Albatros is moored up on Wells quayside and turned out to be a funky place for an overnight stay during a winter birding trip with great birding pals. It was the re-convening of a Cambridgeshire Bird Race team of many moons ago as Jono Leadley travelled down from the northlands to join me, Mark Hawkes and big bad Ben Green for a few days out in Norfolk. Saturday was drizzly and grim to start and got progressively damper during the day. We started optimistically around Santon Warren but failed to connect with Parrot Crossbills, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker or any Otters. We did have some excellent views of several Water Rail along the riverside which were a delight.
Our optimism continued unabated as we took lunch at a Goshawk spot, it was never going to happen. As the drizzle turned to rain we moved to Great Massingham where we did see some of the Hawfinches that have been feeding in the churchyard Yews. Heading to the coast we stumbled upon a big flock of Pink-feet and following some group reflections upon our search images for Tundra Bean Goose and possible short cuts when scanning big flocks of pinks, Jono aced some bright orange legs. The rest of the features quickly snapped into place once we had all pinpointed the bird amongst the masses. The rain teemed down and curtains of water were drawn across the fields, this was not fair weather birding.
We continued with birding from the car and drove down to the quayside at Thornham where we watched a posse of Twite buzz around and watched a few of these beguiling finches , "yellow nebbed linte" as they're called in Caithness, more closely as they fed on saltmarsh seed heads. Onwards through the cold and gloom to look for a Hooded Crow reported around Choseley. We found this bedraggled and wet enough to look black in all the wrong places suggesting a hybrid, pictures of the bird over following days revealed a better suite of plumage for a Hoodie. This was our last birding of the day before boarding the Albatros settling into our cabins and then heading out for some well earned beers and food.
Next morning dawned bright, we had an unfortunate but swiftly changed flat tyre and headed out to Holkham Gap where we had a lovely quarter of an hour with 9 Shore Larks, who were happy to move closer and closer towards us. They (and we) were not so happy when some folk with big lenses arrived who were only too happy to move closer and closer towards the birds which sent them skittish and away across the marsh. We left, as they continued in pursuit and we made our feelings clear and known.
After a really hearty cooked breakfast back aboard the Albatros we pottered along the coast to Kelling where we couldn't find a Redpoll never mind anything starting to look like any of the Arctic Redpolls that have been here. We cut our losses and went to Letheringsett with seeing Arctic Redpolls still our aim. We did have more luck here with views of one of the Arctic's but not for long enough to really drink in, or even photograph. With the sun up and a breeze we decided that Goshawks might fancy some display and headed back to the Brecks. By the time we got their the clouds had drawn in and drizzle threatened. I saw a Gos clipping the skyline and a couple of Buzzards, Red Kite and a Peregrine kept the interest up. A repeat walk around Santon Warren did not live up to our hopes but did mark my resolve to return on a pristine morning to give myself half a chance of seeing Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. We were home late afternoon, not exactly tea and medals but we'd had some good birding in fits and starts and enjoyed a great catch-up.
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