Norfolk July Birdwatching Trip

When people ask us why we like to visit Norfolk one of the many things we mention is the big skies, they are huge! Alan and Anne had asked us about Norfolk several times and we were delighted when they asked us if we could arrange a custom trip, of course we could. Alan and Anne have two teenagers, Rachel and David, and they were coming on the family holiday too. We were a little nervous about this, would two teens enjoy Norfolk as much as we were sure their parents would?

Our trip did not get off to a great start, the M6 motorway was closed, some quick map reading, by Ruth, had us passing through parts of Staffordshire none of us had seen before, and probably would never see again!

Rather later than planned we arrived at our first birdwatching stop and luckily soon saw our main target bird, a Glossy Ibis. What a great bird to kick-off our mid-summer birding trip with. An elegant Black-winged Stilt shared the same marsh and we heard Green Woodpecker calling though this bird kept hidden in the willows.

A late but very nice lunch was enjoyed before we headed into the Breckland and were soon enjoying great views of Stone Curlews. Both weird and wonderful birds. It was great to see at least four young Stone Curlew here, hopefully they are enjoying a good breeding season. We then headed up to the coast to settle into our comfy seaside hotel.



Over the next three days we explored the North Norfolk coast enjoying those big skies, hot sunshine and lots and lots of great birds. It was great to see Rachel and David, Alan and Anne's teenagers, enjoying Norfolk so much, whew! We visited one of our all time favourite birding sites, RSPB Titchwell, where we enjoyed a festival of waders! The water levels are perfect for pulling in migrant waders and the freshmarsh was alive with birds. Hundreds of Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits were joined by many Ruff, Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwits and Knot. Searching through these flocks is great fun and we found plenty more waders amongst the commoner species. A handsome breeding plumaged Curlew Sandpiper was a real looker and at least two Wood Sandpipers showed off on each of our visits.







One sunny afternoon we took a boat trip out to Blakeney Point and enjoyed some great wildlife watching. Both common and grey seals haul out on the shingle at the point and are very happy to allow visitors to watch them. Hundreds of Sandwich Terns also breed out on this huge shingle point and are joined by smaller numbers of Little and Common Terns. We also enjoyed great views of waders on the saltmarshes and were surprised to see a Red-breasted Merganser here, usually a winter visitor to this coast.











One evening we headed out to a lovely area of heathland and enjoyed amazing views of Nightjars! These wonderful birds called and displayed all around us, one bird even posing on a fence post allowing great views through the Leica scope.



All along the coast we found great birds and wildlife, each day a new adventure and we were very lucky with lots of blue sky and hot sunshine. This area is blessed with many nature reserves and we visited a good number including Cley NWT and Holme NWT. One another heath we found two Turtle Doves, sadly a rare bird in the UK these days. The male Turtle Dove was displaying and singing, a gorgous purring sound, once such an iconic sound in the Norfolk countryside, seldom heard now. We enjoyed butterflies, dragonflies, mammals and many birds!









On our last day a pre-breakfast visit to RSPB Titchwell gave us over sixty species! What a wonderful reserve, and we almost had the whole place to ourselves during our early morning birding. After another super full breakfast we headed off west. At the RSPB Ouse Washes the elusive Black-winged Pratincole was just that! But we did enjoy plenty of birds, Green Woodpeckers showed off giving scope filling views. A late adult Cuckoo was a nice surprise, plenty of waders here and hunting Hobby and Marsh Harrier.

Late afternoon we headed back towards North Wales but there was just time for some more birdwatching! We stopped off at RSPB Middleton Lakes on the Staffordshire/Warkwickshire border. It was a fair old walk down to the pools and we hoped our target bird would still be there. We were in luck and the stunning adult Pacific golden Plover was indeed still present and we soaked up views of this mega rare wader.





And here a photo of the adult Pacific golden Plover by our friend Chris Bromley - what a bird! Check out Chris' facebook page to see more great pictures of amazing birds. Thanks Chris for allowing us to use your pic here.



The sun was setting as we headed back for the last stage of our journey back to North Wales, what a wonderful bird to finish our Norfolk birdwatching trip on. Alan, Anne, Rachel and David had ALL enjoyed the trip and we certainly enjoyed their company, a trip full of laughs and great birds, perfect!



If you would like to enjoy a great custom trip we would love to help! Simply drop us a line and we will do the rest.

info@thebiggesttwitch.com

We look forward to enjoying great birds with you soon.