At a bit of a loss as to what to do as the weather got duller and starting drizzling lightly, Anne hit on the idea of going towards Fakenham to the Sculthorpe Moore Hawk and Owl Trust Reserve, a place we had not heard of before. Despite the weather we at least managed to get a good year tick there.
May 2019 archive
May 06 2019
Holmes Dunes NWT 6th May 2019
Our visit to Holmes Dunes left us without any trace of Turtle Dove. They have been seen and heard recently but the poor weather has not been conducive to them singing. We had a walk around, down by the houses adn in the dunes but everything seemed to have gone back to bed after the nice start to the day. As the weather got a bit windier in the afternoon we had to settle for Cuckoo calling and not much else. We weren’t sure what to do now – except perhaps try elsewhere for better weather.
May 06 2019
Titchwell Marsh RSPB 6th May 2019
The weather held up in the morning and we felt we were in for a great day of birding. Although we planned to go to a few sites during the day, after Chosely it seemed logical to drop in at RSPB Titchwell. We were glad we did because we got an excellent year tick among the forty species we saw in a couple of hours.
May 06 2019
Thornham 6th May 2019
The morning of the 6th saw much better weather so I got up early for a walk down to the marsh, then back up to the start of the reed beds and over to the silted-up harbour, all just minutes from the front door of the cottage. The first sound I heard after opening the door was a Cuckoo and that set the tone for the day.
May 06 2019
Dotterel and Golden Plover at Chosely Drying Barns 6th May 2019
Our first port of call was Chosely Drying Barns again as we had read reports that a very few Dotterel had been seen in the fields. When we arrived there, there were already a few birders out there and locating the bird – for there was only one that we could see – was a case of finding the Golden Plover first and then looking to the right of that!
May 05 2019
Holmes Dunes NWT 5th May 2019
We left Burnham Overy Staithe and headed back homeward then continued on to NWT Holmes Dunes. We were hoping to see or at least hear Turtle Doves but we were to be disappointed. The truth of the matter is that on dull, cold and windy days nothing much wants to show iself and certainly not Turtle Doves. The general impression seems to be that the bad weather has stalled migrations bit. Still, we were there and did our best.
May 05 2019
Burnham Overy Staithe 5th May 2019
With the weather continuing to be poor we were a bit put out but reports of a Purple Heron not too far away, at Burnham Overy Staithe. We had tried for this unsuccessfully the day before but we met a woman at Titchwell who gave us a better idea of where we might find it. We headed out along the Norfolk coastal path and eventually found a photogrpaher who pointed it out to us. By now it was further away than it had been before but scoped views were ok. We also found a Whimbrel in the same field giving us two year ticks for the price of one.
May 04 2019
Chosely Drying Barns and Hunstanton Cliffs 4th May 2019
After the rain at Titchwell we were inclined to go shopping for some supplies we had forgoten to get yesterday for which we would go to the supermarket in Hunstanton. We thought we could fit in a bit of car birding on the way though and in doing so got two year ticks.
May 04 2019
Titchwell Marsh RSPB 4th May 2019
Unfortunately the weather had not improved much from yesterday but we decided to give Titchwell a go – after all it was only a mile down the road. We were at the reserve before the visitor centre was open so we headed straight down towards the Parrinder hides. We stopped half way down at the Island hide to get some relief from the rain and the very high winds. As we were sitting there it started to hail and the haiil was actaully coming through the gaps in the windows and forming small piles on the floor. We waited for it to stop and we ventured out again.
May 03 2019
Cley Nature Reserve NWT 3rd May 2019
The first week of our holiday ended when we left Horning and headed towards Thornham where we were due to spend a week at the cottage we have previously hired from our “friends” Tom and Anita. It was a bit of a drive and we wanted to do some shopping for food and drink and to get settled in at the cottage so we only had time for one stop on the way and that was at NWT Cley.