5/12/09 Snettisham RSPB

A cracking day at Snettisham today, with the obvious highlight being the female Ferruginous Duck that was on the RSPB pits, having first been found by David Roche yesterday. A much-needed Norfolk tick for yours truly! It put on a reasonable set of cameo displays and gave itself up mid-morning and mid-afternoon from Shore and later Rotary hide. Whilst there it was good to see it wander up onto the bank, thanfully displaying ring-free legs, and give a good flypast with the Wigeon flock, showing it to be fully-ringed and wary. Unfortunately it always seemed to be in thw wrong position with regards to the sun no matter where you were viewing from, so this, along with the elusive and mobile nature of the bird, meant only records shots were obtained.

2 Shorelarks also showed exceptionally well between Rotary hide and Shore hide, as did 18 Snow Buntings, while 2 drake Goosanders flew over and a Purple Sandpiper showed well from Rotary hide early morning.

29/11/09 Holkham and Roydon

In the afternoon dad trundled down to Holkham and had nice views of the 12 Shorelarks east of the gap. The in the evening I visisted the Roydon Common roost again and I was rewarded with 2 Hen Harriers, the same 2nd cy male and a ringtail, both of which showed well.

22/11/09 Holkham Bay

An excellent afternoon watch at Holkham bay. The star of the show was a close Black-necked Grebe which Josh kindly pointed out shortly after I had arrived, only the 3rd I have seen in Norfolk. The rest of the bay was also stuffed with other bits and pieces including 4+ Great-northern Divers, a distant Black-throated Diver that flew east, 3 Slavonian Grebes, a Red-necked Grebe, 10 Red-throated Divers, a Velvet Scoter, 2 Goldeneyes, 15 Red-breasted Mergansers and an adult Little Gull west, while a flock of 35 Snow Buntings was on the beach.

On Tues 24th Nov a train journey to a conference in London produced good views of a flock of 250 Bewick's Swans and a Marsh Harrier near Littleport.

21/11/09 Holme

A pretty productive day at Holme. The sea was surprisingly good, with a watch from 8:15-10:15am produced a Great Skua west, an Arctic Skua west, 11 Little Gulls (10 east, 1 west), 15 Kittiwakes, 4 Long-tailed Ducks (all drakes), 80 Gannets, 26 Red-breasted Mergansers, 13 Red-throated Divers, 4 Fulmars and 2 Goldeneye. A Lapland Bunting flew over east calling, 71 Snow Buntings flew west and a Merlin whizzed west over our heads, while a stunning drake Goosander did a couple of laps of the marsh from the observatory. The reserve and the stream were practically devoid of any birdlife though. A look at the beach by the golf-course produced nice views of a flock of up to 85 Snow Buntings during the afternoon and the day finished with brief views of a Woodcock.

Dad visisted the Roydon roost and recorded 3 Hen Harriers, 2 ringtails and the same 2nd cy male.