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Sunday 22 November 2015

Icing on the cake

An early start saw me at Cley Coastguards for 7.30 with a Barn owl welcoming me as the first bird on the reserve.  A couple of Marsh harrier left their roost and headed out towards Blakeney and a large flock of Starling fed on the fields.

  Good numbers of birds were moving through on my seawatch but sadly I did not keep tight records.

Highlights included:

Great Blurry Diver
 6 Little Auk (all close in), 2 Great Northern Diver, c10 Rtd, 20+ Eider, 10+ Merganser, 2 Goosander, 10+ Goldeneye, 1 SEO, 1 Bonxie, 15 Great Crested Grebe, 20+ Guillemot, 3 Snow bunting and flocks of Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal and a few Brents, Scoter and Pintail, the odd Sanderling and Dunlin also moved through.

Far fewer birds than the previous day but still, not a bad count for 3.5h work.

I then decided to go up the Point for a while.  I flushed a single male Blackbird, (presumably a recent immigrant) another Short eared owl that gave wonderful flight views and a single Woodcock.

I counter 21 Snow buntings feeding in the shingle with roughly an equal number of Linnet sharing their company. Double figures of Turnstone were also feeding nearby in the foam.

One the way back I spent a bit more time watching the flocks of feeding gulls.  I found a small Flatfish nearby and presume the gulls were having a feast on things washed into shore.

There was a nice mix but the highlight was an Iceland gull that allowed a fleeting view and a few distant shots.

My final point birds were 3 drake Goosander flying high over the beach together, a final two Little auks at Cley closed a good but very cold day's birding.














On a side note this Leucistic Wood Pigeon is now wintering near my garden for the 3rd year running.


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