Dydd Gwyl Dewi - St David's Day

 Sunday March 1

Apart fom January 1st, which is always special, today was the pleasantest day's birding yet. Having set off in mizzle - and returned home in the same, in between was dry, mostly overcast, but with a period of sun at midday. Tha latter coincided with our visit to Snettisham, which is the absolute pits. The sun on the reserve pit makes bird identification almost impossible, the glare is blinding. 

We began in earnest at Selbrigg, where we can add birds not seen elsewhere. It only takes a few minutes from the placing of food for the first birds to arrive. That was a Coal Tit today, closely followed by two Great Tits and a Blue Tit. A Nuthatch was later, then a Robin,  two Goldcrests flew into the trees above. In the end, I saw four Coal Tits at once - there were probably more. Delightful little birds. The light was too poor for photography.

 I used Merlin here and at Sculthorpe Mill. It told me that we had been in the presence of : Redwing, Siskin, Great Spotted Woorpecker, Longtailed Tit and Cetti'e Warbler, none of them were seen nor heard by us so didn't make the list.

Snettisham was a mud Sahara, the tide at it's nadir. There were no flocks at the tideline, and very few birds on the mud, apart from the ubiquitous Shelducks. A photographer ducking under the blue ropes alerted us to two birds feeding relatively closely. 

Uncropped photo taken with a 500mm lens

 

Extensively cropped. Two Knot, closer than usual here.

 

Apart from a single female Goldeneye, the other pits only had Greylag and Coot, none of the expected Tufted Duck. 

A quick look at the Fulmar on Hunstanton Cliffs, before lunching at Brancaster Staithe. There are always Teal, Turnstones and oystercatchers to watch, sorting through the piles of discarded Mussels. A Herring Gull was occupied helicoptering about twenty metres into the air before dropping a mussell onto the stones. It usually takes them a few goes to crack the shell. Clever learnt behaviour.

Holkham Park gateway added eight sightings, after extensive scoping. Russian White-fronted Geese, their white foreheads and heavily barred bellies standing out amongst the Greylag, Canada, Pinks.and two pairs of Egyptian. Two Marsh Harriers, Spoonbills - there were about 5 white blobs in the trees, only one of them identifiable - and a Grey Heron.

A lone Cattle Egret, viewed in a necessarily short stop at the pools east of Wells, completed the list of 68  species for the day. Glossy Ibis were reported there too, listed as 'hiding'. There's nowhere to stop safely to view from the road.