I drove up to the North Nofolk coast this morning with my girls fearing that I'd probably missed the best of the action but hoping a few birds might still be on the move with the winds still coming in from the north.
Heavy snow fell on the drive up and gave the fields north of Thetford a good covering but by the time we hit Salthouse the snow had stopped. A brief sea watch (Auks, Scoters, Geese, Mergansers, RT Divers, Gannets and Gulls) was cut short with some nasty hard hitting hailstones and driving wind forcing me to take to the car for cover where my good lady had the coffee on as she watched me running back across the shingle.
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| Little Auk on Salthouse Pond |
Warmed up we decided to take a drive around to Cley but as I pulled out of Beach Road I noticed what looked like a Little Auk on the Salthouse duck pond. I turned the car around and parked up to find the bird was indeed a Little Auk so grabbed the camera for a couple of quick shots. A group of birders had already put news out and another photographer managed a couple of shots before the bird took flight back out to sea. Then came the masses from Cley having seen the pager message but within a couple of minutes the opportunity was won and lost.....Right time right place!
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| Little Auk |
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| Shot in bad light as it flew back out to sea. |
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| Little Auk on the duck pond at Salthouse |
Hearing news of a dead Auk found at Salthouse this morning I was pleased to see this little chap take to the skies and head back out to sea although I'm sure those responding to the pager would obviously have liked for it to linger a little longer.
The experience just underlines my blog header "
if you get out there you just might see something"
It would have been easy to stay home bemoaning the weather today but my reward for getting out there is clear.
Year list now at 269
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