Norfolk Coast Birding Trip Part One - Snettisham

Snettisham

This time it was just me, my camper and my camera for a week's birding.

Despite the forecast of strong Westerly winds and heavy showers, I chose to visit the Norfolk coast for the first time.  Being the 2nd week in September, Autumn migration was beginning to get underway and I knew ideally NE winds would bring the best results for spotting migrants on this part of the East coast, but I had always wanted to see the Wader Spectacular on The Wash from the Wader Viewpoint at RSPB Snettisham.

At the highest of tides, the waders are pushed off the vast mud flats of the Wash and into the air in great flocks, making an impressive spectacle.  Many will then take refuge in the lagoons behind the sea wall on the RSPB Reserve where you can watch from one of several water's edge hides.

On Monday 11 September, the High Tide was at 10.18am and over 7m high, whilst not the highest of tides - I had missed these in August - there was still a good chance of witnessing the spectacle.

On Sunday 10 September I set off on the 6 hour drive from Devon to Snettisham, armed with maps of the main places I hoped to explore during my stay in Norfolk.

• RSPB Snettisham with its adjacent Beach and Country Park
• RSPB Titchwell Marsh
• Branscaster Staithe
• Holkham Beach and Pines
• NWT Cley Marshes

My first stop was Diglea Caravan Park just 100m from the entrance to RSPB Snettisham.  I checked in for 2 nights, had a quick cuppa then quickly set off to familiarise myself with the RSPB reserve in preparation for the following day's adventure.  It's about a 3 mile walk from the car park to the Wader Spectacle point and back, but I think you could view the spectacle reasonably well from anywhere along the beach path.  The tide was low this evening and through the binoculars I could see waders such as Grey Plover, Oyster Catchers, Red Knot, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Dunlin and Ringed Plover scattered all over the vast sea of mud, but to fully appreciate the extent of the numbers you need a Scope. There were hundreds of Greylag Geese in the fields adjacent to the reserve car park and on the lagoons; with at least 50 Egyptian Geese scattered amongst them.

Eqyptian Geese

It was getting dark by the time I returned to the camper, but I now felt comfortable with where I had to go and how long it would take the following morning to be in situe ready for the high tide wader spectacular.

At 7am the following morning, head bursting with excitement I set off for the reserve, taking a slow stroll through the sheltered scrubby areas which lead onto the beach path. The wind was cold and strong, but visibility was good. I was first onto the reserve but others soon caught up with me and by the time I got to the beach path several others joined me.

About an hour before high tide, the waters started to show signs of coming in over the muds and the waders started to gather in larger numbers nearer the shore.  Around 40 minutes before high tide several huge clouds of birds took to the skies in the distance on the far side of the Wash, towards Frampton Marsh area. 

Meanwhile, large numbers of Oyster Catchers were gathering on the remaining strip of mud in front of Snettisham Beach.  Starting at the North end of the beach they gradually marched their way along ahead of the tide as it quickly spread towards the West end of the beach and the Wader Viewpoint.




Moments later the Oyster Catchers' race against the incoming tide was lost and as the one at the rear appeared to bump into the bird in front, the whole lot took to the sky like a set of Dominoes.



The Oyster Catchers took refuge in a grassy area of mud flats in front of the wader viewpoint and moments later, just beyond them a huge flock of waders took to the skies right in front of us. Thousands of birds jostled for their space in the sky.  It was incredible they didn't all crash into each other and it left me thinking if this were humans there would be a mass of bones and blubber everywhere!!!

Wader Spectacular

And that was it, the end of a fantastic wader spectacle and worth the long drive; the long walk; the strong, cold winds and the early start.

With the main event over, we all took to the hides overlooking the lagoons to see what birds might have taken refuge here now the tide covered most of the muds. However, as it was not the highest of waters many birds were still on the remaining area of muds left at the very West end of the Wash.

The big excitement from the Shoreline Hide was a Spoonbill which had decided to roost and preen itself close to the hide and in the distance on the far side of the lagoon a juvenile Black Tern was hovering and dipping into the water.

Spoonbill

The Black Tern was too far to photograph, but three days later I returned to the reserve as I wanted to explore Snettisham Beach and Country Park areas further North, this time I had more success as no less than 3 Black Terns were present and one kindly landed on the island in front of the Shoreline hide on the Southern lagoon, just as I had been photographing a nearby Common Tern.

Black Tern Juvenile

Another highlight of RSPB Snettisham is the Terns.  Common Terns breed on the lagoon and it was an absolute joy to sit in the hides and watch parents feeding their young.  Out on the main beach it is easy to spot Sandwich Terns feeding and often landing on the edge of the water.

Common Tern parent feeding juvenile

Common Tern juvenile learning to fly

Common Tern parent encouraging juvenile to fly

Common Tern juveniles

"Where's mine Mum?"

At the end of my Wader Spectacular day at Snettisham I enjoyed superb fish and chips just along the road from the reserve entrance and a short walk back to the camper where I finished the day with Strawberry and Lime Cider whilst downloading my photos of the day.  A very blissful and successful day at Snettisham.

As mentioned earlier, 3 days later I returned to Snettisham to explore the beach and country park further North from the RSPB Reserve.  There had been reports of a juvenile Red Backed Shrike in the country park, but it was some distance further North and I wasn't sure if I'd get that far as I was keen to spend time photographing the waders along the shoreline as the tide receded.

There was a great deal of weather during my stay in Norfolk and on this day I got the whole variety from warm sunshine to thunder and hail storms, always accompanied by strong Westerly winds. Thankfully I'd invested in good waterproofs before my visit and being unable to find a Ladies waterproof jacket in any colour other than pink or purple, I'd settled for a small man's olive green jacket, which thankfully seems to be designed for a beer belly and loose enough to tuck my camera inside during the worst weather.

Whilst photographing Sanderling running along the frothy waves in the sun, I spotted a Purple Sandpiper with them.  Turning the camera to the Sandpiper the skies suddenly blackened, the wind blew stronger and hail began to hammer into me and the birds I was photographing.  Struggling to hold the camera and lens still enough to keep photographing, I frantically clicked through my settings trying to maintain enough light and shutter speed to continue capturing what I was seeing - the Purple Sandpiper and the Sanderlings were fighting against the weather with the same agonising expressions on their faces as I must have had on my face as the sting of the hail and the force of the cold wind attacked us all.

Purple Sandpiper in the hail storm

Purple Sandpiper drying out after the storm 

Sanderling running along the frothy waves in the sun

Sanderling battling against the hail storm

As quick as the hail had came down, the sun reappeared at such speed, but all the time the Westerly wind blew.  I crouched on the beach fighting to keep my handheld camera and 400mm lens fixed firmly on the birds I was photographing. It was the toughest photographic challenge I'd faced for many months but I was loving it!  I've always thought of the (Red) Knot a fairly plain bird when I've seen them in the winter, but these juvenile Knot looked quite stunning in the late afternoon light.

(Red) Knot Juveniles

There was a nice variety of waders along the shoreline and as the tide receded further, more and more birds flew onto the muds.  Ringed Plovers and Sanderlings were the first to appear, but the Knot, Curlew, Oyster Catchers, Dunlin and Grey Plover soon followed.

It was a treat to see a few male Grey Plover still sporting their breeding plumage and looking anything but 'Grey'.

Grey Plover male in breeding plumage

As predicted, I ran out of time to fully explore the Snettisham Country Park, but I took a walk along the beach path beside the park with the wind behind me and returned via the sheltered route back through the park to the Camper which on this occasion I'd left parked in the Beach Car Park at £3.50 for the day as I was no longer staying at the Diglea campsite, I had moved 12 miles further South along the coast to a very nice Campsite at Brancaster - more of that in part 2 of my Norfolk Birding Trip blog.

A couple of Whitethroat appeared from the brambles in the Country Park but I never spotted the juvenile Red-backed Shrike, despite keeping an eye on every Dog Rose bush I passed.  Having seen and photographed plenty of Red-backed Shrike in the Cevennes in France earlier this year, I wasn't too upset about it, but it's always nice to see a bird like that in the UK.

As I drove away from Snettisham I knew it had got under my skin, I would be back and hopefully soon!