Pink-footed Geese at Holkham

Ross' Goose at Holkham

Before I went to sea last week I squeezed in a day birding in north Norfolk with my dad. We started, as usual, at Titchwell where there was huge number of gulls on the beach – mainly Common and Herring Gulls – with Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew and Knot also plentiful. A single Snow Bunting fed on the tide line, while at the visitor centre feeders several Brambling were present giving good views of these attractive finches. We left Titchwell after a welcome sausage roll and cup of tea, heading east to Holkham. We were lucky at Holkham, spotting geese near the road so we pulled over and scanned the flocks to find lots of Pink-footed, a few Barnacle, 2 Egyptian and 1 adult Ross's Goose (a lifer for both of us). Our next target for the day was the long staying White-crowned Sparrow at Cley which, after a tense wait eating our lunchtime sarnies, duly showed very well – another lifer for me and a UK 1st for dad. We stopped in at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust visitor centre for a cappuccino and any bird news for the Cley reserve. As the weather was holding, we walked down to Arnold's Marsh and along the beach to find the 3 Shorelark feeding on the bank. We got back to the car with a hour or so to spare so decided to stop at Kelling Heath on the way home to look for a Great Grey Shrike. Our lucky day continued and we both had really great close views of a very smart bird – I think all the shrikes look great. Dad counted 86 species logged for the trip and then fell asleep for the journey home.