Friday, December 4, 2009

Holkham beach, Redwell Marsh, and Holme Norfolk Wildlife Trust with Chris Mills - December 3, 2009

Well rested this morning and eager to get started.

Met Chris Mills out front at 7:30am for the third and last day of guided birding. The day started out cold and rainy with poor visibility, but got a bit drier by late morning.

Making our way to Holme Beach, we came across thousands of Pink-footed Geese. Impressive. Chris estimated that we had seen about 10,000 Pink feet today. We headed down Lady Ann’s Drive and soon after parking, we saw a Barn Owl hunting over the fields. We headed over to George Washington Hide to get closer looks at the Pink-footed Geese. Small birds just outside the hide included Long-tailed, Great and Blue Tit, Dunnock, Jay, Goldcrest and Treecreeper.

At Holme Beach, we had excellent views of Great Northern and Red-throated Diver, Great-crested and Red-necked Grebe (lifer), Razorbill and Mediterranean Gull.

Highlight of the day was watching a Great Bittern (lifer) fly over to its roosting reeds. In this same area, we had Tufted Duck, Teal, Pochard, Great Cormorant and Shoveler. Also saw Marsh Harrier and a Buzzard.

I had a fantastic time birding with Chris Mills. He is an extremely knowledgeable birder and has a great sense of humor. Species count for three days was 116 which included 13 lifers. Very impressive. I would recommend Chris to anyone keen to bird Norfolk.

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