23rd February 2014 - Horsey Mere, Winterton and Waveney Forest

The Sunday of the Norfolk weekend was spent more in the Broads area, slowly working the way home.  An early start (much to the dismay of the B&B owner) was on the books and we headed straight to Horsey Mere to try and catch sight of a Crane.  We couldn't see any but stopped to check out some Pink-footed Goose.  In the middle of this Stuart happened to get bored and spotted two Crane meandering along to our right.

Crane

Winterton-on-sea was our next stop and we ran into a delightful flock of Snow Bunting on the beach there.  I added Gannet to my list from a quick scan out to sea and we saw plenty of Skylark, including two running about in the car park!

A couple of failed attempts to see specific birds then followed and I'm going to try to forget about those.


The last call of the day was Waveney Forest.  The Parrot Crossbill had 'just been seen' but of course had chosen to fly off.  We wandered down to the mound but all there was were a few Mute Swan and a Buzzard.  We headed back to the car a bit dejected and started chatting to a couple who were also looking for the Parrot Crossbill.  Suddenly, a group of 15ish finches flew overhead and we stopped talking and chased after them.  Hallelujah, the Parrot Crossbill had arrived!  I have to say, they are noisy eaters, don't listen out for their call, just the noise of them cracking cones!  After watching them for a good while and adding Treecreeper to the list it was back to London and the pub quiz (which we won!).


Well, it was supposedly back to London, but as often happens, an alert came through.  It was for the Waxwing in Norwich town centre which hadn't been seen for a couple of days.  It was the wrong direction, should we go for it?  We did.


Trip list: 18
Year list: 117
Lifers of year list: 4

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