On the road to Norfolk - November 27, 2009

Restless night. Oddly enough, I could hear noise from upstairs and next door. Very uncharacteristic of Premier Inn hotels. Went downstairs at 7:15am to wait for Colin and his friends. Good to see Colin and Gerald again, and had the pleasure of meeting Roger. Traffic was a bit heavy since it was Friday, but lightened up once we left the motorway.

Just before our arrival at Welney WWT, we saw hundreds of Pink-footed Geese in the sky, which were my first lifers of the trip. We also saw Bewick and Whooper Swans in a field.

Arrived at Welney WWT and nearly choked on the entrance fee. Once we recovered from sticker shock, we made our way to the hides. There were loads of Northern Lapwing, Greylag Geese, a lone Bar-headed Goose, Pintail, Teal, Golden Plover, Peregrine Falcon and Sparrowhawk. We moved on to the Lyle Hide in search of Common Cranes but were not fortunate to see them.

Next stop…Titchwell Nature Reserve. I have wanted to visit Titchwell for years and was so happy to finally make it there. We arrived around 2:00pm and knew we only had about two hours to spend here before sunset. There were nice birds on and around the feeders near the visitor center. We saw Goldfinch, Great Tit, Siskin, Chaffinch, European Robin. On our way to the beach for some sea watching, we had excellent views of a Water Rail. We also saw Avocet, Common Redshank, Oystercatcher, Little Grebe, Bar-tailed Godwit, Coots, Moorhens, Ruff.

We set up our scopes on the beach and started our sea watch. I spotted a lone wader and asked for Colin’s help with the ID and it was a female Common Scoter, which was another lifer. We also saw Eider, Goldeneye, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Herring Gull. The light was fading fast, so we started our way back towards the visitor center and saw two Marsh Harriers.

Made our way to the Pheasant Hotel in Kelling, which is where we will spend the next two nights. Room looks comfortable and clean. Nice cookies, including my favorite chocolate Bourbon Creams. Yum.

All in all, it was a fantastic day and I couldn’t ask for better company. Tomorrow, we’ll visit several more places including another reserve that has been on my wish list forever…Cley Marshes. Woohoo!!