Winter Birding in North Norfolk...

The north Norfolk coast in winter is a very special place - huge open skies, vast expanses of saltmarsh and large numbers of wintering bird species. I've been lucky enough to visit a few times now and I went up there again for a week in early January this year - although most days being clear and sunny, though the force 7 north-easterly wind did make it rather chilly to say the least!

My first location of the trip was RSPB Titchwell Marsh, where 5 years ago I saw my first ever Bearded Tit and Bittern.

The scrapes and reedbeds were very quiet, with just a few Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon to be seen. Down on the beach there were a few more bits around, including a flock of 200+ Bar-tailed Godwit and a group of 6 Sanderling. 

Titchwell is a very reliable site to see Sanderling in winter - as the species is site-faithful, they will often return to the same site year on year.

Sanderling have a rather sweet feeding habit, where they run along the tide line, probing for food as they go, then quickly scurrying away as the incoming tide washes over.

I sat by a groin on the beach as the tide was coming in, waiting for the Sanderlings to hopefully come a little closer. I didn't have to wait long as they soon ran past, probing in the wet sand, pulling up the odd lungworm or two as they went.

Sanderling are a winter migrant from the high Arctic, favouring the east coast of Britain. They are also a passage migrant, passing through as they migrate even further south. 

One of my favourite wading birds, and also one of our smallest.

Wareham Greens, just west of Wells-next-the-Sea, is an area of saltmarsh which Hen Harriers often roost in during winter. Having never seen a Hen Harrier roost before I was really keen to see them especially as there had been fairly good numbers reported. 

I set out late one afternoon, arriving at around 3pm. Whilst I waited for the Hen Harriers to appear, I was pleased to spot the 2cy (calendar year) female Pallid Harrier which had also been roosting there for quite a few weeks. 

It's rather difficult to see in this (very blurry!) record shot, but if you look just below the neck there's a slight bulge. That's the full crop, showing that just before it had come into roost it had a fairly good feed. 

Pallid Harrier is a vagrant from Eastern Europe - they used to be extremely rare in Britain, but the species is now becoming an annual vagrant, with often multiple birds in the country.

After about 2 hours of waiting the first Hen Harrier finally appeared. It was this rather lovely 3cy male, my first ever 'grey' male. It flew low the ground, occasionally popping above the horizon, before pitching down into the saltmarsh to roost.

It will have already reached breeding maturity, and will only have one more winter until it acquires it's full grey adult plumage, loosing the faint traces of brown it still shows on its back.

In the end I recorded 4 Hen Harrier that evening, this male, a 2cy male, a 2cy female and a 1cy ringtail.

Just as the light was fading, this stunning Barn Owl silently glided past me, having just roosted during the day 20 meters down the track in a dead tree.

It was closely followed by a male Merlin, which whizzed past me and on to the saltmarsh. 

Geese are one of the main draw to the north Norfolk coast in Winter, especially the huge flocks of Pink-footed Geese, who are wintering on this stretch of coast having bred in Iceland. The sight of 60,000+ 'pinks' heading out to roost on the mudflats is a special sight. Their soft 'wink wink' call is such a atmospheric noise, really bringing the miles of saltmarsh alive.

The other wintering species of goose which descends on this stretch of the coast in large numbers is the Brent Goose. They aren't in quite the same numbers as the Pink-feet; I recorded around 2,500 during the trip. 

There are two main sub-species of Brent Goose - hrota (pale-bellied) which migrate from the Canadian Arctic and bernicla (dark-bellied) which migrate from the Eurasian Arctic. Bernicla is by far the most common in Britain, while in Ireland, hrota is often more often seen. 

Holkham Gap was only around 10 minutes drive away from where I was staying, so on a blustery morning, I headed out in the hopes of seeing my top species I wanted to see on this trip - Shorelark, a scarce winter migrant from Scandinavia. Holkham is one of the last remaining reliable sites where you can still still these birds, so the chances of seeing them was fairly good. 

Once arrived at the designated roped-off area, I began to scan with my scope and quickly manged to locate a flock of 14, shuffling quickly along the sand. Their lemony-yellow washed faces and black masks stood out against the darker sand, making them quite obvious to spot, even though they were a good hundred meters away. They were quite active, often flying up and landing a little way off, before flying back round again.

Such fantastic little birds!

Seeing a flock of 14 Shorelark was, of course, fantastic, but just a few decades ago, flocks of 40+ wouldn't be uncommon along Britain's east coast. 

Like other winter migrants, numbers are steadily declining in Britain. It isn't however always because their overall population size is declining, it can be due to short stopping; temperatures in their breeding areas aren't sufficiently low enough to drive them onwards towards Britain, in search of food and more hospitable weather. So, instead, they overwinter further north and don't migrant across to Britain. 

We're seeing this in quite a few other species as well, such as Bean Goose and Snow Bunting, both of which I would have expected to see in quite good numbers during winter on the north Norfolk coast 25 or so years ago. It also is happening to Bewick's Swan, which I talked about in a recent blog post which you can see by clicking here. 
On the other hand, southern European species, such as Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Glossy Ibis and Black-winged Stilt are becoming far more regular in Britain, and in fact have even started to breed. 

Perhaps the most well-known nature reserve on this stretch of coast is Cley Marshes, one of the first real birding meccas back in the 60's and 70's, and is a great spot to see migrating waders, seabirds and passerines during spring and autumn, with winter being a quieter period on the whole.

Whilst walking along the seawall towards the beach, I quickly scanned the saltmarsh on my left and picked up a flock of 45+ finches - as they began to draw closer I could pick up a distinctive 'twaa-it' call - it was a flock of Twite, another bird I was really hoping I'd see on this trip. They flew over my head, heading off towards Salthouse. 

I was rather relieved to have seen them, as just the previous day, I'd followed up a record of 26 at Blakeney Point. However, at the exact same spot they had been reported, there was a flock of 26 Linnet...!

Twite are a scarce bird in Britain, with around 8,000 breeding pairs. The birds which I saw will have probably bred in the Pennines, North York Moors or perhaps Scotland, and are overwintering along in the slightly less harsh environment of North Norfolk. 

A little further down the path, I stopped and scanned Eye Field, picking up a flock of Skylark feeding on the ground. As I quickly went through them (checking for Woodlark - you never know!) my bins settled on a greyish looking pipit. Quickly running through the ID features in my head, my thoughts were confirmed; it was a Water Pipit, a scarce winter migrant from eastern Europe. Its not the most striking marked 'wipit' in the world, which was why I had to give it some thought before I was sure on the ID. 

Often, the flanks and underparts are cleanly-cut white, whereas on this one they're quite grubby looking. The stand-out features though that makes it look very different to most other pipits is the very grey back and very well marked supercilium. 

The rest of Cley was very quiet on the whole, with 6 Red-throated Diver, 3 Eider and 20+ Common Scoter offshore.

Perhaps the most magical experience from the whole trip was on the last day. Just as we were driving down the A149 close to Stiffkey, I noticed three Brown Hare in the field opposite. Pulling over, I got out and made my way into the field, crouching down in front of the hedge, positioning myself downwind of the hares so they wouldn't be able to smell me. Soon after, 3 more ran out of a hedge and began to frolic around, fighting, jumping and even mating once or twice! They began to wander off though, so I began to make my way back to the car. Just then, I spotted a hare who had just appeared on the horizon was coming towards me - I stopped dead still as it ran slowly past me, briefly stopping just a few meters in front of me. It quickly carried on and further away, off into the field.

One of my best wildlife encounters I'd say!

A fitting way to finish off a fantastic trip. The north Norfolk coast in winter is a very special place and I'm sure I'll be back again soon...