High tide Tours in Norfolk
High tide tours are available as an integrated part of a three day group tour. The tours including a High tide spectacular are noted in the tour description.
The high tides are an amazing and incredible spectacle with ten and sometimes hundreds of thousands of shorebirds gathering in a narrow area of the SW corner of The Wash at RSPB Snettisham. The vast majority of birds will be Red Knot (120,000 October 2020!), plus thousands of Bar-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Dunlin and hundreds of Redshank and Curlew, plus masses of other wildfowl.
Some high tides will be integrated into October and November tours, please ask if you are specifically interested in a High tide.
The very highest tides see the shorebirds fly on to the gravel pits, this is probably the greatest spectacle when thousands are packed together in masses close to observers and the hides. The great spectacle is as they leave this refuge usually 2-3 hours after the highest point of the tide.
The highest tides are affected by the direction and strength of wind, so it’s difficult to predict if birds will make it onto the gravel pits. Though even gatherings out on the saltmarsh are still extremely entertaining and you will still see huge flocks, with ‘mexican waves’ appearing in the skies as the birds are disturbed by hunting raptors.
July and August are the best months for the biggest variety of shore birds, and greatest chance of rarities amongst them. There are still spectacles and large numbers to be had at other times of the year too.
We offer two tours in 2026 through our parent company Oriole Birding and you can read all about them by clicking the following link