Norfolk Trip Report

Friday 22nd saw us heading up to the North Norfolk coast straight after work and after a horrendous 3-4 hour journey battling our way through the bank holiday rush, we arrived at our rental cottage in Stiffkey and met up with our companions for the week, including Jumble the Irish Terrier.

The following day after a very boozy first evening, we departed for a walk from the cottage east that took us past Stiffkey Fen, along the coast path to Morston, where we had a Crab Sandwich lunch and then continued our walk to Blakeney.  We took a coffee break in Blakeney, then continued along the path which circled round the marshes ending up at Cley.  After stocking up on provisions from the Cley deli, we caught the Coasthopper bus back to the cottage, all exhausted.

Black Tailed Godwit

We decided to take Sunday as a rest day and drove to Morston then ambled back to Stiffkey Fen where we took in some delights along the way and on the Fen which included Spotted Redshank, Curlew Sandpipers, Ruff and Spoonbills.  After a lunch stop at Salthouses at the famous seafood hut, we strolled to the sea along the public footpath then sat on the beach watching Sandwich Terns being attacked by two Arctic Skua and a Great Skua flying by before walking back to the car down the beach road.  On the way back to the cottage we stopped by Cley east bank car park and strolled out to the sea again, watching Bearded Tits, Sedge and Reed Warblers along the way.

On Monday, after an early start at Stiffkey Marshes where there was a mini fall of migrants, mostly Blackcaps, I went off on my own for some birding (which proved to be fruitless due to torrential rain) and my birder's wife and the other members of our party visited Blickling Hall.  The next day we decided to do another big walk and opted that time to travel west from the cottage along the coast path, making it all the way to Holkham with another trip on the Coasthopper bus back home.

Grey Plover (in the middle)

Pied Flycatcher

Wednesday was to be our big day with us tackling Blakeney Point and back.  The way out seemed to be fairly easy and we were rewarded with good views of two Wrynecks.  We had our lunch looking at the plantation, watching two Willow Warblers, a Pied Flycatcher and a Whinchat.  The way back seemed to go on for ever...................................When we finally returned to the cottage I then opted for another walk out to Stiffkey Marshes to try and look for a Greenish Warbler that had been seen there earlier but despite an extensive seach by myself and other birders, we could not relocate the bird.

I jumped out of bed on Thursday morning at 6:30am (or more like creaked out, as I was aching from the previous day) and walked out to the coast path near Stiffkey Marshes to look for the Greenish Warbler again.  After 90 minutes of nothing, except for a brief call (which I was beginning to think I had imagined), I decided to give up and began walking back towards the car.  At that moment, a warbler flew across the path emitting the unmistakeable call of a Greenish Warbler.  I managed to obtain brief views over the following couple of minutes before it disappeared for 20 minutes only to call a few more times giving tantalising but brief views.  The rest of the day, I spent round the Gun Hill area and Burnham Overy dunes seeing nothing much at all except for Whitethroats and a Whinchat.  Before heading back to the cottage, me and my birder's wife decided to try and look for an Icterine Warbler in Wells Woods.  The search proved to be fruitless but I did meet another birder who also had seen the Greenish Warbler in the same place as me, a bit later on in the morning between 9:00am and 10:15am.

After saying goodbye to our good friends and Jumble on Friday, we made our way back home, stopping by Titchwell for a final walk to the sea and back with the highlight being a Great White Egret in the reed bed.