Coming down to earth with a bang.

Having recently spent four great days birding in Norfolk with so many superb places to visit I knew I would have to come down to earth and do some local birding sometime so off I went early Saturday morning.

I hadn't been out birding for nearly a week after returning from Norfolk not only because of the weather but also because last Sunday I managed to put my back out bending down to pick a pen up.Not carrying a 3 seater settee up the stairs but picking up a pen!!!!!

Anyhow I arrived at Brandon Marsh pretty early in the morning and did OK to start with as there were 3 Green Sandpipers and 1 Common Sandpiper on the Teal Pool but then things went downhill from then on.

I spent over 3 hours in the Carlton hide (mainly because it was very showery and windy outside) and during that time all I saw was a brief visit from a male Bullfinch,some Common Whitethroats and a Song Thrush which gave an entertaining concert for a while.Not very inspiring and it was too dull to get any decent shots.

Luckily for me there were two birding friends in the hide (George and Bob) and the chat was very entertaining particularly when George told us about his other hobby of collecting autographed photos of celebrities.He had a couple of folders with him and looking through shots of models and pop stars took our mind off the poor birding going on outside the hide.You wouldn't need to do this at Cley or Titchwell!!!

Here are some shots which illustrate how dire things were.Mind you if I'd had the stamina to last out in the hide till evening people are getting great shots of Barn Owls that hunt close by.