This long running and popular Norfolk tour offers a feast of birds from start to finish. Flexibility is the key and we visit a range of sites during the week from well known reserves to underwatched hotspots. Cley & Titchwell reserves always provide some great birding and wader passage can be excellent often including beautiful Wood Sandpiper and furtive Temminck’s Stint. A host of arctic bound waders will be looking smart in their summer finery and perhaps a party of Eurasian Spoonbill or fly-by Great Bittern will liven up proceedings, not forgetting resident Bearded Tits. Little Terns are back and we search the shorebird flocks for a Little Stint or Curlew Sandpiper, but we must also keep our eyes to the skies for passing raptors which can include Red Kite or Osprey. Nearby Kelling and Salthouse are our favourite haunts and we may visit more than once to see what has dropped in. Garganey, Little Gull, Whimbrel and Common Greenshank can appear while at Kelling the hedgerows and scrub may produce Ring Ouzel, Whinchat, Common Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher and a range of warblers. Down in the Brecks, Golden Oriole are once again fluting from the poplars and we will spend time hoping to glimpse this rare bird. Eurasian Hobbies often hawk overhead and a cacophony of warbler song includes Grasshopper. Common Cuckoo can be abundant here and Turtle Dove is often seen while the lagoon can produce Garganey and sometimes Black Tern in addition to a glimpse of Common Crane. Nearby on open sandy breckland we seek cryptic Stone Curlew, largely nocturnal in their activities this bug-eyed member of the African Thick-knee family can be a challenge to find as it sits motionless among the nettles and ragwort. Wood Lark and Tree Pipit too like this open heathland, and Firecrest are sought in nearby woodland. Raptors are a key feature of the week and at the Wensum Valley Watchpoint we will look for the rare and elusive Honey Buzzard, while our site for Montagu’s Harrier should be active with birds food passing to the backdrop of calling Common Quail. This time of year is of course synonymous with rare birds and in previous May’s we have recorded Red-footed Falcon, Dotterel, White-winged Black and Whiskered Terns, Laughing Gull, Purple Heron, Night Heron, Caspian Tern, Bonaparte’s Gull, Red-backed Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Stilt Sandpiper, Thrush Nightingale, Common Crane, European Serin, European Bee-eater, Black Stork and many more! It is impossible to predict what will turn up but we can be sure to enjoy a great supporting cast as well! Join us this year and see why this is such a great time to be birding in Norfolk!
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Introduction
