Thursday 25th January 2024: Cley and Holkham

 Tim started the day well with a Barn Owl quartering the field from our bedroom before breakfast. Unfortunately it had disappeared into a corner before I was able to find it, and failed to reappear. 

With a poor forecast for the morning but better by lunchtime, we decided to head straight to Cley reserve and then work our way back towards Thornham. Shortly before we arrived, a report came through of Twite on the West Bank of Beach Road. This was also the area where Red-breasted Goose and Ruddy Shelduck were being reported, so it sounded promising and would save us a trip to Blakeney if we were able to find them.

We started at the car park, where a huge flock of distant geese were just visible in the dip. We set up the scopes, but it was very drizzly, and within moments my lens was covered in rain, and with the low light it was obvious I was not going to find anything. Another birder had his scope set up and pointed out a Ruddy Shelduck, apparently so far off it resembled an orange blob, but Tim was not able to make this out and I didn’t even try. A gunshot went off and the geese took to the air making further study impossible. A group of Brent Geese landed in a small pool just in front of us, but no Red-breasted was amongst them. 

We decided to try again later when the weather improved and drove back down the road towards the visitor centre. A tight flock of passerines caught my eye, so we pulled over and tracked them until they disappeared into the saltmarsh, out of sight. They had the jizz of Twite, and didn’t resemble Linnet, the only other likely suspects. After a few minutes they rose up again and circled around before landing on the path right ahead of us at some distance. We edged cautiously closer, and eventually managed to pick out a pink rump and yellow bill, both diagnostic features. We failed to find this species last year, so were rather pleased with this result. 

Next we toured the hides, mainly to shelter from the rain. Little new was found here, the lowly Canada Goose and a sleeping Snipe our only additions! However we had some great views of ducks and finally managed decent scope views of Pink-footed Geese, having only seen them in flight or at a distance previously on the trip.

We paused at the visitor centre for a hot drink and snack, while Sue went for a walk adding Kingfisher to her list. We returned to Beach Road to try again for the rarer geese species, but without success. Having missed the Shore Lark yesterday, I was keen to return for another try, since Norfolk is the only place we were likely to find them. 

Parking at St Anne’s Drive, I was pleased to spot a few Ruff feeding in the grass amongst the Redshanks, a new annual tick for us all. Then we set off yet again for the elusive Shore Lark. They gave us the run around once more, with us almost departing from the west side of the beach before they were reported on the east side. We trekked across the saltmarsh and finally managed to see them on the sandy beach, Sue getting scope views, while my detour to avoid wet feet meant they disappeared as soon as I set up my scope. Luckily I had viewed them through my bins first! Another chance to see the vast flotilla of Scoters was also worthwhile.

We returned home via Burnham Norton, in the faint hope of a Barn Owl, but none were found. 

Shore Lark (S Miles)