Great Spotted Dip

Nearly every birder seems to have a so called bogey bird, that elusive species that defies every attempt to see them. During all the time that I've been birding I've had several and all but one of those have given themselves up albeit in some cases after years of effort. Such waffling brings me around to my number one feathered nemesis, a bird that I've missed on visits to its breeding sites and also on one painful occasion in Britain by twenty seconds or so. This decidedly stand offish character is none other than Great Spotted Cuckoo and the reason for all this preamble is that my brother and I went off to Norfolk to search for the one reported in the Salthouse and Weybourne area.

Weldon Willow Warbler

I began by having a fruitless search for any damsels at Weldon though in some compensation I heard five species of warbler singing and these included Lesser Whitethroat. My brother then saved me from my damsel dipping by picking me up in preparation for the hoped for rendez vous with my pointy headed bete noir.

Holkham view and distant GWE

Arriving at Salthouse we found to our dismay a gale blowing in from the north and this did little to encourage us. Having instructions that we had to view its last reported location on Gramborough Hill from what seemed like half a mile away did not help either and nor did some negative reports from other searchers. Despite this we continued to look for the bird and luckily managed to avoid a nasty looking rain shower whilst doing so. There sadly our luck ran out, the cuckoo stayed true to form and on top of this a Spoonbill that had been reported a little earlier had done a bunk too! Putting this one down to experience we moved on with Holkham our next stop.

Avocet and Oystercatcher.

Some redemption for what had been up until them a bit of a 'mare of a day came when three Spoonbills were seen from the car near Stiffkey. At Holkham more Spoonies were seen, at least ten I would say flying to and fro from their colony. Another colonising species was also encountered with two Great White Egrets noted as they fed in the ditches around the reserve. A nice male Marsh Harrier added to the interest but we decided to move on having been unable to find either of the two Cattle Egrets that have been seen in the area.

Friendly Sandwich Terns with gooseberry Arctic and Med Gull.

Titchwell was the last stop on our mini tour and as is so often the case it did not let us down. While waders were limited to a single Turnstone and a Black-tailed Godwit amongst the regular Avocets, Redshanks and Oystercatchers gulls and terns performed well. Of the four species of tern on show there were at least three Arctics and also a few Commons too. Over twenty Sandwich Terns seemed like a high count for here though a single Little was more to be expected. Of the gulls it was Mediterranean that provided the bulk of the interest. I though that I was doing well when I picked out a couple amongst the many Black-headeds but my brother located even more. This prompted a closer inspection of the gull colony which revealed as many as a hundred of this striking looking gull. Both my brother and I agreed that this was far and away the largest number that either of us had seen in the UK and I managed a few record shots to remember them by. A quick peek from the screen on the East Trail provided some distant views of three drake Red Crested Pochards. It was getting late by this point so having decided that we'd both had enough we bade farewell to Norfolk and headed home.

Snoozing Red Crested Pochard