The weather today could not be more different from that which we experienced yesterday. The wind had dropped, it was dry and the sun was shining! The bad weather of the day before had grounded a lot of migrants and even before we set out there were reports of a number of Pied Flycatchers being seen along the Norfolk coast. So first stop this morning was at Weybourne church to see if we could locate one. There was plenty evidence of the commoner warblers and songbirds, but no sign of Pied Flycatcher.
Weybourne Church
Our next stop was at Salthouse Marsh. Most of the coastal area of North Norfolk is now protected land, in the custody of one conservation organisation or another. Salthouse Marsh, like the adjoining Cley Marsh, is in the custody of the Norfolk wildlife trust. Here there was further evidence of spring migration parties of Barn Swallows, House Martins and 2 Northern Wheatears.
Salthouse Marsh and Goldfinch
Walking along the coast we crossed over into Cley Marsh. Forewarned by another birder, we kept a lookout for a Whinchat which had been seen around the entrance to the hide and sure enough we located it perched on a fence post.
Whinchat
Entering the hide, we soon located a Little-ringed Plover on the water’s edge. A Red Kite was a welcome fly over whilst we were here. The population in North Norfolk of this species is growing and they are now becoming a regular sighting.
Moving on eastward, we came to the main part of the reserve where parties of Red Knot and Sand Martin were further evidence of spring migration.
Cley Marsh
With the afternoon pressing on, we decided to finish by exploring a new habitat that we so far hadn’t explored on this trip. Keith had noticed an area of woodland on the edge of Cromer and so we concluded the day with a walk through East Wood, which forms part of the grounds of Cromer House. It was productive as we added a number of species including Willow Warbler, Eurasian Nuthatch, Eurasian Treecreeper, Jay and Green Woodpecker.
East Wood, Cromer
We celebrated the conclusion of our Norfolk trip, which despite the weather had been very successful, with a dinner of fish and chips, what else, at an eatery overlooking the sea, where we watched the sun setting over the coast and our excursion to this lovely part of the country.
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)
Gadwall [sp] (Mareca strepera)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca)
Common Pheasant [sp] (Phasianus colchicus)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Little Egret [sp] (Egretta garzetta)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Western Marsh Harrier [sp] (Circus aeruginosus)
Red Kite [sp] (Milvus milvus)
Common Buzzard [sp] (Buteo buteo)
Eurasian Oystercatcher [sp] (Haematopus ostralegus)
Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Little Ringed Plover [sp] (Charadrius dubius)
Black-tailed Godwit [sp] (Limosa limosa)
Red Knot [sp] (Calidris canutus)
Dunlin [sp] (Calidris alpina)
Common Redshank [sp] (Tringa totanus)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus)
Rock Dove [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Eurasian Collared Dove [sp] (Streptopelia decaocto)
European Green Woodpecker [sp] (Picus viridis)
Common Kestrel [sp] (Falco tinnunculus)
Eurasian Jay [sp] (Garrulus glandarius)
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula)
Rook [sp] (Corvus frugilegus)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Skylark [sp] (Alauda arvensis)
Sand Martin [sp] (Riparia riparia)
Barn Swallow [sp] (Hirundo rustica)
Common House Martin [sp] (Delichon urbicum)
Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus)
Willow Warbler [sp] (Phylloscopus trochilus)
Common Chiffchaff [sp] (Phylloscopus collybita)
Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)
Eurasian Reed Warbler [sp] (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)
Eurasian Blackcap [sp] (Sylvia atricapilla)
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Eurasian Nuthatch [sp] (Sitta europaea)
Eurasian Treecreeper [sp] (Certhia familiaris)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
Song Thrush [sp] (Turdus philomelos)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)
Northern Wheatear [sp] (Oenanthe oenanthe)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis)
Pied Wagtail [sp] (Motacilla alba)
Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)
Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Chloris chloris)
Common Linnet [sp] (Linaria cannabina)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Common Reed Bunting [sp] (Emberiza schoeniclus)
