Off we go again

Another new year, another new year list! I got a short walk in around the aquadrome to get the list going, but the first proper trip was to Norfolk with Judith. We had decided in advance what we were doing, unfortunately the weather did not decide to play ball with us. Even worse, the traffic also was a pain, so it took us well over 3 hours to get to the coast wirh the rain starting to come down pretty persistently when we arrived.
The first two stops were total wash-outs. Holme, for the tree sparrows, was abandoned due to the rain coming down so hard all the birds were sheltering in the hedge. The second stop, Thornham for the twite, was also wet but the main problem was that the tide was so high it had flooded the road and so we couldn't get past! We did try again later when the tide fell but the birds were nowhere to be seen, hardly surprising as it was now hailing!! This caused an alteration of plans and we dived into a farm shop to get out of the rain and to stock up on supplies, mainly Norfolk apple juice!
By the time we had finished the rain was relenting so we moved the short distance down the coast to Titchwell. This is always the go-to place for getting your year list ticking over. With the weather getting better as we walked out onto the reserve it didn't disappoint. No real rare birds around but lots of waders including spotted redshank, sanderling, both godwits, turnstones and avocets, scoter and long-tailed ducks on the sea and marsh harriers on the, well, marsh, all added up.
One thing we did notice, and which was a them for the day, was the number of geese in the air. You always get lots of pink-footed geese at this time of year, but large skeins in classic v formation were almost constantly flying over. A lot of the movement I imagine was caused by the tide, which was falling through the morning and so the geese were presumably relocating to the mudflats in the Wash as they appeared. Lovely to see and lovely to hear though.
After a brief stroll round Burnham Market and its trendy shops we moved down the coast to Holkham looking for the white-fronted geese, but the fields were empty of geese (see note above!). I did pick up a great white egret at great distance on the marsh which was nice, albeit they are now becoming pretty regular sightings.
Finally, and with the weather closing in again we moved right down to Salthouse, just past Cley. A flock of 60 or 70 snow buntings were in residence at Gramborough Hill, which is a short walk from the car park. Fortunately as we pulled in another birder was leaving who confirmed they were still there. It was not almost 3 and the light was going and rain starting to fall but we romped the few hundred yards to where3 or 4 others were petering at a patch of beach. You could see birds moving and on getting closer they transformed into one of my favourite birds, the snow bunting. These proved to be relatively confiding, as they often are, add so despite the light and rain I did manage to fire off a few photos, virtually the only ones I took all day!

 Not the best photos in the world, but with a bit of lightroom magic you can make it look like it was almost sunny!!

The rain then started to lash it down so we romped back to the car, had some of the apple juice we bought earlier to refresh ourselves and started the slog back home. Not a bad start to year with a few good birds seen and the Xmas cobwebs certainly blown away!