Larking about in Norfolk for Jims 400

At the start of this year I made a commitment to help my brother Jim get through the 400 BOU tick barrier and although on paper he got there with the Long-toed Stint he has one bird on that list which is yet to be official accepted (the Black-eared Wheatear). so when a Greater Short-toed Lark was reported in Norfolk I watched it with intent until yesterday when my first opportunity to travel came along. A call to notify the Jims of my intent had them ready to go at 5.30am and we set off hoping the bird had stayed overnight.

The journey north was horrendous with a closure to the M11 diverting us across the A120 we were forced to travel up the much slower A12 to West Runton and what should have taken just over two hours took almost four hours but on route we had atleast had the birds continued presence confirmed. Arriving at the small car park and eventually sorting the confusing daily parking fee we walked the short distance to a small gathering of birders. I saw the Short-toed Lark straight away but it flew before I could get the Jims on it. The bird returned and this time we all managed to get good scope views and Jim had finally got his 400th UK mainland tick. A quick high five and we were back enjoying the bird as it ran around feeding with a few Skylarks and some Linnets.

The Greater Short-toed Lark was always a little too far for anything other than a record shot

Moving on we decided to head for Holkham and see if we could find the Shorelarks there for another year tick stopping on route for a short sea watch at Cley. We ticked Bonxie at Cley as three flew by in the 40minutes on site. Also noted Gannets, Razorbill, Guillemot, Knot, Brent Geese, Teal and Wigeon during our stay. At Holkham we again added to the estates profit pot with our parking fee and walked out to the roped off area of beach to search for the four Shorelarks reported to be there. It didn't take long to find them and although they remained quite distance the scope views were good and they're always a great bird to see and they nudged the pointless year list to 228 leaving me just ten short of my worst year totals.

Shorelark hiding at Holkham

Pinks at Holkham

Onwards and upwards and congratulations Jim on the first target reached .....now let's get  to 450.