Holme Beach, Thornham, Brancaster, Warham Greens with Chris Mills - December 2, 2009

Have to lay off of the sugar in the evening as I did not sleep much last night. What a drag.

Met Chris Mills out front at 8:00am for the second of three days guided birding. The day started out cold and rainy, but got drier by late morning.

We headed out to Holme Beach and came across a flock of about 60 Snow Buntings. Got excellent views of the birds feeding. Highlights of our sea watch included Long-tailed Duck, Red-throated Diver, Common Eider, and Red-breasted Merganser. Throughout most of the day, we saw about 4,000 Northern Lapwings making their way west. Impressive.

At Thornham Harbor, we saw about 20 Twite and along the coastal path leading to the NOA, we saw six Bearded Reedling.

We then went to Brancaster brackish marsh (near the golf course) and had cracking views of a Short-eared Owl (lifer) and Rock Pipit.

Moving on to a roost site at Warham Greens (Holkham National Nature Reserve), we saw 11 Bewick’s (Tundra) Swans, ringtail Hen Harrier (lifer), loads of Pink-footed Geese and Red Knot, and a Peregrine Falcon on the beach.

Fantastic day. Two day species total is over 100. Tomorrow, Holkham Beach. Can’t wait!!

Thetford Forest and beyond with Chris Mills of Norfolk Birding - December 1, 2009

Lovely, comfortable, newly-refurbished room at The Lodge in Old Hunstanton. The showerhead is one of those huge ones…can’t remember the name, but the shower this morning was fantastic. Can’t believe my luck with these nice rooms.

Met Chris Mills out front at 8:00am for the first of three days guided birding. Although it was cold (about 40 degrees), it was sunny with absolutely no wind. Our first stop was Dersingham Park in search of, but dipped on, Great Grey Shrike. Saw Stonechat and Meadow Pipit there.

I was quite happy to learn that our next stop was Thetford Forest-Lynford Arboretum. Chris found two lifers for me: Firecrest and Common Crossbill. We had cracking views of both birds. Also saw loads of other birds including Redwing, Marsh Tit, Mistle Thrush, lovely view of Greenfinch, Nuthatch and Treecreeper.

Next stop was Lakenheath Fen. Although we dipped on Common Crane, we saw at least four Marsh Harriers, Song Thrush, Cetti’s Warbler (heard), two Barn Owls, Yellowhammer, and Common Chiffchaff. Also saw hundreds of Starlings (from Russia) coming in to roost.

All in all, it was a fantastic day with 61 species under our belt. Tomorrow should be equally as brilliant!!

Brancaster Staithe to Old Hunstanton - November 30, 2009

Slept quite well in the newly-refurbished room at the White Horse Inn (Brancaster Staithe). Asked for the same room on my return in seven days and that is where I’ll be.

Ventured outside at about 8:00am to rather blustery conditions. After a half hour of checking out the area, I went back inside for breakfast in the conservatory, which was quite nice. Poured some oats with nuts (cashew, pistachio) in my bowl and added cold milk to it. After a few mouthfuls, I realized it was porridge and needed hot milk. Gees, you’d think I would recognize this porridge since we had it virtually every day at Lama Camp (Eagles Nest) and other places we stayed in NE India earlier this year.

Got bundled up, grabbed my bins and scope and headed back outside in search of Twite. The wind was blowing quite hard with gust after gust, which made it tough to use the scope. Most of the birds were hunkered down and doing their best not to get blown away.

Dipped on the Twite, but I will try again when I go back there. Did manage to see several birds, some of which were: Pink-footed Goose, Teal, Oystercatcher, Common Redshank

Since it had started raining, I didn’t feel like fussing with the Coasthopper Bus, so I got a taxi to The Lodge in Old Hunstanton. Well worth it in this crummy weather. Lovely, lovely room called the “Garden Shed” with its own entran from out back. Very modern and comfy. Have to go inside the main building to get free wifi. Bummer. I’ll do that in a bit. Just going to take it easy today since tomorrow is the start of three days guided bird watching with Chris Mills of Norfolk Birding. Can’t wait!!

Sheringham and Lady Ann's Drive in Holkham - November 29, 2009

Had another restful night at the Pheasant Hotel in Kelling. Met Colin and the guys downstairs for breakfast. Was hoping for some hot porridge, but no dice. We checked out and were soon on our way to Sheringham beach in search of Purple Sandpiper. We dipped on the Sandpiper, but got Fulmar and a lifer Manx Shearwater. Woohoo!! Other birds of note were Shag, Great Cormorant and Grey Wagtail.

Started raining, so we stopped at the Cley Marshes Visitor Center for tea and coffee. While there, we saw Wigeon, Greylag Goose and Ruff. Then off again to Lady Ann’s Drive in Holkham.

The weather turned brighter and a bit warmer (44 degrees) with no wind. As Colin said, the weather was tropical compared to yesterday. Mercifully, there were a lot less dog walkers out so we figured our chances would be better for Shore Lark (Horned Lark) today….and we were right!! Colin counted 14 Shore Larks. We had cracking views of these birds as they flew overhead and once they landed. Then the excitement went up a few notches when we spotted three Snow Buntings…another lifer for me.

We then went down the path towards Washington Hide in search of Firecrest and saw Chiffchaff along the way. We dipped on Firecrest even though we had a good chance of seeing one when we came across a large flock of Goldcrest, Long-tailed, Blue and Coal Tits, Chaffinch, Goldfinch. We also saw Treecreeper and Wren.

We headed back towards the Lady Ann’s Drive car park but stopped to see a Barn Owl hunting in the field. Also seen were Merlin, Buzzard, Kestrel and, just behind us, a Water Rail.

All in all, another fantastic day with great company. Colin dropped me off at the White Horse Inn (Brancaster Staithe) and I bade the guys a fond farewell. Had a nice steak and onion sandwich in the bar and am going to relax for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be searching for Twite.

Salthouse, Cley Marshes, and Holkham-November 28, 2009

Had a good night’s sleep at the Pheasant Hotel in Kelling. Bed was very clean and comfortable. Took forever for water to get hot. When I switched over from bath faucet to hand-held shower device, the water came out cold. Very strange, so opted for a bath. Excellent choice.

Saw a few nice birds from my window and on the hotel grounds: Goldcrest, Long-tailed, Coal, and Great Tit, European Robin.

Met the guys downstairs for breakfast at 8:00am. Opted out of the sausages and bacon. Soon afterwards, we were on our way to Salthouse for some sea watching. It was extremely cold and windy, about 40 degrees with wind gusts of 23 mph. Highlights were Guillemot, Northern Gannet and Red-throated Diver. Then on to Cley Marshes East Bank where we had Marsh Harrier, Wigeon, Linnet, Pink-footed and Brent Geese.

We headed down the road to Holkham, then walked to the beach for some sea watching. Yipes…it was freezing!! We stayed for several hours and had decent views of Common and Velvet Scoter, Great Crested Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser. We dipped on Shore Lark (Horned Lark) and Snow Bunting. I should hopefully have a few more chances at the bunting.

Gotta pack. We're going to do a bit of birding in the morning before the guys have to drive back home. Purple Sandpiper (seen in Sheringham) is on the agenda tomorrow, which would be a lifer for me and Colin.

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!!

Retail Therapy in London-November 26, 2009

Had a restful sleep. Went downstairs to the restaurant in the Premier Inn at about 6:00am thinking that I could just have a bowl of cereal, but nooooo. I had three choices: Full breakfast for £7.95, then roll out of there having consumed mass quantities of food; Grab & Go for £2.95, which consists of a croissant and coffee (obvious rip-off and not exactly a meal); then decided on the Continental Breakfast for £5.25, which was actually quite nice. The orange slices were a bit on the sour side, but then again this ain’t Florida!!

At around 9:00am, I went back downstairs to catch the Hotel Hoppa Bus to begin my journey to Covent Garden (London) to buy a jacket at the Paramo store. It was cold and windy outside, which it made it feel like an eternity for the bus to arrive. Paid my £4 and we were off to Heathrow Terminal 3. On the way, I saw Magpie, Woodpigeon, House Sparrow and a Sparrowhawk (very nice).

Arrived at the airport, then walked to the Underground (Tube) station to catch the Piccadilly Line train to Covent Garden. While standing in line at the ticket machine, a woman approached me and asked if I spoke Spanish. Gees, I must look the part!! Anyway, I helped her get two tickets to Hammersmith and pointed out where she should get on the train. Paid £8 and got my roundtrip (return) ticket. I was happy as a clam, enjoying the ride, until the conductor said there was a problem with the train and that everyone would have to get off at Hammersmith. Lovely. Mercifully, it was only about a two minute wait for the next train.

The stores in Covent Garden were nicely decorated for Christmas and teeming with shoppers. Walked for about three minutes and easily found the Paramo store. Having done my homework, I went straight to the Ladies section in search of the “Pajaro” jacket. My heart sank when I couldn’t find the jacket in my size. I must have looked rather dejected when a store clerk asked if I found what I was looking for. Nope. She checked in the back and found one. Woohoo!! Although I wanted a more girly color, like plum, my only choice was moss (dark) green. It is still a fantastic, warm and waterproof jacket. Now I’m ready for birding on the Norfolk coast!!

Wearing my new, toasty jacket, I walked around the shops for a bit, noticed it was noon by my rumbling tummy, and indulged in a Cornish pasty. Got a small “traditional” pasty with steak and onions. Yum. Bought three apples from a street vendor, then made my way back to the airport. Stopped at Marks & Spencer to buy two packets of Digestive biscuits (double yum), then relaxed in the room.

My vacation starts in earnest tomorrow morning when Colin, Gerald and Roger pick me up for the drive to Norfolk. Can’t wait.