Let's Go Birding

Sunday November 11

Why are we out to-day, I asked myself. Heavy, dark grey cloud cover regularly hurling heavy, wind assisted showers at us. 

Deviating from our usual route, to find that there were no Waxwings at Kelling was a disappointment. I was hoping for a better photo opportunity. In this light ?

Pam had planned a visit to Morston as it was high tide. I've never before seen the tide as high. It was Waw factor. The creeks were not only full but overflowing into the car park. Temple's ferry was floating above the landing stages.

Upstream was also an unfamiliar sight. 

Still dark and louring, still raining. Pam had to position the car so that a window could be opened - in turn - which allowed photographs to be taken without drowning lenses and cameras .......... and us.

We'd been worried about Barry, our Valley Farm gamekeeper friend, as we hadn't seen him for months. His garden feeders have looked neglected too. Returning from a less than satisfactory heard only Tree Sparrow addition, he stepped out in front of us, asking after our health before saying '' I told the wife that I hadn't seen them two little old ladies for a good while and I think it's them what went up the road''.
State of health established, he asked about birds seen. Five Red Kites appear regularly over his house and earlier this week one was perched on the barn eating a rabbit. This morning, his wife reckoned that one was so low she could have touched it. 
Other news was that he'd only had a few walnuts off the very large gnarled tree in his hedge. We'd noticed that the normally heavily clustered branches weren't. Hot dry spell ?
Shortly after saying our goodbyes, two Red Kites appeared over a distant hedge.
My weather app had promised sunshine by mid-day. Still raining with a hand numbing wind chill at Snettisham. The tide was receding as rapidly as it comes in here. Many more birds to-day, including smoke-like wraiths of spooked Knot at the tideline. The number of Pintail had doubled. All the expected waders apart from Golden Plover. The Goldeneye have yet to make an appearance on the pits, late this year.
As we left, the sun made an appearance, even more welcome, the rain stopped - for the rest of the day as it turned out.
For the first time in a couple of months, there was room to park on Hunstanton cliffs and a lone Fulmar appeared. It played hide and seek with me for quite a while, appearing unexpectedly and briefly above the shrub edged cliff before dropping again. I managed one reasonably sharp image and discarded many.

Enduring another bumpy, lurching drive out to Holme NOA and back was both unnecessary and frustratingly  unrewarding. 

Brancaster Staithe's tide was fast receding too. Plenty of freshly exposed gloopy mud for the Black-tailed Godwits to probe for food. What a messy boy.

Washing it off - by accident

Less messy now

Gun Hill marsh still had the flock of Barnacle Geese we'd seen a week or so ago, with only a smattering of the winter flocks of Pink-footed Geese often present.
We still hadn't seen the new visitor's centre at the end of Lady Anne's Drive. Taking a risk, we drove down as far as the empty 'mobility impaired' parking spaces to turn. I can't see anyone who hasn't got a wheelchair or buggy being able to get as far as the centre even, let alone the beach. Unless the boardwalk has been improved since our last visit. We passed the parking attendant but he didn't stop us. We used to have a season ticket to park here and at Wells, until the charge became exorbitant and  parking permitted either for Wells or here, not both.
Happy and contented we drove home in time for the Manchester Derby.
Our state of mind changed........ enough said.