21st May (Norfolk)

Decided to go for a 2 day trip to tick off the good birds in Norfolk. However, as most things had departed overnight it ended up being a day trip.

First stop, Wayland Wood, but no sign of any Golden Pheasants.

Second stop was Cley. After paying for my permit I first needed some sustenance so asked for ham sandwich and a coffee at the visitor centre. Oh! We don't serve sandwiches until 11.30 - 'forget it' was my polite response!

As the Collared Pratincole had been reported from North Hide I decided to walk directly there. Wrong move! Once I got to North Hide I managed to pick the bird up distantly on the scrape viewable very well from Daukes hide - grrr.

On the way to North Hide got some fairly good views of the 3 adult Spoonbills.

Continued to walk around the reserve which was somewhat lacking in variety of waders - the only one of note was a Greenshank on Arnold's marsh.

A good view of Bearded Tit was had on the way to the three hides but the Collared Pratincole wasn't showing from Daukes hide. An unusual site was a female Pochard with 9 ducklings - I'm not sure if I have seen Pochard ducklings in Britain before.

Birdline wasn't reporting anything interesting so I went to Titchwell but the only worthwhile thing to see was a female Red-crested Pochard with 5 ducklings. The water levels were too high for any waders.

Next stop was Weeting Heath which eventually yielded a distant Stone Curlew which was just identifiable in the heat haze. A nice bonus was 3 Spotted Flycatchers in the wood.

The last stop was Lakenheath Fen with pessimistic thoughts of seeing a Golden Oriole. I was right - possibly heard one but the only highlights were a Hobby and a briefly 'booming' Bittern heard.