Returning from the Pallas's Warbler twitch the kids asked if I wanted to go to a hotel in Norfolk that night. I said "No" but it turned out Ange had all but booked us into The Feathers in Dersingham, so "Yes" it was.
Dropping the family at the visitor centre at Cley for a late lunch I ploughed on down the East Bank to the shingle protecting Arnold's Marsh from the inudation of the storming North Sea. What an iconic spot this is, a place of childhood dreaming. Jono tells a good tale - as teens we found a Broad-billed Sandpiper with a couple of Dunlin one May day, we had some kind of hamlety cigar to celebrate and an old boy appeared as if from nowhere to give us a light, he then dissappeared, just like that - a ghostly encounter with the guardian of the East Bank Richard Richardson !!
No cigars or ghostly goings on these days but still great birds. I had kept an eye on the lengthening residency of an Isabelline Wheatear that had arrived a week or two earlier. It was very confiding at times which added to the appeal. My first views were distant but within minutes it flew straight towards us an dropped in a short distance away. What a belter.
It proceeded to sit atop fence posts and cross beams allowing full enjoyment of it's finer features and movements.
The following morning I did one of my favourite things and walked out to the beach at Titchwell in the gloaming and then took a saunter back enjoying the reserve without having to dodge the crowds. The sea was mill pond still but there wasn't huge numbers of birds, 8 flambouyant drake Long-tailed Duck being the highlight. On the freshmarsh troops of Plover and Avocet looking glorious.
A female Kestrel surveyed the grassland and showed well.
After a hearty breakfast we pottered along the coast taking in roadside Glossy Ibis, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret and the second showy Rough-legged Buzzard of the fortnight. I also got to photograph a dazzling Starling in it's finest garb. Happy Days.
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