Winter is a magical time of year to visit Norfolk for a birding trip. With milder winters becoming more of a theme, our wildfowl numbers now tend to drop away quickly during January and February, and the really large numbers of geese are now best observed during the month of December. With this in mind we have timed this new short Norfolk birding tour specifically to observe the large numbers of wintering Pink-footed Geese, along with several scarcer species such as Tundra Bean Goose, Russian White-fronted Goose, Barnacle Goose and maybe even something rarer – Snow, Lesser White-fronted, Taiga Bean, Greenland White-fronted, Cackling and Red-breasted Geese are all occasionally recorded in among the flocks!
The spectacle of watching foraging geese during a crisp winters morning, or seeing them cascade out of the sky out of a Norfolk sunset to roost, is a real treat indeed. Of course there will be much more to see over the weekend, such as flocks of offshore seaducks, grebes and divers, delightful Shorelark, Snow and maybe Lapland Buntings, wintering Twite, masses of shorebirds and of course birds of prey. Winter roosts are at their peak in December and we will watching Hen Harriers ghosting across the saltmarshes at dusk, seek tiny Merlin perched sentinel like atop the coastal bushes and perhaps be fortunate to find a Rough-legged Buzzard or Short-eared Owl hunting the coastal dunes and grazing marshes.
Our tour includes a full day in the East Norfolk Broadland area, visiting a number of sites for wildfowl and raptors. We will have great opportunities for more first class goose-watching, with the wintering flock of Taiga Bean Geese a possibility. We also visit the marshes around Ludham, and look for wild swan flocks as well as more raptors and huge flocks of European Golden Plovers and other wading birds. Your tour leader will be Nick Parsons and you can expect to see around 120 species on this Norfolk birding tour.
DAY ONE
Check in late afternoon at Briarfields Hotel at Titchwell. Your guide will meet you for pre-dinner drinks and a chat about the birding days ahead at 1800.
DAY TWO
We will spend the morning in West Norfolk, searching for goose flocks feeding in the fields of newly harvested sugarbeet. Our aim will be to find some flocks feeding in good light close to roads or footpaths, where we can position ourselves with a scope to view the birds from a sensible distance. Searching through the flocks gives us the chance to see the interactions between individuals and family groups, and to observe the differences in size and plumage between adults and juveniles, geese and ganders. We will have a chance to find Tundra Bean and Russian White-fronted Goose, Pale-bellied Brent Goose and Barnacle Goose among the flocks. In most years, rarer species or forms occur such as Todd’s Canada Goose, Snow and Ross’s Geese, Red-breasted Goose and even the rarer Cackling Goose. We may have an opportunity to find wintering Twite, as well as wading birds at close range such as Spotted Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit. Perhaps a Barn Owl or Peregrine will be hunting over the marshes here. Our day ends at Warham Greens, where for the last three winters a female Pallid Harrier has been coming to roost. We should see Hen Harrier and Merlin too, and often enjoy the spectacle of thousands of Pinkfeet heading to their roost on the sand banks.
DAY THREE
We spend the whole day in East Norfolk today, but doing things slightly differently to our standard winter tours. The once regular Taiga Bean Goose flock has now all but disappeared, and only occasional mid-winter records of single birds occur. The Buckenham Marshes area is still great for geese though and we should get good views of Russian White-fronted Geese here. We then work our way east along the Yare Valley, we divert inland to check some spots for Common Crane and more chances of Bewick’s and Whooper Swans, before heading around to check the Ludham area, again looking for raptors, swans and cranes if they are present. Short-eared Owl is on the cards here at the end of the day, with sometimes up to five birds present. The day will also build in some flexibility – maybe a rare duck on one of the broads, or some coastal Snow Buntings will require a diversion.
DAY FOUR
We focus on the area around Holkham and Burnham Overy today. Depending on the tidal and lunar cycles, there could be large numbers of geese resting on the grazing marshes here during daytime, having spent the night feeding under the moon. This gives more opportunities to scan the flocks, and there is often a large Dark-bellied Brent Goose flock here too. We will look carefully for Black Brant, or hybrids, and take the time to study carefully the salient identification features. Great White Egret and Spoonbill now regularly overwinter, and a flock of 200 or so Russian White-fronted Geese can also be observed. Out on the beach, we will search for Shorelark, if present, and possibly also Snow Bunting. Divers, grebes and scoter are often seen offshore – Red-breasted Merganser, Slavonian Grebe and Velvet Scoter can be expected. Our afternoon will depend on the weather – we may visit Titchwell RSPB to look for Eurasian Woodcock, Water Rail, Jack Snipe, Water Pipit and wintering seaducks, or perhaps spend the afternoon on Burnham Overy Marshes. We have seen rarities such as Desert Wheatear, Barred Warbler and Waxwing on previous trips so again flexibility is key to get the most from our last day. The tour concludes around 1530, with transfers back to King’s Lynn station and Titchwell.
