Norf Norfolk (22nd June)

Quite a car load up to Norfolk today with Sh4rpy, Brendan, Paul, Tony, Dave my brother and I.  With little on the pager we opted for a quick stab at the stunning Rosy before planning the day from there.

On arrival, the ROSE-COLOURED STARLING showed fairly well for the small crowd of twitchers.  This was certainly a stunning adult male in its breeding plumage finery, a shame I only bothered to take one photo.  In fact most of my attention was on the salt-marsh where I was pleased to find a SPOONBILL casually walking across the marsh.  A single LITTLE TERN was the only year tick I had on site but was a pleasing find after such a long absence from my year list!

male Rose-coloured Starling

Our next plan of action was to visit a site were Chris and Brendan had connected with Monti's before and after an hours diligent scanning we were treated to excellent views of a pair of MONTAGU'S HARRIERS!  The female appeared only briefly in flight but the male quartered the field for at least 40mins as we watched this magnificent bird in awe!  Also in the area were 2 Marsh Harriers at least 1 Red Kite and to round the stay off on a high, the male Monti did a spectacular aerial chase in pursuit of a Skylark!!

male Montagu's Harrier

Titchwell was next on the menu and with little else to go for, we settle for scanning through the large flock of Knot and Avocet that had accumulated on the marsh.  6 sum plum Spotted Redshanks were an excellent bonus as were 6 LITTLE GULLS (a year tick and all 2nd CY birds).  A Cetti's Warbler also burst into song near the path and a male Red Crested Pochard was on one of the pools.

Avocet at Titchwell

Many thanks once again to Sh4rpy for the lift!