A Private Tour in North Norfolk today, a relaxed-paced tour with some gentle walking. It was mostly cloudy, with a few light showers which were thankfully all very brief, and the sun did even make a couple of appearances in the afternoon, although the breeze picked up too.
We started the day at Titchwell – you need to get here early these days to be sure of a place in the Covid-reduced car park, which is still filling up by mid-morning. We had no problem today, and there was still just one car in the overflow area, so we had a quick walk round to see if we could find anything in the bushes. It was rather quiet here today, although a small group of Greenfinches came out of the bushes.
A large flock of Pink-footed Geese came up from the fields inland of the village – we could hear their yelping calls, although they never gained enough height to enable us to get a clear view above the hedge. A small gaggle of Greylags came in from the same direction, flying overhead and heading for the reserve. Their honking was much deeper, but a couple of higher pitched yelps in their midst alerted us to a single Pink-footed Goose which had obviously hooked onto the wrong flock and was coming in with them.
There were some tits in the sallows along the path to the Visitor Centre. A Goldcrest disappeared in deeper before anyone could get onto it, and all we could see were Blue Tits. We could hear Siskins calling overhead, but couldn’t see them through the trees. Once we had negotiated the new ‘Welcome Hub’ (although the ‘welcome’ could perhaps have been a little warmer after we were asked for the third time if we were members!), we were finally able to get onto the reserve.
We stopped to scan the grazing marsh, looking over towards Thornham, a couple of times. Once we were out of the trees, we spotted a pair of Stonechats sitting on the leeward side of one of the bramble clumps preening. A third Stonechat appeared, hovering over the reeds nearby. A small group of Linnets flew over and a party of Meadow Pipits dropped down into the long grass in the meadow back towards the road.
We heard more Siskins calling and turned to see one fly out of the alders by the path back behind us. It circled out over the trees beyond the Visitor Centre and picked up another two Siskins, with all three of them then settling back down in the alder from where the first had appeared. We could see a smart green and yellow male in the top of the tree. A small group of Chaffinches flew over the trees too, and continued on west out over the grazing marsh, presumably migrants just arrived from the Continent for the winter.
The Thornham grazing marsh ‘pool’ is mostly dry and very overgrown now. A single Little Egret was feeding in the channel on the far side. We could hear Bearded Tits calling but it was rather windy today, and the most we got were a couple of glimpses of birds as they flew up briefly.
We were just about to walk away when a Bearded Tit called again, and we looked over the top of the bank to see a male on the top of a reed stem just below. Unfortunately the long grass on the top of the bank meant it was impossible to see unless you were tall enough and it flew down again almost immediately, before everyone could see it.
Another small group of Pink-footed Geese came in over the reedbed behind us, calling, and we watched as they headed on west towards Thornham. There would be quite a bit of wildfowl on the move today – migration in action.
As we walked away, we heard lots of Bearded Tits calling behind us now, and turned round to see a flock of eight fly over the reeds and drop down below the bank. We decided not to have another go at seeing one in the tops, and carried on out along the path.
We stopped by the Reedbed Pool and looked out over the reedbed. There were several House Martins over the back of the reeds and in with them we found a single Common Swift. Most of the latter have already long since left us to head to Africa for the winter, but one or two often linger later. We watched as they made their way west, pausing briefly to hawk for insects over the trees by the Visitor Centre.
A Red Kite was hanging in the air too, in the distance over Willow Wood, and made its way slowly west over the back of the reedbed and then across the main path and out towards Thornham. Hard to tell if it was on the move today too, but a little later we picked up a second Red Kite way off to the east, being mobbed by two Jackdaws out over Brancaster Marsh.
As we walked up towards Island Hide, a moth flew up out of the grass below the bank and landed again up by the path to the hide. When we got there, someone was already photographing it. We stopped to look – it was a Mallow moth, a not uncommon species to find at this time of year. A Common Frog on the path this morning added to the general wildlife list.
As it was nice and bright, we stopped on the main path to look out across the Freshmarsh. There was a large group of godwits out in the middle, and through the scope we could see they were a mixture of Black-tailed Godwits and a smaller number of Bar-tailed Godwits. The latter were clearly smaller, and despite the fact that they were asleep we could see their dark-streaked paler upperparts.
Most of the Avocets have gone south for the winter now, but we counted eleven still out on one of the small islands today. There were a couple of Ruff and a single Dunlin on the mud on the edge of the next island over, in with the gulls, and a small group of Golden Plover higher up on the grass. We got the plovers in the scope and admired their gold-spangled upperparts.
There were quite a few ducks on the Freshmarsh again, though perhaps not as many Wigeon as recently. The drake Teal are still mostly in drab eclipse plumage, though we got the scope on one which had started to moult out and showing patches of grey-looking finely vermiculated flank feathers. One of the drake Shovelers was already more advanced, with just some dark scalloped feathers left in its white breast and flanks. In contrast, the resident drake Mallard and Gadwall are already mostly back in their smart breeding plumage. A couple of Brent Geese dropped in briefly, before heading back out towards the beach.
Another group of Bearded Tits were in the reeds just below the bank here too, but were similarly elusive in the breezy conditions. We had more glimpses of them as they flew up from time to time, but dropped straight back in out of view.
The tide was just going out and the channel on the Volunteer Marsh was still largely full of water, but we stopped to admire a Common Redshank feeding on the recently exposed mud, its orange legs shining in the sunlight, which had poked out from behind the clouds. There were a few Common Redshanks further back and several Curlews, but nothing else on here today.
There was just one wader in the corner of the Tidal Pool, right at the back just over the bank. It immediately looked promising – white below and rather pale silvery grey above. Through the scope, we could see it was indeed a Spotted Redshank in non-breeding plumage. We could see its long, needle-fine bill, noticeably longer than the Common Redshank we had just been watching, and the well-marked white supercilium over the bill.
There were a few more waders on the spit a little further up, a tight group of grey Knot, and several Grey Plovers tucked in the samphire higher up along with a single Oystercatcher. One of the Grey Plovers took off and flew past us, flashing its black armpits. About twenty Turnstones were roosting on one of the small muddy islands further up towards the dunes.
Looking out over the saltmarsh behind, we could see a young Marsh Harrier circling, dark chocolate brown with a contrasting pale head which caught the light as it turned. There were a couple of Kestrels too. A little Wren appeared on the concrete bunker just before the dunes.
As we got out onto the beach, a Wheatear was feeding on the debris on the high tide line, running about after insects. It was very tame, and came across to within just a few metres of us, standing pumping its tail totally unconcerned by everyone standing there. When it flew a little bit further along, we could see the distinctive white base to its tail.
Our target bird here was Sanderling, but there were not many waders along the shore here at the moment, possibly with too much disturbance from walkers and dog walkers. We could see more birds on the beach up towards Thornham Point – a long line of Cormorants standing with their wings out to dry, lots of gulls, and a scattering of waders in with them. We found a single silvery grey Sanderling, but it was very distant. A large flock of Oystercatchers was still roosting on the sand towards Brancaster. We decided to stop here a while, to see if more waders would come back in as the tide dropped further.
Looking out to sea, there were several Great Crested Grebes on the water. But the highlight here today was the number of birds coming in over the sea. We picked up a large flock of Pink-footed Geese, way out to sea at first. They gradually made their way in towards and past us, until we watched them flying in over Scolt Head island away to the east. Several groups of Wigeon flew in, possibly fresh in from their Russian breeding grounds for the winter. Then we spotted four Skylarks coming in over the sea and watched as they came in, up the beach and over the dunes past us.
As the tide receded, more waders started to fly back in to the shore. First a small group of Knot appeared with several Bar-tailed Godwits just to the left of us. Then more birds arrived down on the edge of the water right in front of us, several Grey Plover and finally a much closer view of several Sanderling, running up and down the shoreline like clockwork toys.
As we started to make our way back, we stopped to admire a couple of Turnstones on the shore of the Tidal Pool just by the concrete bunker now. All the waders were getting restless, seemingly knowing it was time now to head back out to the beach to feed. First the Turnstones flew out over the dunes, followed closely by the Knot which had still been roosting on the spit.
At the far side of the Tidal Pool, we stopped to watch a close Little Egret feeding just below the bank. We could see its yellow feet when it lifted them high of the water, and we watched it shaking one in the mud to try to disturb something to eat. It seemed to find several things around the edge, chasing repeatedly after them.
A Bloody-nosed Beetle was crossing the path and as we picked it up to move it to safety we had a closer look. It didn’t perform though today, and wouldn’t exude the red liquid from its mouthparts from which its gets its name.
There was a brief shower as we walked back, but it was only light and had thankfully stopped by the time we got back to the Visitor Centre. It remained dry while we had lunch in the picnic area before another quick shower just after we had packed up.
Our destination for the rest of the afternoon was Holkham, and we had no problem parking on Lady Anne’s Drive today. There were a few geese and a family of Mute Swans out on the grazing marsh to the east. The geese were mostly Greylags but a small group of Pink-footed Geese had dropped in for a wash and brush up – we could see them bathing on a small pool. When they came out onto the grass to preen, we got them in the scope for a closer look.
There were lots more Pink-footed Geese on the marshes to the west, mostly hidden beyond the first hedge line. There was a lot of military jet aircraft today – a Eurofighter Typhoon was pulling sharp turns overhead, making a lot of noise and repeatedly flushing the birds. Large flocks of Pink-footed Geese flew around calling noisily and we watched a Great White Egret flying away over the reeds in the distance.
As we set off west along the track on the inland side of the pines, it was quiet at first. We stopped to watch a Jay which kept flying back into an oak tree overhanging the track, harvesting acorns.
We were most of the way to Salts Hole when we came across a tit flock, but they were mostly in the pines and wouldn’t come out into the open. We had a nice view of a couple of Long-tailed Tits but just had glimpses of Goldcrests and heard a Treecreeper calling in the pines. They were moving fast too, and disappeared back the way we had just come, so we decided to try again on our way back.
There were several Little Grebes on Salts Hole, along with lots of Mallard. One of the grebes laughed maniacally at us as we stood and scanned the edges of the pool. A Treecreeper flew across and disappeared into the holm oaks the other side. A little further on, a Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling from the dead branches at the top of an old pine.
Just before Washington Hide, a small bird was bathing in a puddle in the track ahead of us. We stopped and could see it was a Redstart, but unfortunately just at that moment a particularly noisy group of walkers with trekking poles walked up behind us, talking, and the Redstart flew up into the trees and then disappeared further back out of view.
From the gate overlooking the grazing marsh, we stopped to see if there was anything with the cows – just a Grey Heron feeding in amongst them today. It started to spit with rain again, so we decided to head for Washington Hide, only to find it has been nailed shut! Once again, thankfully the rain stopped quickly and we stood and scanned the grazing marshes from the boardwalk.
A Great White Egret flew up from the pool and dropped down again behind the reeds out of view. A little later, when we saw one flying further back, we assumed at first that it was the same bird, and this time we could see it in the open when it landed on the edge of a small pool in the distance. But then the first Great White Egret flew up again and landed in a ditch just beyond the reeds, where we could get a good view of its snake like neck and long yellow dagger-like bill as it stood looking for food in the water below.
A Redwing dropped out of the pines and disappeared into one of the hawthorns on the edge of the reeds. A Greenshank called but we couldn’t see it behind the trees. A Common Buzzard flew across the gap behind us, over towards the beach. There were lots of small groups of Pink-footed Geese flying past, calling. As the shower clouds cleared north the sun came out again and the view across the marshes looked amazing, striking colours and the light reflecting off the wet reeds and the wings of the Pink-footed Geese.
We continued on slowly west, but the trees were rather quiet with the increasing breeze now catching them. We wouldn’t be able to go too far today, but we got past Meals House and almost to the crosstracks, before we decided to turn back. We could hear more tits in the pines and holm oaks, but despite it being more sheltered here they wouldn’t come out into the more open deciduous trees by the track today.
We found another tit flock in the holm oaks just before Salts Hole. A Treecreeper appeared briefly a couple of times on the trunks of a couple of trees but typically disappeared round the back. A Goldcrest appeared in a holm oak above the path briefly. But apart from a couple of Long-tailed Tits the birds were hard to see in the dense foliage and quickly disappeared deeper in.
Almost back to Lady Anne’s Drive, we found another tit flock, probably the one we had seen along here earlier. Suddenly we were surrounded by birds, and didn’t know which way to look. There were lots of Goldcrests feeding in an oak tree right above us, one or two Chiffchaffs and a selection of tits. When they started to move again, we realised there were lots more birds deeper in the pines.
The flock started to cross the path, but they were moving fast now. A small warbler flicked across and landed in an oak briefly – a Yellow-browed Warbler. Unfortunately it didn’t stop. We managed to follow the flock for a bit, and found the Yellow-browed Warbler again, but it was immediately chased by a second one and disappeared. A little further along, we heard it call and saw it fly across, but this time everything disappeared further back into the trees.
Everyone was tired after the walk, so after a quick sit down, we continued back to Lady Anne’s Drive. It was time to call it a day now and we headed for home and a chance to put our feet up properly and remember a very enjoyable day out.
