Trip reports

Coach Trip to Cley NWT

Sunday, 20 April 2008

Our first coach trip to Cley NWT since the new visitor centre was opened turned into a great success after a slow start. Initial prospects appeared a little gloomy as we opened the shutters of the hides looking out onto Pat's Pool to be greeted by a blast of cold north-easterly wind and a few distant avocets. However things soon improved with good views of many Marsh Harriers and an obliging water pipit on Whitwell Scrape (see photo, courtesy of John Dingemans) and although most of us missed an osprey that flew along the beach we did find 2 shorelarks, 16 species of wader including greenshank and wood sandpiper and 2 ring ouzels near the NOA observatory (well done Gary for discovering them in the middle of a very large field!). In all we saw 92 species and additionally heard a sedge warbler. The trip list (which includes birds seen en route including marsh tit at Barton Mills) is as follows:

Avocet, blackbird, blackcap, reed bunting, chaffinch, chiffchaff, coot, cormorant, crow, curlew, collared dove, stock dove, ruddy duck, tufted duck, dunlin, dunnock, little egret, gadwall, bar-tailed godwit, black-tailed godwit, goldfinch, brent goose, canada goose, egyptian goose, greylag goose, little grebe, greenfinch, greenshank, black-headed gull, common gull, greater black-backed gull, herring gull, lesser black-backed gull, marsh harrier, heron, jackdaw, jay, kestrel, knot, lapwing, shore lark, skylark, linnet, magpie, mallard, house martin, moorhen, osprey, oystercatcher, grey partridge, red-legged partridge, pheasant, feral pigeon, wood pigeon, meadow pipit, water pipit, golden plover, grey plover, ringed plover, pochard, redshank, spotted redshank, ring ouzel, robin, rook, ruff, wood sandpiper, shelduck, shoveller, snipe, house sparrow, sparrowhawk, starling, swallow, mute swan, teal, sandwich tern, mistle thrush, song thrush, bearded tit, blue tit, coal tit, great tit, marsh tit, treecreeper, turnstone, pied wagtail, Cettis warbler, willow warbler, wheatear, wigeon, wren.