NORFOLK – December 2025

Guests: Simon, Sheila, Jo, Oliver, Sally, John

Guides: Paul Freestone, Sarah Jane Eastman

Sunday 7^th December – We have finally arrived in Norfolk for the week! But not before a bit of a detour to Turf Lock, Devon to see the Lesser Crested Tern! This is only the 10th record for the UK and if my memory serves me right, the first one for over 20 years! We agreed that if the bird was reported at Dawlish before we got to Exeter, we would go for it. It wasn’t, so we carried on to Norfolk. However, we just got to the Somerset border when it was located at Turf Lock!! So, we just had to go back for this mega bird! A great start to our week!

Day One – Holkham and Warham Greens

Amazing start to our week in Norfolk! After a hearty breakfast we headed north to the coast and Holkham National Nature Reserve. We parked at the first pay point at Lady Anne’s Drive as usual, so we could take in all the flooded fields either side of the road on the way to the reserve entrance. It was soon evident that Red Kite would be our most numerous bird of prey! They were everywhere and easily outnumbered Marsh Harriers.

Muntjac and Chinese Water Deer were also seen on the walk down, but so far no Brown Hares. Pink-footed Geese were in the tens of thousands both overhead and in every field, accompanied by Greylags, Egyptian and a few Brent Geese. We would later see lots more Brents. A single Black-tailed Godwit amongst the thousands of Lapwing were the only waders we saw.

We then took a bit of a detour through the woods along Bluetail Trail to the new Joe Jordon Hide. The main target here was Hume’s Warbler, but the bird was very elusive and despite hearing it call we could not pin it down for any decent views. A nice pond along the route added Pintail, Gadwall and Little Grebe to the trip list and three Russian White-fronted Geese were found amongst the Greylags.

After a late-ish lunch we spent the last hour of daylight at Warham Greens in the hope of a Hen Harrier or Owl of some description. Thankfully, we were rewarded with the latter as we didn’t see any Harriers! A smart Barn Owl gave ridiculously close views as it flew, hunting along the saltmarsh. A great end to our first day.

Day 2 – Lynford Arboretum and Cley Marshes

Second day in Norfolk and the list is 85 species. Managed another relatively fine day, dodged a few showers this morning but lovely sunshine this afternoon at Cley.

We started the day at Lynford Arboretum, our ‘go-to’ site for Hawfinch. Low cloud made for a very dark start and it wasn’t until some of this cleared after about an hour that we started seeing more birds. Sadly, there was no food in the bird feeders near the cafe, which made things a bit difficult and resulted in zero Marsh Tits! A Crossbill called overhead but was too quick for all the group to get on to. Thankfully, we pinned down a group of six birds at the top of pine that showed well in the scope. The same sort of scenario happened with the Hawfinch. A single bird showed briefly in the paddock but quickly disappeared before all of us saw it, but everyone eventually got great views when it was relocated and joined by three others! We also added Nuthatch, Mistle Thrush and GS Woodpecker here.

After a coffee from the cafe, we headed to Cley Nature Reserve for the afternoon. By now the clouds had all but cleared and we were treated to a bit of sunshine. Bishop’s Hide produced a very close Jack Snipe which, despite its proximity, was still hard to pick out until it stopped snoozing and came out into the open. Other birds on the water here included our first Avocets, Golden Plover and Common Snipe amongst hundreds of Lapwing, Teal, Wigeon and other wildfowl.

We then took a walk along the eastern bank to Arnolds Marsh and the sea. The marsh was very busy with yet more Lapwing, Wigeon, Pink -footed Geese and twenty-three Ruff! As the sun set, the Marsh Harriers came into roost with 15 to 20 birds in the air at any given time. Another great spectacle to end the day.

DAY 3 – RSPB Titchwell

Our week long tour in Norfolk just keeps getting better!! Another superb day in the sunshine, this time at the excellent RSPB Titchwell reserve. Always a pleasure going there, welcoming staff and great facilities as well as lots of birds to see!! I must say though, there were some very grumpy folk about today! Pushing past on the path without a simple ‘excuse me’ or not even a ‘good morning’ or ‘Hi’ to fellow birders. Some people should just stay at home!

Anyway, we enjoyed ourselves! We started with the resident Tawny Owl along the baordwalk then found two Firecrests nearby. A flock of Goldfinch held a couple of Siskin and a Robin got up close and personal! We then followed the main path taking in the pools and saltmarsh either side, adding Coot, Tufted Duck, Kingfisher and Turnstone to our trip list. Just as we headed back to the van for lunch a Bittern flew right over the path ahead of us giving amazing views!

We spent the afternoon on the beach looking at the sea and added Black-throated and Great Northern Divers, Red-necked and Black-necked Grebe and Red-breasted Merganser to the list. A few Sanderling, Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit were amongst the waders on the beach too.

Looking forward to our penultimate day tomorrow at WWT Welney Wetland Centre!

Day Four – Lynford Arboretum and WWT Welney

Another great day on our Norfolk Tour. Had another few hours round Lynford Arboretum before heading to WWT Welney Wetland Centre for the rest of the day. Hawfinches and Crossbills performed brilliantly again and we finally added Marsh Tit to our trip list!

Welney was basking in winter sunshine, but the mild weather didnt help with our winter birding! No SE Owls or Cranes today sadly and only two Tree Sparrows! Welney has always been a 100% bet for Tree Sparrow but they were extremely dificult today. We also didnt see any Brown Hares! These were everywhere on our last visit in January but so far we haven’t seen a single one on this tour!

Ten Cattle Egrets were nice to see though as were over a thousand Black-tailed Godwits and 700+ Pintail! A couple of Great White Egrets and a Kingfisher kept our spirits up, but it certainly didnt live up to our January visit. Anyway, still a geat day at a fantastic reserve. Staff were very pleasant and helpful and we added 10 more species to our trip list, now standing at 113.

Last day tomorrow! We will be heading for Thornham and Snettisham

Day Five – Thornham, Snettisham and Warham Greens

Final full day in Norfolk on Friday. We tried without success for the Twite that had been reported a few days earlier at Thornham Harbour, but had great views of hunting Merlin, perched up initially then chasing waders across the saltmarsh.

It was then down the A149 to RSPB Snettisham to look for Snow Buntings. Too much disturbance on the beach this time and another unsuccesful search! A very kind lady pointed out where there had been five Redpoll shortly before we arrived and after a couple of seconds wait, the birds returned. Our second trip tick of the day. It was a very low high tide so no chance of any big wader murmurations at Snettisham, so after another lovely packed lunch it was decided we would have another go at Warham Greens for the harrier roost.

We took a cross country route in the hope of picking up a few birds on the way. Our eagle eyed guides stopped twice along the Wells Road and scanning flocks of finches, found four Bramblings and a Yellowhammer! Two more new birds for the list!

As we pulled into the car park at Stiffkey the light was fading. We walked out a few hundred meteres onto the marsh and scanned for birds. Paul ‘joked’ that we would see Hen Harrier, Glossy Ibis and Short Eared Owl before the end of the trip, just as Sarah Jane found a stunning male Hen Harrier! Minutes later, Paul shouted ‘Glossy Ibis’!! Eventually we saw three together! Another two Merlins put in an appearance, but sadly no Short-eared Owls. But two out of three aint bad!!

As we walked back to the mini-bus, thousands of Brent Geese flew over head towards the sea. A fitting end to an amazing week.

A huge thanks to all of our guests this week, some great laughs, chats, food and drink. So nice to see everyone getting along. As usual, thanks to the staff at The Crown who once again really looked after us and the food was fantastic!

We are running this trip again in February and December 2026 and still have places available!

BIRD LIST (119 species)

Black-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Cormorant, Bittern, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Glossy Ibis, Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Pink-footed Goose, Russian White-fronted Goose, Greylag, Canada Goose, Brent Goose, Barnacle Goose, Egyptian Goose, Shelduck, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Pintail, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Common Scoter, Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Red Kite, Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine, Red-legged Partridge, Pheasant, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Oystercatcher, Avocet, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Ruff, Jack Snipe, Common Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker (H), Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Stonechat, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Redwing, Song Thrush (GO), Mistle Thrush, Cetti’s Warbler, HUME’S WARBLER (H), Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Long-tailed Tit, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue tit, Nuthatch, Jay, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch, Brambling, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Siskin, Linnet, Redpoll, Crossbill, Hawfinch, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting

(H)= Heard only; (GO) = only seen by guide(s)

Mammals: Roe Deer, Muntjac, Chinese Water Deer, Rabbit, Grey Squirrel, Grey Seal