Nor-Folking Way
- justinparker15
- May 9
- 10 min read
Well it was an early start on Saturday 3rd May i was up at 04:00 ready for Stuart to pick me up and go to his to wait for Ryan and Paddy to pick us and to go to Norfolk for 2 days of solid birding. We set off at 5am after a toilet stop at Blyth services and we was on our way to Norfolk.
This was our first stop in Norfolk Kelling Heath home to a wide range of birds but we were hoping to see a few species here to start our list off nicely . We got out of the car and started walking to the Heath and almost the first bird we heard was a Turtle Dove there was 2 birds Purring as the call it and after a bit of searching we found a Turtle Dove perched on the branch of a tree we watched this bird for 10 minutes or so and it was happily purring away in all the time we watched this a great start.
After watching this bird for a while we decided to carry on and go search for the Heath for other birds we saw a Jay and some linnets and other common birds which were nice to see as we were keeping a list of everything we see over the weekend.
After a walk for a while we came to an opening in the Heathland which a trainline ran through the middle of so we decided to stop and have a search for some birds and soon enough we found a nice male Stonechat perched on the top of the gorse with food in his mouth so must be a nest nearby. Stuart then said he had a male Dartford Warbler in his binoculars and after a few minutes we all we watching this fantastic bird on top of the gorse bush and it kept moving from bush to bush but showed well enough for a picture.
After watching this bird for about 10 mins in all we decided to walk back to car park to explore the heath on the other side. On the way back we could hear Turtle Doves purring and we heard some Siskin what a great place Kelling is . When we started walking on the heath near the cars Ryan saw a small brown bird which he saw drop onto the ground and he thought it was a Woodlark so he walked back round to where he saw the bird drop in and sure enough a Woodlark took flight you could clearly see the shorter tail on the Woodlark than our resident Skylark and it flew and perched in a tree and even started singing which was an added bonus.
We carried on walking round the heathland in a circuit hearing Whitethroats Lesser Whitethroat Chiffchaffs and Willow Warbler till we reached the car. We decided to head to a place called Salthouse next to look for some waders and what ever else we could find but it wasnt long till we had to stop as Paddy and Ryan both needed a wee.
We arrived at Salthouse parked the car and went for a walk down the dirt track where there was a couple of pools of water on both sides of the track we saw a Great White Egret Grey Heron Mute Swan Avocets Redshanks and there was a Common Sandpiper and a couple of Little Ringed Plovers also on the pools. Marsh Harriers were the next birds we saw a couple of birds in the distance and a Red Kite flew over too . A couple of Sandwich Terns flew over calling which was nice to hear and see as these was the first ones of the trip but none of the waders we were hoping to see so we walked back down the track and into the car and headed for Cley Marshes our next stop.
We pulled up into the Car park displayed our parking permit and set off to see what we could see here. We walked along the path towards a hide which was called Teal Hide where a Temmincks Stint Little Stint Wood Sandpiper had been seen the previous day. We got into the hide which there was a few people in it and we set off trying to see the birds mentioned above. Ryan soon found the Wood Sandpiper and the Temmincks Stint in a short period of time but there was plenty to look at a Spoonbill flew past there was Dunlin Redshanks there was a Cattle Egret in the field with the cattle hence its name which was hidden well a Greenshank Egyptian Geese and some Ruff we spent a bit of time in here as it was a very productive hide with plenty of birds to see here but it was getting busier so me and Paddy decided to move hides to the one next door.
We got in the next hide and to be honest there wasnt a lot of birds on this pool a couple of Shelduck and a Ringed Plover and there was 2 other chaps in the hide too and they kindly pointed out a Little Stint which was another good bird to see so Paddy rang Ryan and told him about this bird so they came and saw this too. We then decided to walk back to the Visitors Centre as we were feeling peckish so off we set.
We walked back to the visitors centre seeing Marsh Harriers hearing Cettis Warbler on the way back and we could see the Cattle Egret every now and then. We got back to the visitors centre and ordered some food and refreshments which were nice the Scones we can highly reccomend they were homemade and boy were tasty the Tea wasnt bad either to say it wasnt from Yorkshire so after we had our food we decided to head towards Weybourne as some sea ducks had been seen from there.
After a short drive towards Weybourne we decided to pop into Upper Sheringham to look for a Hoopoe which had been seen in the morning after a search of about 30 minutes we decided to give up as we couldnt relocate the bird so we decided to carry on to Weybourne.
We pulled up in the car park and the first thing we noticed was how strong the wind was we got out and walked a short way up the slight incline and stood behind the bush to shelter a little from the wind we all started Sea Watching scanning back and forth and at first it was quiet then one of the group saw a Gannet flying so we all got onto that bird as it was our first of the trip then a couple of Cormorants flew past and then another Gannet and then a group of about 15 Common Scoter flew past and we closely checked the group to make sure there wasnt any Velvet Scoter among them sadly there wasnt after about 40 minutes we decided to go for a short walk to look for some migrants all that we found was a couple of Meadow Pipits so we walked back to the car and planned where we were going next we decided to go to Hickling Broad.
We pulled up into the carpark and went through the visitors centre and made our way to the first hide. In the first hide we saw our first Moorhen of the trip and also heard some Bearded Tits but where was Ryan and Stuart after a quick phone call they had gone a different way so we decided to go and meet up with them. We met them on a mound and Paddy found a drake Garganey straight away we heard more Bearded tits and we saw some Marsh Harriers just flying around these bird seemed abundant in Norfolk they seemed like they were everywhere we then saw some birds of prey in the distance which we all scoped and found them to be Hobbies which was another new bird for the trip and new for the year for some of us. There was a couple of Common Terns flying around which was nice to see also when Ryan found a Wood Sandpiper which was a great bird to see and our 2nd of the trip.
We were talking about walking further round the reserve where the Common Cranes were apparently when i spotted 2 flying over the trees which was an amazing sight.
As we stood there a couple more birds flew in and dropped into the reeds so we decided to move further round the reserve when we had walked quite a way we stopped to look back on to the pools we were watching from another angle as some people said the Temmincks Stint was feeding there and after a short while we found the Stint feeding on the edge of the pool scurrying around probing the mud for its food. We carried on walking and we heard a cuckoo which briefly sang for a short period of time we then carried on walking till we came to a place at the back of Hickling Broad called Stubb Hill which is good for raptors in winter.
We sat on the benches and almost straight away a Common Crane took flight which was close in and flew out of view we then we scanning around and we saw a couple more Cranes some Hobby and 8 Dunlin flew through and also a Whimbrel after about 45 minutes we were talking about where to go for food as we were getting hungry and time was getting on so we decided to walk back to the car and go for food before heading to the Caravan on the way back to the Car we heard the Cuckoo singing again which is nice a few waders took flight as were walking back and it looked like the Temmincks was with them.
When we got back to the car i totted up the total for the day and it was 103 which was phenominal so we headed to the pub for food and a drink we decided we would be up at 6 in the morning do some sea watching from the caravan site and then head off.
My alarm went off at 550 up washed cup of tea and ready for some seawatching when the rain stopped. We were ready and out at 640 watching the Sea a Whitethroat was singing nearby the sea was quiet we had a handful of Gannets a flock of Common Scoter and then a Fulmar flew past us which was our first new bird of the day.
After about 40 minutes we decided we needed food so off to Maccy's in Cromer where a Toffee Nut Latte and a Mega Muffin sorted me out before we set off to head towards Salthouse to check the pools again to see if anything new had arrived.
We got there walked down the track Great White Egret Lapwing Little Egret and Avocets were showing well when 2 geese flew past us and i called 2 Barnacle Geese they landed everyone saw them but after a couple of minutes they took flight but no new migrants were on show so we decided to head to a place called
North Point Pool after a drive of around 30 minutes we puled into the car park we were hoping for Spotted Redshank here as 1 had been seen yesterday. As we piled out of the car Paddy scanned the fence line and said Whinchat which was a new bird for the trip and for the year we watched this bird for about 10 minutes as it worked its way away from us we then went for a walk and checked the pools for the Spotted Red after scanning every part of it no sign of the bird but we did hear a Lesser Whitethroat we decided to walk round further as there was an Estuary there we kept scanning for birds we added Little Tern to the trip list as there was 2 birds which flew in plenty of Brent Geese and we saw a couple of Whimbrel too and we heard a Curlew also but time was getting on so we had to press on and go to our last place on the trip Titchwell Marsh.
We pulled into the car park and set off for the reserve we came to the first pool and had a scan and Stuart found a Little Grebe which was a new bird for the trip there was Swifts and Sand Martins zipping over the water plenty of Black Headed Gulls as we walked past the first hide we scanned the 2nd pool and saw a Med Gull and 2 Common Gull which were new for the trip also there was Common Sandpiper too on here we decided to walk to the Sea and come back to the hide after a short distance Paddy heard a Grasshopper Warbler and we had all heard it after a couple of minutes.
It was very windy on the beach here Stuart soon found some Sanderling which was new for the trip and a good flock of 50 plus Common Scoter which kept disappearing behind the swell nothing else seemed to be moving on the sea which has been the story of the weekend so we decided to go to the hide and have a scan from there for a bit.
We got into the hide and started to scan there were Avocets and some Greylag Geese with chicks the Med Gull showed well from the hide and there was around 20 plus Sandwich Terns on the mud and a Little Tern flew in also which was nice to scope at a reasonable distance.
There was a few Common Sandpiper from this hide too but unfortunatley time was up and we had to make our way back to the car to set off home for the 2 and a half to 3 hour journey home adding Song Thrush to the weekend list which made a total of 115 species in a day and a half which i think is a bloody good effort.
It was a great weekend with some great friends we birded hard and had some laughs along the way but a truely enjoyable time was had by everyone and not long before my next birding adventure.
Thanks goes to Ryan Stuart Paddy for a great time and your pictures along with mine i hope has made this blog a joy to read
Happy Birding
Justin
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