Norfolk - 18.10.13

 

Snow Buntings

 

After a morning cuppa I said my goodbyes and headed up the A12. As I drove over the bridge next to Breydon Water I counted 13 Little Egret! Shortly after I arrived at Hemsby where a Yellow-Browed Warbler, Ring Ouzel and Brambling had been reported on Twitter. After a 20 minute wander I had only seen a fly over Lesser Redpoll for my troubles. I checked the pager and noticed 4 Glossy Ibis were flying along the north Norfolk coast and heading south along the east coast. I drove up to Winterton Dunes and positioned myself with 3 others who had had the same idea. Messages from Overstrand and then Waxham had us on alert but then the news came that they had headed inland near Waxham and disappeared! How frustrating! A female Marsh Harrier and 3 Buzzard were at the far north end of the dunes and a quick look at the sea produced 8 Brent Geese flying north. I went down onto the beach after being told of a group of Snow Bunting so I carefully walked along the beach when suddenly they flew in and landed 20 feet away. I counted 24 birds and took some photos of them too. On the way back to the car I had a scan over the sea and picked out a group of scoters. There were at least 25 female type Common Scoter but in  with them I was surprised to see 5 male Velvet Scoter! After this I headed home via a quick stop at Sandon to try for Grey Partridge and Yellowhammer but only succeeded in seeing 130 Lapwing and a 300 strong flock of Linnet!