We had much better weather on our last day in Norfolk and we started out at Holmes Dunes NWT reserve, once again looking for Turtle Dove. We arrived an hour before the gate opened so we started to park up near the houses. As we approached we saw a couple of birders so we pulled up alongside them and asked if they had seen anything. To our great surprise the head that popped inside the car window was that of Andy Bunting, the main bird lister at Martin Mere and one of the two chaps who run the In Focus shop there. They hadn’t seen anything much yet and hadn’t heard any Turtle Doves.
Starting out we took a walk along the coastal path that backs the very fancy houses that are along the dirt track that runs from the main road to the reserve. We walked almost as far as the golf course without really seeing anything and then walked back to the car by which time the gates had opened and we went down the track to the reception where we had a cup of tea and checked the sightings. We were told that Lesser WHitethroats were among the sand dunes so we thought we should try for them. There were indeed lots of birds in the sand dunes but they mmainly seemed to be Linnets.
We walked all the way to where we had earlier parked the car and then came back along the coastal path looking out for anything of interest. Once again, it turned out to be a poor showing. Perhaps we should have persevered but a little disappointed we thoguht we would try our luck at Titchwell instead.
We returned to the car and slowly drove down the drive looking out for anything of interest or at least an interesting song. Then I heard the unmistakeable reeling of a Grasshopper Warbler. We didn’t want to get out of the car in case we flushed it so we sat there just listening. As I looked around in the direction I thought it was coming from I suddenly saw it out in the open on an outer branch of a shrub about five foot from the ground. We both managed to get excellent views of the bird singing and to the best of my recollection this is actually the first time I have ever seen a Grasshopper Warbler sing.
We watched for quite a while before it flew off and suddenly our disappointing morning was looking up. We wondered if we would have more luck at Titchwell so we headed off there.
Bird Sightings Holmes Dunes NWT 9th May 2019
| Common Shelduck | 4 |
| Mallard | 6 |
| Common Pheasant | 1 |
| Common Buzzard | 1 |
| Northern Lapwing | 4 |
| Common Redshank | 1 |
| Eurasian Curlew | 1 |
| Black-headed Gull | 6 |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 8 |
| Common Cuckoo | 1 |
| Eurasian Magpie | 2 |
| Eurasian Jackdaw | 6 |
| Barn Swallow | 4 |
| Common Chiffchaff | 1 |
| Sedge Warbler | 3 |
| Common Grasshopper Warbler | 1 |
| Common Whitethroat | 1 |
| Song Thrush | 1 |
| Mistle Thrush | 2 |
| Common Starling | 8 |
| Dunnock | 2 |
| Pied Wagtail | 2 |
| Meadow Pipit | 1 |
| Common Chaffinch | 2 |
| European Goldfinch | 8 |
| Common Linnet | 20 |