Cley Marsh

After a quick stop off in Stiffkey, for good views of the resident Glossy Ibis, a day spent at Cley. Warmer and still windy with cracking views of Marsh Harriers. First we walked the perimeter of the reserve with Rocky, before going into the hides in the middle of the reedbeds. 

Looking towards Cley Village.

Hard walking on the shingle beach.

Dark-bellied Brent Geese ..and below.

Cley's iconic windmill.

'Swishy swashy'.

Art work at the Cley visitor centre.  

Harrier over the beach.

Teal and a Shoveller in the sun.

Avocets.

I have many photo's of this pair of Teal - waiting for a nicely composed shot, none of which were with their heads up! 

Marsh Harrier.

..and a Pintail.

Titchwell and Wild Ken Hill

The temperature has risen substantially and so has the wind! After Old Hunstanton we popped into Titchwell and then Wild Ken Hill where, from the path along the embankment at Snettisham, we were able to get really good views of Russian White-fronted Geese. 

Scarlet Elf Cups..and below - it's that time of year|!

Dark-bellied Brent Geese in the waves of the lagoon.

Mud!

Pintail.

Avocets.

Russian White-fronted Geese - note the white around the beak and the blotchy, dark barring. 

Old Hunstanton

A morning walk along the beach at Old Hunstanton. A nice tideline and plenty of birdlife, notably lots of Sanderling running, in their characteristic manner, along the edge of the waves. Some spectacular cliffs too, where the Late Cretaceous chalk overlies the Early Cretacious sandstone.

Looking back towards Old Hunstanton.

Tidelines....

Knot.

The Ferriby Chalk (Upper Cretacious) overlying the Sandstone from the Hunstanton Formation (Early Cretacious). 

Fossil crustacean burrow...a trace fossil.

..and cross sections through the burrows.

Colours and textures ...with fossil sponges in the central picture.

..and back through the sand dunes and beach huts.

Welney WWT reserve

A new reserve for us, and wow...it's impressive. The infra structure by way of hides etc was great and there were many, many birds. Most notably for us: it was great to see so many Whooper Swans, but even better to see Bewick Swans amongst them and to be able to identify them. A distant view of a Black-necked Grebe, together with many Wigeon, Teal, Coot and a couple of Great-Crested Grebes completed the set. (Although I have labelled this post Norfolk - it's actually Cambridgeshire.) 

Hiding behind a mound of sugar beet to view a large flock of Whooper Swans as we approached the reserve. 

It was nice to see pollarded willows again.

Luckily for us, something or someone, put up the Whooper flock, so they flew overhead into the reserve.

Sleeping Wigeon.

Snipe..well camouflaged. 

Never having seen a Bewick Swan before, it was really helpful when one was wearing a neck collar and swimming directly below a post...so it's position was easily described! 

We then became more confident in identification - based on size and the proportion of black on the beak. Birds 1 and 3 from the left are Bewicks.

Spot the Bewicks ...

Take off...Whoopers.

Pochard - there were approx 300 males. There were 6 females - the rest would be in warmer climes!  

Waiting for the 'swan feed'. It was amazing how evenly spaced the Pochard were - acting like repelling magnets on the water as they swam around. 

Feeding time and the Mallard appear! 

Sunset over Welney - in the summer these are dry fields. 

Snettisham Mud

One of the highlights of being down in this neck of the woods, is the mud - good to be back! 

..and not into the sun ...

Greater Scaup ....nice to have such good views.