NORTH NORFOLK TOUR 13TH - 18TH JANUARY BIRD WATCHING MAGAZINE

OUR NORTH NORFOLK tour for BIRD WATCHING magazine from 13th – 18th January 2007 produced an absolute feast of birds with 129 species recorded in total. Day One saw highlights of Black-eared Kite, Lesser Yellowlegs, nine Barn Owls, twelve Snow Buntings, four Shore Larks, a drake Smew, five Whooper Swans, a ringtail Hen Harrier, male Merlin, twenty Twite and thousands of Pink-footed Geese, as well as vast flocks of Sanderling, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Knot and Pintail on The Wash. All this in superb, cold, sunny and crisp conditions. Day Two produced an amazing flock of thirty Hawfinches, a Firecrest, Grey Partridges, thousands of Pink-footed Geese, smaller numbers of White-fronted Geese, Common Scoter, Eider and Red-breasted Merganser, Snow Buntings, more Barn Owls, Marsh Tits and a couple of Red-throated Divers. Amazingly, we also found the Black-eared Kite moving east along the coast being mobbed by Marsh Harriers. Day Three was pretty wet but we persevered and got some excellent bird with the highlights being Taiga and Tundra Bean Geese, 29 Common Cranes, 22 Mediterranean Gulls, forty Marsh Harriers, two Hen Harriers, fifteen Red-throated Divers, 70+ Snipe, fifteen Ruff and two Chinese Water Deer. Day Four produced the Black-eared Kite and the Lesser Yellowlegs at Thornham as well as excellent views of the Twite. Sea watching at Holme and Titchwell saw excellent numbers of Little Gulls, Great Crested Grebes, Kittiwakes, Red-breasted Mergansers, Red-throated Divers, Guillemots and Razorbills and two splendid Pomarine Skuas close inshore as well as Harbour Porpoise and Common Seals. A drake Ruddy Duck was also at Holme, a Water Rail, Chiffchaff and Avocet at Titchwell and truly vast flocks of Pink-footed Geese were again coming in to roost at Holkham. A superb few days!