A Few Notes From Norfolk

Early November generally means a stay in Norfolk as my wife likes to spend her birthday there. Our normal venue of choice is a cottage in Wells next the Sea and this year was no exception. It was not a nature spotting sortie but in between too many good meals and a staggeringly large amount of Wherry I did get the odd opportunity to venture out with the bins. I'll break the report into several segments to make it a little more manageable.

Saltmarsh regulars, Brent Geese and Little Egret.

I had several morning walks out along East Quay and the coastal path and while both strolls were under leaden skies they provided a couple of highlights. Saltmarsh is not a favoured habitat of mine as I generally find it a bit on the boring side and I have to say much of my walk was next to them. Both Curlew and Redshank calls rang out over the marshes, they're both so evocative of the place and so too the distinctive noise of Brent Geese. Other species seen on both visits included flights of Lapwings moving northward along the coast, small flocks of Teal and large numbers of Starlings feeding noisily. Some time back, I think perhaps in the early nineties, a friend and I spent some time just along the coast at Stiffkey looking for what was then a rare Little Egret. That unsuccessful venture was brought to mind as a single sweep of my bins produced a double figure count of what is now a common saltmarsh species.

The tide is high.

Away from the marshes groups of winter thrushes which included large numbers of Blackbirds were feeding on Hawthorns seemingly unfazed by the presence of Kestrels. Good numbers of Chaffinches included one that narrowly escaped the attention of a marauding Sparrowhawk. The other raptor in the area was Marsh Harrier, their flights over the marshes causing panic amongst the other birds.

Hazy Twite, possibly a cockney description of the picture quality.

Surprisingly few waders were found but water levels were high with only a solitary Grey Plover and a small flock of Goldens to break the monotony. Those levels on the Wednesday (the 7th) led to some interesting observations. With a strong wind adding to what must already have been a high tide the marshes were inundated in a very quick time forcing many of the birds on to drier land. A large flock of Goldfinches feeding on some sueda tested my photography skills, a combination of their constant activity and the awful light resulted in some fairly shocking results. While concentrating on this flock I found a couple of Twites feeding with them which were my first for quite a while, rubbish pictures included. The flock were flushed by a Hare swimming in from the now flooded saltmarsh, the frightened animal in a desperate effort to save itself completely ignored me as it clambered up on to the shore before running off.

Stunned (and stunning) Starling.

In the harbour itself a Common Seal was swimming amongst the boats but it was feeding actively and I couldn't manage a piccy. I was more successful with a Starling which sat stunned next to the footpath. Picking it up and warming it for a minute in my hand I released it into a bush from where it flew off strongly.

Rabbit looking like it's had a few good meals.