Norfolk Winter 5 Day Birding Tour
Day One 22nd January – Cley, Glaven Ford, Stiffkey Flood & Warham Greens
A great start birding at Cley with lovely views eventually of the Red-breasted Goose, plus 5000 Pink-footed Geese added to the wonderful sounds and scene. Also Red-throated Diver on the sea, and a good spread of wildfowl, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler and Gadwall across the reserve, a Merlin hunting a skylark was a real bonus.
Up at Glaven Ford, the wintering finch flock was c500 strong with lovely views of Brambling the highlight. Also Red Kite, Marsh harrier and Buzzard hunting the area.
After quite a lot of searching the Glossy Ibis appeared at Stiffkey flood, masses of wildfowl here too! Also 3 Cattle Egret nearby.
The days birding rounded off brilliantly with 3 Hen Harrier, 7 Marsh Harrier, really nice views of the 3cy Pallid Harrier & pint blank views of Barn owl.
Day Two – 23rd January Brancaster Beach, Titchwell, Thornham & Hunstanton Cliffs
The birding started with a walk out along the shore at Brancaster, where we soon located the wintering Black-necked Grebe, also several other stand out birds amongst the regualr shorebirds and wildlfowl were drake Long-tailed Duck, drake Eider & 2 Purple Sandpipers, 100’s of Pintail, numerous Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser plus Bar & Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Knot, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Turnstone & Redshank. Also as we were departing there were 2 Spoonbill out on the saltmarsh.
The rain set in around late morning and we got slightly wet on a venture out to the shore at Titchwell, a flock of Common Scoter entertained with 2 Velvet Scoter just visible amongst them. We then took refuge, with lunch over hot teas and coffees in the cafe! We then set out to Patsy’s pool and were pleased to find a Water Pipit feeding along the cut reed edge!
En-route to Hunstanton, we stopped off in the damp conditions to look through a wonderful close feeding flock of c5000 Pink-footed Geese, though I had several thorough scans, I could only find Grey-lags amongst them, a poor winter for Tundra Beans!
The rain had now been replaced by wind! We did a stop off along the Hunstanton shoreline, more waders plus quite a few Fulmar tucked up on the cliffs, 1-2 doing aerial acrobatics!
Day Three – 24th January Buckenham/Cantley Marshes, Filby Broad, Hickling & St. Benets Abbey
We started the day at Buckenham and Cantley marshes where there was thousands of Wigeon, Teal and Lapwing, Golden Plover and a hunting Peregrine, as is expected normally here! Also Great White Egret, 10+ Marsh harrier, Ruff, nd eventually after a steady walk we found some c20 Russian White-fronted geese, in with 100 Pink-footed Geese.
© Great W Egret John Burden
A stop at Filby Broad, and a walk to the Western end gave us views, if a little tricky now the reeds have grown up of a flock of Pochard, interspersed with Tufted Duck. It took a while but after some scanning the 2 returning wintering Ferruginous Ducks were found.
We headed to St. Benets, had lunch here and other than a few Whooper and Bewick Swans it was relatively quiet, though on the way out we spied 7 Cranes feeding out on the marsh. We then headed towards Hickling where a nice wintering group of ‘wild’ Swans’ were still present, c70 in total, with 48 Whooper and 22 Bewick’s, and great close views!
We then returned to St. Benets where it was still relatively quiet with a single Short-eared Owl sat in the grass out of the wind, but just before 4pm it got very busy!! 4 Short-eared owls, 2 Barn Owls and a grey male Hen Harrier all appeared, the owls quartering close in front of us.
Day Four 25th January – Holkham NNR & shore, Holme NOA & Snettisham shore
We arrived at Holkham and headed out on to the shore, though we were distracted as we arrived by c10,000 Pink-footed Geese and c3000 Golden Plover, in wonderful skeins across the skies! Plenty of waders and wildfowl close by right from the car park including good views of Snipe and Ruff.
There was no sign of the Shorelark in the cordon so I headed off West, eventually bumping into Nick Parsons, who had seen them just before I reached him, they had flown East! Shortly after though a bit of walking and scanning paid dividends, they were still present, 14 Shorelarks feeding along the high tide strandline. The group came over and watched as they gave good scope views. We then headed down ton the shoreline where there was a massive raft of c5000+ Common Scoter, we had good views of quite a few Velvet Scoter both flying and on the sea. I scanned then several times but couldn’t find the Surf Scoter, that had been seen a few days before.
After lunch, news came through of a Waxwing at Holme, present most of the morning at the NOA. We headed off there and I was greeted by fellow birder and warden Gary Elton who gave us the heads up on it’s whereabouts. We didn’t have to wait too long, the Bohemian Waxwing was suddenly perched right in front of us! Bohemian Waxwings are plentiful this year, but many have disappeared inland now so this was a nice bonus!
We headed now to Snettisham , but couldn’t quite round the day off perfectly as there was no sign of any Snow Buntings anywhere along the shore!
Day Five – 26th January Santon Downham, Cockley Cley, Great Cressingham & Lynford arboretum
A nice bright day with lighter winds at last, ideal day to be down in the forest. We were greeted almost immediately as we walked out on to the first clearing with a singing Woodlark, lovely views and a joy to listen to as it sand almost constantly for 20 minutes. Back in the woodland nearby, we had several flyover Crossbills, before locating a really nice flock of c35 Crossbills, they were mobile but flying then perching and eventually we got good scope views. Also a few Brambling and Siskin in the area as well.
Next stop was Cockley Cley, there was a bit of wait as the first Buzzards graced the skies, then a close Red Kite, a Woodlark gave a brief bit of song. Then a bit of a lull, but it was worth the wait, when eventually 2 2cy ♂ Goshawks broke the skyline, giving really nice scope views to start with then eventually interacting and even locking talons in a dispute over the forest! They gave us two performances and we also spied an adult ♂ Goshawk more distantly.
We next stopped off at filed that had been set with a ‘bird crop’, this was really nice with c25 Yellowhammer, c15 Reed Bunting plus c30 Linnets flitting from the hedge into the crop.
We then headed to Lynford where we lunched and then headed off birding. The feed area had a nice selection of finches, feeding and there was also a super ♀ Hawfinch, it was showing well and regularly coming down to feed giving good views. Further on we had around 10 Crossbills, these sitting in the trees and then dropping down to drink out of view, and nearby a couple of Marsh Tits alongside all the commoner tits.
131 Species recorded – list below
| 1 | Red-throated Diver | 1 | ||||
| 2 | Little Grebe | 1 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Great Crested Grebe | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 4 | Black-necked Grebe | 1 | ||||
| 5 | Fulmar | 1 | ||||
| 6 | Great Cormorant | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 7 | Little Egret | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | Grey Heron | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 9 | Eurasian Spoonbill | 1 | ||||
| 10 | Mute Swan | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 11 | Bewick’s Swan | 1 | ||||
| 12 | Whooper Swan | 1 | ||||
| 13 | Pink-footed Goose | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 14 | White-fronted Goose | 1 | ||||
| 15 | Greylag Goose | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 16 | Canada Goose | 1 | 1 | |||
| 17 | Dark-bellied Brent Goose | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 18 | Egyptian Goose | 1 | 1 | |||
| 19 | Ruddy Shelduck | 1 | ||||
| 20 | Common Shelduck | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 21 | Eurasian Wigeon | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 22 | Common Teal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 23 | Mallard | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 24 | Pintail | 1 | 1 | |||
| 25 | Gadwall | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 26 | Northern Shoveler | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 27 | Common Pochard | 1 | 1 | |||
| 28 | Tufted Duck | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 29 | Common Eider | 1 | ||||
| 30 | Long-tailed Duck | 1 | ||||
| 31 | Common Scoter | 1 | 1 | |||
| 32 | Velvet Scoter | 1 | 1 | |||
| 33 | Common Goldeneye | 1 | ||||
| 34 | Red-breasted Merganser | 1 | ||||
| 35 | Marsh Harrier | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 36 | Hen Harrier | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 37 | Northern Goshawk | 1 | ||||
| 38 | Eurasian Sparrowhawk | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 39 | Common Buzzard | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 40 | Red Kite | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 41 | Common Kestrel | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 42 | Merlin | 1 | ||||
| 43 | Peregrine Falcon | 1 | 1 | |||
| 44 | Grey Partridge | 1 | ||||
| 45 | Common Pheasant | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 46 | Water Rail | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 47 | Moorhen | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 48 | Common Coot | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 49 | Common Crane | 1 | ||||
| 50 | Oystercatcher | 1 | 1 | |||
| 51 | Avocet | 1 | 1 | |||
| 52 | Great Ringed Plover | 1 | ||||
| 53 | European Golden Plover | 1 | 1 | |||
| 54 | Grey Plover | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 55 | Northern Lapwing | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 56 | Red Knot | 1 | 1 | |||
| 57 | Sanderling | 1 | 1 | |||
| 58 | Purple Sandpiper | 1 | ||||
| 59 | Dunlin | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 60 | Ruff | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 61 | Common Snipe | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 62 | Black-tailed Godwit | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 63 | Bar-tailed Godwit | 1 | ||||
| 64 | Eurasian Curlew | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 65 | Common Redshank | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 66 | Turnstone | 1 | 1 | |||
| 67 | Mediterranean Gull | 1 | ||||
| 68 | Black-headed Gull | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 69 | Common Gull | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 70 | Herring Gull | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 71 | Yellow-legged Gull | 1 | 1 | |||
| 72 | Great Black-backed Gull | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 73 | Razorbill | 1 | ||||
| 74 | Woodpigeon | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 75 | Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 76 | Stock Dove | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 77 | Collared Dove | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 78 | Barn Owl | 1 | 1 | |||
| 79 | Tawny Owl | 1 | 1 | |||
| 80 | Short-eared Owl | 1 | ||||
| 81 | Common Kingfisher | 1 | ||||
| 82 | Great Spotted Woodpecker | 1 | 1 | |||
| 83 | Woodlark | 1 | ||||
| 84 | Sky Lark | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 85 | Shore Lark | 1 | ||||
| 86 | Meadow Pipit | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 87 | Water Pipit | 1 | ||||
| 88 | Rock Pipit | 1 | ||||
| 89 | Grey Wagtail | 1 | ||||
| 90 | Pied Wagtail | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 91 | Wren | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 92 | Dunnock | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 93 | Robin | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 94 | Common Stonechat | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 95 | Blackbird | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 96 | Fieldfare | 1 | 1 | |||
| 97 | Song Thrush | 1 | 1 | |||
| 98 | Redwing | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 99 | Mistle Thrush | 1 | 1 | |||
| 100 | Cetti’s Warbler | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 101 | Goldcrest | 1 | 1 | |||
| 102 | Long-tailed Tit | 1 | 1 | |||
| 103 | Marsh Tit | 1 | ||||
| 104 | Coal Tit | 1 | ||||
| 105 | Blue Tit | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 106 | Great Tit | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 107 | European Nuthatch | 1 | ||||
| 108 | Eurasian Jay | 1 | ||||
| 109 | Magpie | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 110 | Eurasian Jackdaw | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 111 | Rook | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 112 | Carrion Crow | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 113 | Common Starling | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 114 | House Sparrow | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 115 | Common Chaffinch | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 116 | Brambling | 1 | 1 | |||
| 117 | Greenfinch | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 118 | Goldfinch | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 119 | Siskin | 1 | ||||
| 120 | Linnet | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 121 | Common Crossbill | 1 | ||||
| 122 | Hawfinch | 1 | ||||
| 123 | Yellowhammer | 1 | ||||
| 124 | Reed Bunting | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Other Species | ||||||
| 125 | Red-breasted Goose | 1 | ||||
| 126 | Glossy Ibis | 1 | ||||
| 127 | Pallid Harrier | 1 | ||||
| 128 | Ferruginous Duck | 1 | ||||
| 129 | Great Egret | 1 | 1 | |||
| 130 | Cattle Egret | 1 | ||||
| 131 | Raven | 1 | ||||
| Day Totals | 76 | 75 | 70 | 76 | 47 |