29/11/09 Holkham and Roydon

In the afternoon dad trundled down to Holkham and had nice views of the 12 Shorelarks east of the gap. The in the evening I visisted the Roydon Common roost again and I was rewarded with 2 Hen Harriers, the same 2nd cy male and a ringtail, both of which showed well.

22/11/09 Holkham Bay

An excellent afternoon watch at Holkham bay. The star of the show was a close Black-necked Grebe which Josh kindly pointed out shortly after I had arrived, only the 3rd I have seen in Norfolk. The rest of the bay was also stuffed with other bits and pieces including 4+ Great-northern Divers, a distant Black-throated Diver that flew east, 3 Slavonian Grebes, a Red-necked Grebe, 10 Red-throated Divers, a Velvet Scoter, 2 Goldeneyes, 15 Red-breasted Mergansers and an adult Little Gull west, while a flock of 35 Snow Buntings was on the beach.

On Tues 24th Nov a train journey to a conference in London produced good views of a flock of 250 Bewick's Swans and a Marsh Harrier near Littleport.

21/11/09 Holme

A pretty productive day at Holme. The sea was surprisingly good, with a watch from 8:15-10:15am produced a Great Skua west, an Arctic Skua west, 11 Little Gulls (10 east, 1 west), 15 Kittiwakes, 4 Long-tailed Ducks (all drakes), 80 Gannets, 26 Red-breasted Mergansers, 13 Red-throated Divers, 4 Fulmars and 2 Goldeneye. A Lapland Bunting flew over east calling, 71 Snow Buntings flew west and a Merlin whizzed west over our heads, while a stunning drake Goosander did a couple of laps of the marsh from the observatory. The reserve and the stream were practically devoid of any birdlife though. A look at the beach by the golf-course produced nice views of a flock of up to 85 Snow Buntings during the afternoon and the day finished with brief views of a Woodcock.

Dad visisted the Roydon roost and recorded 3 Hen Harriers, 2 ringtails and the same 2nd cy male.

15/11/09 Roydon Common

A trip to the evening roost produced nice views of a male Hen Harrier, aged as a 2nd cy on account of the dusky brown mantle and inner arm. Little else was noted other than a Common Buzzard, 40 Fieldfares, 450 Starlings and 2500 mixed 'corvids' (mostly Jackdaw/Rook) into roost.