We were on the hunt for something new and reports of a Hume's warbler at Brancaster were too much to ignore - an earlyish start at 5am saw us at Holkham Gap by a little after 8.15am, having stopped off and add shore larks to my life list. Kevin Heath (@kev07713) had picked these up a few weeks ago while on a weekend away with his wife but was happy to visit again and lead to the most likely area to find them. Holkham Nature Reserve is England's largest national nature reserve and is on the Norfolk coast between Burnham Overy Staithe and Blakeney. Pine trees planted on the dunes have provided shelter for other trees and shrubs to become established, making this the only substantial area of woodland in the North Norfolk Coast SSSI.
Setting out from the car park at the end of Lady Anne's Drive, we were soon on the sand and heading towards and along the roped off area between the trees and the dunes. It was cold, and a stiff wind accompanied us. We picked up meadow pipits, flyover pink-footed geese, brent geese, and a handful of black-tailed godwits on our way; arriving in the right area we could see another couple of birders not far ahead. One approached to tell us that we'd just missed a flock of c.20 snow buntings and that there were two shore larks out there somewhere but had been lost from view. I scanned and through my bins and thought I’d picked one out, but on setting up Kev's scope I found it was a mipit.
We waited and watched for about half an hour - a flock of birds was heard to call nearby and when we located them, we watched them fly in closer landing not too far from where we stood. They were shore larks and we each counted ten; that or we both ran out of fingers. They started to feed, and we had great views through the scope - I attempted some photos with my "emergency" 70-300mm lens knowing that the light and distance would result in record shots only. Further out there were now twenty blackwits feeding between us and the brent geese.
On checking our phones we could see that the Hume's warbler had been reported at Brancaster and so rather than hunt for snow buntings or conduct a sea watch, we headed back to the car and made for Brancaster Beach.
As we parked up the sky was heavy and grey - we followed another birder out of the car park, and it looked like they were heading for the same bird. As we approached, we could hear the bird calling and joined the eight birders already there. They were all at the foot of the slope between the footpath and fence, trying to stay off the skyline and slightly out of the stiff wind. One chap was leading the search and trying to follow the bird as it fed back and forth in the short stretch of bushes. I caught a very brief glimpse while Kev got a better look and had his tick - it started to rain, almost turning to sleet at times, but we stayed to see if we could get a better view. Eventually I had another view, slightly better but only as the bird dropped from sight. It took a further 30-45 minutes to get another view and this time was able to follow the bird along the bushes – now good enough to class it as a tick. Photos were impossible. Our good friend Adrian Sparrowhawk had visited previously and below is one of his photos which he has allowed me to include here - much better views that ours. Perhaps the weather, particularly the wind, had affected its behaviour or maybe as many have said, it is just very elusive.
Satisfied with our views we made back to the car and bumped into Sean Moore (@SeaninPinner) coming the other way. Kev had met Sean a couple of times and of course we followed his birding on Twitter. He had just arrived that day and would be staying on the coast for the week - he mentioned that a white-tailed eagle had been reported over the Holkham Estate an hour earlier. We decided to stop off there and see if we could see it - perhaps it would be taking refuge there from the weather. We had no such luck and counted seven red kite, two Egyptian geese and a peregrine amongst the ducks and wildfowl around and on the Lake - the peregrine was only really visible with any detail through the scope and the photo below just a record capture with my phone.
We left Holkham (again) this time aiming for RSPB Titchwell and a stop for lunch - as we opened the door to sit and eat lunch and out of the cold, we found Sean already there. He was making his way to his accommodation but had elected to spend an hour here before 'checking in'. We chatted over lunch eventually bidding him farewell as we made our way onto the reserve. The pools were all relatively quiet except for one. Here we saw lots of ducks and wildfowl on the water as well as both black-tailed and bar-tailed godwit, dunlin, curlew and avocet. In the sky there was only a single kestrel and not a single marsh harrier in view.
We walked out to the shore finding a large group trying a bit of sea watching. We couldn't see anything obvious on the water but picked up oystercatchers, curlew, and a single grey plover. I got quite excited when I saw a couple of sanderlings running along the shore, only for this to be followed by three flocks of between 50 and 100 flying through. We scanned around but couldn't make any other significant sightings and given the cold wind started working our way back, stopping only to watch five marsh harriers and a buzzard.
We passed the busier pool again and added a single whooper swan and five pintail ducks. A quick coffee at the Visitor's Centre and we were off home to Banbury, happy with another good day out in a really special place.
Year List: 230
BirdTrack Record: Holkham Gap: https://app.bto.org/birdtrack/pubcon/shared?subId=SUB46268175
Holkham Park: https://app.bto.org/birdtrack/pubcon/shared?subId=SUB46268177
RSPB Titchwell: https://app.bto.org/birdtrack/pubcon/shared?subId=SUB46268178
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