Winter birding in Norfolk

I usually like to have a weekend's birding break in Norfolk during winter. This year was a little different as due to hotel availability we actually did a midweek break. I met up with John & Janet at Kings Cross station at Tuesday lunchtime and we took the train up to Kings Lynn. En route we had a few Red Kites which were new for the year for me and once we were past Ely we started looking out for wild swans. We saw several flocks, some of which were close enough to identify as Bewick's - also new for the year.

Once we arrived at Kings Lynn we swapped our train for one of the local buses and headed up to Hunstanton where we would be staying for three nights. There wasn't time for any birding so we enjoyed a nice dinner at our favourite restaurant, Chives.

The following morning we hadn't planned to do any pre-breakfast birding as we didn't anticipate there would be enough time but I realised it was light enough at 7:15 so I popped over the road to the seafront for half an hour's birding. It was low tide so I wasn't expecting many seaduck but a small group of Common Scoter flew past. The main target was Fulmar which breed on the cliffs a little bit further up and I soon had one flying past and another sat on the sea. Conditions were perfect with a gentle breeze and good visibility. There were some waders around - many Oystercatchers searching for food with a few Redshank and a solitary Turnstone among them as well as a handful of Bar-tailed Godwits on the beach.

After a large breakfast we took the bus to Holkham, seeing a flock of about 200 Pink-footed Geese in a field en route. We didn't see any more as most had already headed north due to the mild winter weather. We planned to spend the whole day at Holkham so we took our time along Lady Ann's Drive looking through the assortment of wildfowl on the adjacent fields, adding Ruff and Snipe.

Shore Lark

As it was low tide we headed to the bay and walked to the roped off area where several birders were already gathered. Luckily they had pinned down a small flock of Shorelark, supposedly numbering five but we only saw four. They were fairly close for a change so it was really nice to watch them for a while. A bit further back there was a group of Snow Buntings, about 20 to start with but they were joined by some more and I eventually counted 55. We were joined by Howard Vaughan, who was taking time off from Rainham Marshes.

Snow Bunting

Over 1,000 Common Scoter. This flock also held a few Velvet Scoter

We walked over to the dunes to check the sea and initially found a small flock of Common Scoter, then realised that what looked like an oil slick was an enormous flock, exceeding 1000 birds. We scanned the flock and eventually found a few Velvet Scoter among them. Two drake Eider flew in and landed and nearby we also saw Goldeneye and a few Red-breasted Mergansers although there was no sign of any Long-tailed Ducks which had been previously reported in the area.

After lunch at The Lookout we took the track adjacent to Holkham Freshmarsh. The woods were pretty quiet but we did hear a Treecreeper. At the far hide we soon located the flock of White-fronted Geese, with at least 100 birds present. Further back we found a Great Egret, then a Barn Owl flying around. We wandered slowly back and found another Great Egret from the next hide. Back at The Lookout there was a Red Kite, then a really close Barn Owl which was flying around then landing on fence posts.

Barn Owl attempting to catch a Muntjac Deer (or maybe not)

We walked back happy with what we'd seen but had one last treat when I located a pair of Grey Partridge in the last field before the coast road. It had been another wonderful winter's day in Norfolk with many great birds seen and a total of 78 species.