Rain for part of the morning delayed our usual early start. However the rain was quick to clear through leaving a blustery cloudy day and we arrived at the Cley Marshes visitor centre for opening time at 10am. A very impressive centre with plenty of information, a shop and a cafe which overlooks the marshes. You have to buy permits to visit the hides so we paid our £4.50 each and ventured off to the hides. The 3 thatched hides are very close together but each has a different view over field and lagoons. From the hides we saw Avocets, Dunlin, Brent Geese and over the reeds a Marsh Harrier hunted low.
As there wasn't too much to see from the hides we decided to walk around the reserve and hopefully see some birds out to sea. As we passed a Hare ran off across the fields. On we walked to the high walkway to overlook the marsh and lagoons but could only find Redshanks, LIttle Egret and Wigeon. Must of been the blustery conditions keeping the birds hidden. We walked the shingle beach carefully looking for Snow buntings but none were found. We did however see Stonechats and Skylarks. Out to sea despite lots of scanning only a few gulls were seen but spotting a seal did brighten things up. All of a sudden we heard the calling of geese and a look to the skies revealed at least a 1000 Pink footed Geese, wow what a beautiful amazing sight and sound. They landed a few fields beyond and despite careful scanning from the Cley side we couldn't find them. There were however large numbers of Brent Geese in the fields.
For us Cley was a little disappointing for the lack of birds, perhaps it was just one of those days!
After lunch at Cley we decided to try and find the Pink feet in the fields. We drove a short distance to Blakeney, parked up at the quay and walked the path which lead towards the fields and sea. The area is fantastic low lying fields and salt marsh and very picturesque. Again we found plenty of Redshanks, Curlew, Teal, Shelduck,Curlew and a few Pintail. Eventually we came to a field which a large number of Brent Geese and on closer inspection I could see that we had also found our Pink footed Geese. Hundreds of geese in one field plus some Wigeon, a great view through our binoculars but even better through the scope. We had the best view ever of the wonderful Pink footed Geese. Brilliant!
Highlight of the day ....... Finding the Pink feet, magic!
Looking at you looking at me!
Common Seal aka 'Sammy'
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