North Norfolk meanderings

We seem to be set for a period of warm weather coming up. Perhaps not Spring per se but certainly something to get nature revved up for it. When I set out very early for Norfolk it didn't seem like that though. It was still pretty chilly and slightly foggy. By the time I got to Cley just after 7.30 it was very grey. There was a slight hint of a sunrise trying to break thorough the low mist but my first coffee of the day was very welcome.

The reason I was here was to try and connect with a glaucous gull. This has been resident for a few weeks now feasting on one of the seal carcasses on the beach.

This was about halfway between the shelter and the north end of the east bank. I parked up in the East bank carpark and walk down the bank to the beach. I got a year-tick as I was walking as a party of bearded tits flew off, pinging as they went. The marsh was alive with calls as birds woke up and the flocks of geese flew around.

I eventually found the seal and scanned out over the nearby beach and pools. There were lots of ducks including a large flock of my favourite duck, the pintail. Must have been over 50 of them. Within a very few minutes I got onto a small party of gulls having a wash and brush-up!

One of them stood out immediately, with its overall creamy colouration and lack of any large black highlights. This was the juvenile glaucous gull.

I watched if for about 90 minutes as other birders arrived as well. We were all hoping it would finish its ablutions and come up to the beach and feed.

Although it was very instructive in giving us a good view of the wing patterns of juvenile glaucous gulls and their comparison to other large gulls it did not seem hungry. Even after all the other gulls had flown off it just carried on mooching around and preening itself. I did get a nice view of a marsh harrier hunting the pool near it but even that didn't persuade it to move on.

With other targets to try and see I finally gave up and moved off along the coast. Next stop was at Thornham harbour for the twite. These small finches are a regular here and are very reliable, normally lurking around the car park area. This time they were ridiculously easy, as four other birders already had them located. Even better, within a couple of minutes they all flew up and the whole flock of 13 birds sat on the same post for us to see and count them.

They are often confused with, and fly around with, linnets. You can tell them apart though by the light-coloured stumpy beak. One of them has a coloured ring which I'm sure means something to someone! On the way out I had a bonus bird. I saw a car pulled over to the verge and someone looking into what I though was an empty field. On close inspection though I saw a light shape on the fence line - a barn owl sitting out in the sunshine (yes, the weather had cleared up quite nicely!!).

I did nip into Titchwell after this. Although it was good, as ever, most birds were quite distant feeding on the marshes. I did get one more year tick with a lone eider mooching about miles out off the coast. I then doubled back down the coast to Sculthope Moor. This small reserve just outside Fakenham isn't a place I often go to. It has been reporting both mealy and lesser redpolls coming to the feeders though. I paid my donation to get in and found the local warden. He pointed me to the feeding site and within no more than a minute I had both redpoll and siskin. One redpoll was even in breeding plumage with a beautiful red breast.

 The next challenge though was to separate the two redpoll species, only recently split into two. The common, or mealy redpoll, is actually the less common bird here, most of the are the lesser redpoll.

There are two distinct characteristics which you can use, both of which are shown above. The mealy are larger and are much greyer in their plumage. As you can see, the left-hand bird is much colder in its plumage compared to the warmer, browner tones on the right. Not a prize winning photo but quite instructive nevertheless. There were also marsh tits and treecreepers in the surrounding area. As a last stop I went back to Cley hoping to catch the glaucous gull in some better light. It was nowhere to be seen but the flock of snow bindings were showing well on the shingle.

Another really good day with 6 year ticks in the bag. The journey home was a trek as an accident had closed the A505 causing a large diversion down country lanes but it only slightly took the gloss off it. Up to 173 for the year now, way better than any previous year. Still hoping for 180 by end of Feb but I'm running out of "easy" birds to get now!!!!