Norfolk

I went up to Norfolk yesterday with Colin. The weather was rather indifferent, being damp and drizzly with rain in the afternoon, but it was a lot better than elsewhere. Travelling up, we noticed a lot of trees and branches had come down due to the recent high winds-I gather it was quite severe in North Norfolk.
We went to Thornham again-the Twite are still around in the harbour, with around 20 now. it was a bit problematic getting there as the road was closed between Hunstanton and Holme, needing a diversion from Heacham inland. This enabled us to pick up a few large flocks of Pink Footed Geese, a lot of Red Legged Partridge and a party of Bullfinch crossing the road in front of us. It also meant we arrived rather later than expected.
The Twite were easy to find, flying up from the puddles in the car parking area as we approached. They seemed to be a bit more approachable than last time, but only spent a few seconds around the puddles before flying off again. The usual selection of waders were in the harbour-Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Curlew, Redshank, Lapwing and Sanderling. One Spotted Redshank was in the creek behind us. Lots of distant birds over the sea, including Red Breasted Mergansers, Great Crested Grebes and a Great Northern Diver, but many remained unidentified due to the distance.

 We then went to Titchwell, which turned out to be rather less busy than usual. Colin had a quick test of one or two telescopes and while he was watching the feeders I noticed a Treecreeper-in 30 years I think it was my first for Titchwell. Apparently they are seen occasionally but are barely annual.
High water levels on the fresh marsh produced a lot of duck, some geese and not much else-one small island had a few Knot and Dunlin. Most of the waders were on the mud on the brackish marsh. Last year we missed a Greenshank here and I hoped it would be around today, but no such luck. Just the usual godwits, Curlew Grey Plovers and Redshanks. More were on the flooded lagoon behind the dune, and here we found all the Avocets and Oystercatchers, plus several Pintail.
The sea was rather calm, but visibility at a distance was poor, with the wind farm hard to make out with the naked eye. A sizeable  flock of Red Breasted Mergansers in Brancaster Bay had some Common Scoter with them. Apparently there was a single Velvet Scoter and Long Tailed Duck with them but I couldn't find them. Lots of Great Crested Grebes and Red Throated Divers as usual, with one or two Great Northern Divers on the sea, and I also  found a flyby Black Throated Diver. There were a few Guillemots and Razorbills as well.
On the way back we stopped off at Thornham Pool, found a showy Water Rail and had the water Pipit location pointed out-unfortunately largely hidden in the channel by the reed bed. A couple of calling Cetti's were the only warblers encountered all day.
The plan for the afternoon was to go to Leatheringsett for the Arctic and Mealy Redpolls, but as we were setting off, birds were reported again at Kelling, which seemed a better bet as we knew the area.
It was raining as we arrived and steadily got worse. The Redpoll flock were very flighty but dropped down into a bare tree every now and again. Seemed to be a mixture of Lesser and Common (Mealy). Three Coue's Arctic were supposed to be present but never showed while we were there. Bonus birds included a flyby ring tail Hen Harrier and at least three Woodcock.

Because we were getting so wet we popped into Cley Spy and had a look at some more scopes, tripod heads and binoculars, though it really entailed having a long chat with one of the staff members. Their feeders had a few House Sparrows but not much else due to the disturbance of a new hide being constructed.