Norfolk Weekend

I had been planning a weekend in Norfolk for a while, and I was hoping so see some good birds. My dad and I arrived on Friday night at my aunt's house in Norwich, as she would be joining us. 

The first day we had booked a day with Carl Chapman, who runs a lot of wildlife tours including Norfolk day trips. I had been birding with him before and it was very successful, so we had decided to have another day in the Autumn.

He picked us up from the house at 9:00, and then started to drive us to the coast, explaining where we would be going on the way.

We started off on the coast, where we added Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Wigeon and a lot of common birds to the trip list, as well as hearing Greenshank and Bullfinch. We soon saw some more exciting species such as two Peregrines hunting over the area, a flock of Brent Geese flying past distantly and two very brief Kingfishers. There was also a distant Red Kite, which are increasing in Norfolk, and a late Small Copper butterfly, which was a species I had never actually seen before.

As we walked back to the car, we all heard a high pitched call, which Carl immediately identified as a Yellow-browed Warbler! We waited for some time until the warbler came out from the centre of the bush and began to feed out in the open! We all got great views of the bird before it disappeared in to another bush. There was also a Cetti's Warbler nearby, which gave a very brief view before it flew into cover and started calling.

The next stop was Holkham Park, where there had been an Osprey for a few days, though I did not know at the time. A Marsh Tit called in the car park as we ate lunch, and a Sparrowhawk flew over.

We then walked past the Fallow deer to the lake, where there were common water birds such as Pochard, Shoveler and Mallard.

A huge flock of Jackdaw flew up in the distance, where there was also a Common Buzzard.

Very soon after this, Carl spotted the Osprey which suddenly appeared almost above our heads! We got amazing views of it for quite a long time. It was very entertaining to watch as it dived in to the water, very close to us, at an attempt to catch fish. After some time it landed in one of the trees nearest to us, and gave great views as it sat perched for a while.

The Osprey at Holkham - Photo by Carl Chapman

On the way back to the car, we heard a Tawny Owl calling (which was surprising, since it was the afternoon), and a Green Woodpecker.

The final stop of the day was at Titchwell, where we added Golden Plover to the list. Carl then managed to find the Little Stint that had been around that day, and we got good views, and good comparisons to the bigger waders next to it. We also had very close views of a Snipe sitting out in the open.

The final birds of the day were a flock of Grey Plover that flew over out heads as we were heading back. A very successful day with Carl Chapman!