After Norfolk a trip to Brandon Marsh.

The trouble with going birding in Norfolk is that you have to return home and go birding locally so it was with little joy I went to Brandon on Monday lunchtime.

As it happened it was not too bad at all.In the Teal pool were 4 Greenshanks,2 Green Sandpipers and 3 Common Snipe.

From the Carlton hide there were 2 Greenshanks,1 Common Snipe,2 Green Sandpipers,a juvenile Water Rail,a Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk.

The bad news was that I saw no Hobbies and no Kingfishers allthough they had been around.

Norfolk Trip - Day 3

Friday morning with the weather fine again I decided to have another go at Cley hoping this time to do better with the camera than yesterday before heading home after lunch.

Entered the Bishops hide at 9.00AM and found the birds from yesterday were all still about but this time they were a little closer even one of the Wood Sandpipers was a little closer and was now only half a mile away!!!!!.

The best of the new birds seen included a juvenile Garganey that settled down in the grass near the hide (others ID this bird I thought it was a small Mallard),some Golden Plovers,a couple of Grey Plovers,a lovelly Whinchat that stayed for a while but just too far off for a decent shot,a Little Egret that flew in and landed just to the left of the hide but the very best of all was a Spoonbill that flew in not far from the hide and stayed for a while before moving further away.Annoyingly when it was flying in I was looking away and missed some flight shots.What a twit!!!!!!!

After lunch in the centre I left for home.A good trip with a few decent shots but no life ticks.

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.

Norfolk Trip - Day 1

Denied in recent weeks of some birding on the coast because of the awful summer weather and ignoring the fact that it was not yet good for birding and it was still the school holidays when the weather man told me it would be good weather in East Anglia in the middle of the week I booked up and shot off to Norfolk early on Wednesday morning.It was dull when I set out and by the time I got to Kings Lynn the rain came falling down.Well done weatherman you've got me again!!!!

Allthough I knew the sea wall works had started I headed to Titchwell because I could shelter from the rain in a hide.The new Island hide was up and running so I slipped in there out of the rain.The Parinder hide was a pile of rubble and there was a lot of heavy and noisey equipment working on the new sea wall.The water level on the fresh marsh was very low and despite the work going on there were plenty of birds around with a Little Stint,4 Curlew Sandpipers,loads of Dunlin and a couple of Spotted Redshanks in the range of my bins from the Island hide.A walk to the beach found it very quiet with a few Turnstone,some Knot and a few Sanderlings the only birds I could see.The brackish marsh had been drained to allow the works to carry on so no birds on there.

Yipppeeee!!!!! the rain stopped after lunch and it brightened up so I thought I'd go to Thornam harbour and take the walk to Holme.The muddy creeks had a few waders including a BT Godwit,a couple of Curlew and a handsome Grey Plover.The walk to Holme was very pleasant in the sunshine but birdwise was a complete waste of time and I saw absolutely nothing.

I was now knackered so off to the hotel.

It's stopped raining.

After raining for the best part of two days it finally stopped at lunchtime today so I went across to Marsh Lane just to get out in the open air if nothing else.

Saw the Water Rail on the causeway again but it was so close and so quick I failed to get a shot off before it dived into the reeds.

As I couldn't see anything special from the hides and having recently been upgraded by the BIF committee from level 9 (dreadful) to level 8 (poor) I thought I'd practice some "birds in flight shots" and try for another upgrade soon.

Some of shots taken above which can be clicked to get a larger version.

Marsh Lane visit.

Surprise surprise Sunday morning was dry and the sun was out so I popped across to Marsh Lane to see if anything was about to point the camera at.

Luckily a friend was already there and he was photographing butterflies on the banks round the car park.Normally I wouldn't bother taking shots of butterflies but he is a bit of an expert and he made it very interesting and pointed out some great looking ones.There were loads of them about including at least 40 Painted Ladies and some Common Blues.I must get into butterflies!!!!!

A quick walk around showed both the main pools had masses of birds on them but nothing of note that I could see.No waders were seen.

The best place was the causeway where the Linnet family showed well,several Reed Warblers were about and a lone Goldcrest that landed close to me but soon shot off.Best spot was a quick view of a Water Rail with two very young chicks (another brood???) from the northern causeway screen annoyingly too close for my lens.God knows how many Water Rails are on the reserve now as to my knowledge two pairs have had 8 chicks.

Some butterfly shots above.

Blimey it's not raining.

I was surprised to find on Friday morning it was not raining and the sun was shining so I raced over to Brandon Marsh to see if anything was about for me to point the camera at.

As expected it was very quiet.The walk round past the wind pump and by the golf course produced more aeroplanes than birds my only spot being a Willow Warbler.It took me nearly two hours before I met up with another birder and he was so depressed with the lack of birds I could see tears in his eyes.

The water was high everwhere so little was on show from the hides but at least the Carlton Hide was a little better with the photogenic juvenile Little Grebe and a Green Sandpiper showing well but there were no KF's and no Hobbies.

Poor day for taking pics.I even started to take shots of dragonflies.