Norfolk Trip - Day 2

Wheatear

The weather on Thursday morning was very good so straight after breakfast I headed down the good old A149 to Cley but when I was negotiating the narrow section in the middle of Stiffkey a cement lorry was coming down the other way.Some fun and games were had as we crept path each other.

At Cley I headed for the Bishop hide as I find this the best hide in the mornings for spotting anything that might be about.The light seems to be poor from the trio of hides in the middle and awful from the North hide making it difficult to see anything so I usually give those hides a miss.

From the Bishop hide there were some Spotted Redshanks in various states of moulting,a couple of Common Sandpipers,several Green Sandpipers and 4 Wood Sandpipers together with loads of Black-tailed Godwits and Dunlins.Annoyingly nothing was close to the hide so I hardly took any shots.I had to look through a powerful scope to see one of the Wood Sandpipers.

I then decided to walk the East bank where there were at least 15 Curlew in the cattle field and a small flock of Meadow Pipits.On Arnolds Marsh everything was miles away but I could spot 5 Little Egrets,a lone Whimbrel and a couple of Sandwich Terns.

A pleasant picnic lunch on the shingle bank was followed by a walk along the beach but the only bird of note I spotted was a lone Wheatear that would not let me get close.

After some tea I went for an evening walk at Titchwell.I was surprised to see that the sea wall works were still going on but again the birds on the freshmarsh didn't seem to mind as there were loads of them about.From the Island hide with the evening sun in the west the waders were showing very well.A Water Rail showed to the right of the hide then some Bearded Tits came out to feed on the mud.A Hobby flew in and had a go at the Dunlin but didn't have much success.

A good day birding and walking but poor for getting any decent shots.I didn't see a single Marsh Harrier at Cley so I can only assume that they were on holiday.