martins. We checked through them carefully, but couldn’t see anything different with them.
It was time for lunch when we got back to the minibus, so we drove round to Holkham. The picnic tables by The Lookout were sheltered from the wind by the pines, so we sat there to eat our sandwiches and get a hot drink. A Wheatear was distantly out on the grazing marshes behind, so after lunch we got it in the scope. A pair of Common Gulls flew in over the pines calling as we ate and were now preening and dozing on the edge of one of the pools by the drive. Several Black-tailed Godwits were feeding out on the grass the other side. A Grey Heron and a Great White Egret were in the ditch beyond.
We had heard a Willow Warbler singing in the trees as we arrived at The Lookout earlier. Setting off west now, we found it still singing up in one of the poplars. There were more Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs singing in the trees further on along the path. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming and flew out from behind a dead tree as we stopped to look. It probably wanted to come back in but was waiting for us to move on, as it flew back and forth between the trees just behind.
A quick look at Salts Hole produced just a single drake Wigeon and a drake Gadwall. The trees beyond were rather quiet – perhaps not susprising in the lull of early afternoon, so we pressed on towards Joe Jordan Hide. We had heard several Blackcaps singing in the trees and managed to glimpse one by Meals House as it flew out and off to the willows further back.
The pool below the hide looks really good for waders at the moment, and so it proved. We counted five Wood Sandpipers and at least nine Greenshanks on here today – great to see these groups of spring waders which have stopped off to feed. There was also a single female Ruff and a Common Sandpiper.
The cattle suddenly started to run across the middle of the grazing marsh for no apparent reason and were pursued by at least four Cattle Egrets, which came up out of the grass. From time to time, a Spoonbill flew in or out of the trees. We heard a Cuckoo calling off to the west, which gradually worked its way closer and then seemed to be behind the hide at one. When it started to work its way back, we saw it fly out from the pines and disappear off west towards the dunes.
As we set off to walk back, there were a few more birds in the trees by the path. There seemed to be almost a mixed flock, as all at once we found several Coal Tits and Blue Tits and a pair of Long-tailed Tits. A Treecreeper flew out but disappeared behind the bushes and wasn’t with the other birds in the next oak tree along.
We had time for one quick last stop, so we called in at North Point again. Someone had messaged us later in the morning to say the Spotted Redshank was on the west pool visible from the road, but there was no sign from there now. We had a quick look at the main pools, with just a few Common Redshanks there still.
A couple of other birders walking back told us there had been a Whinchat around earlier, though they hadn’t seen it. We decided to have a quick look from up on the seawall. There was a single Curlew out on the saltmarsh and lots of Brent Geese still out in the harbour beyond. Scanning the bushes and edges of the fields, we couldn’t see any sign of the Whinchat now either. There were only three Common Redshanks on the west pool visible from this side. Lots of Wall butterflies flew up from the grass as we walked back.
We had covered a lot of ground today with just a light smattering of migrants to show for it. We would have another go tomorrow. Now it was time to head back for tea and cake!
