Where the wind blows

With some sunny weather promised we decided to go and have a trip to North Norfolk. Its always a lovely part of the world albeit one with a bit of a reputation for being a bit cold. This morning was no exception. Although the car said it was about 3C when you got out it felt a lot colder. The wind blows all the way from the Siberian steppes and it felt like it. The sun was shining and the coast looked lovely in the early morning light. 

We were combining birding with a bit of general sightseeing so the first stop was a quick in and out to year-tick fulmar on the cliff at Hunstanton. After that we settled down into a more typical routine. First stop was at Titchwell where most of the usual suspects played ball. 

The RSPB have been doing a lot of work recently so the freshmarsh seemed a bit raw with lots of bare mud on the new bunds. Don't know if this was the reason but the number of birds seemed a lot lower than normal albeit the variety was still there. 

The only bird close enough to get a half-decent photo was this sanderling on the beach although to be fair I was more focused on spotting than species laying down on the sand for eye-level photos. The tide was very high as well so not many opportunities for waders to feed on the beach. 

Knot, godwits, spotted and common redshank, avocet, ringed plover, brent and pink-footed geese plus assorted others all kept the year-list ticking over. Marsh harriers kept the smaller birds in motion as they quartered the marsh and a few red-throated divers flew past the beach.

After a quick stop to grab supplies at Gurneys fish shop we went to Holkham. The car-parking at Lady Annes drive never gets any cheaper and it was rammed with dog walkers! The roped off area was working well and there was a  nice flock of 30 or so snow buntings feeding actively.

A little group of 5 sanderling were showing quite close to the path as well, rather than in their usual position of the tide-edge.

Unfortunately we couldn't find the shore larks which are normally there, but the wind was blowing pretty hard and rain showers were starting to come through so we didn't look that hard. I did manage to find both common and velvet scoter

After this we tried for the iceland gull at Cley but by the time we got there it had gone, presumably to roost for the night as we were getting on a bit in the afternoon and lots of other gulls were loafing around in pre-roosts on the marsh.

A long but rewarding day. Added 25 birds to the year list, taking me to 99 so far with lots of common birds still to get. Need to get some quality into it though if I'm going to get close to my record of 273.