A 1-day tour in the Norfolk Broads for winter birds including Common Cranes, geese, Bewick’s & Whooper Swans, raptors & Short-eared Owls.

Winter in The Broads

One of the highlights of the winter is a trip to the Broads to see Cranes, swans and geese. The resident population of Common Cranes here recolonised naturally since 1979 (unlike the reintroduced birds on the Somerset Levels) and we can often find small flocks in the fields at this time of year. We also have a small mixed herd of wintering swans, which normally gives us the chance to see Bewick’s and Whooper Swans alongside each other.

There are also impressive flocks of geese in the Broads at this time of year, with large numbers of Pink-footed Geese feeding in the fields of harvested sugar beet and sometimes having small numbers of Tundra Bean Geese in with them. The Yare Valley Taiga Bean Geese have become very erratic in recent years, but if there are any present we will look for those too.

We normally finish the day looking for Short-eared Owls and Barn Owls on this tour, but there are often Hen Harriers around and a good chance of Cranes as they head in to roost.