Last night I was all ready to take on a Snowy Owl twitch to Norfolk, until news came through that the bird had inevitably flown high and south. This meant I started the day down Splash Point where I enjoyed a four hour seawatch. Good numbers of
Brent Geese and some good mixed species flocks of Duck were very welcoming. Highlights came in the form of three superb summer-plumaged
Shags offshore that had their crests fully raised, and just before I left a drake
Eider and a
Velvet Scoter flew past. Two Harbour Porpoise were regularly seen offshore throughout the morning also.
Totals between 06.35 - 10.35 NE 2-3;
Pintail - 31
Great Crested Grebe - 8
Red-throated Diver - 31
Mediterranean Gull - 6
Brent Geese - 725
Shoveler - 47
Teal - 31
Common Scoter - 46
Gannet - 2
Mallard - 2
Dunlin - 32
Auk - 4
Razorbill - 2
Guillemot - 1
Shelduck - 6
Red-breasted Merganser - 7
Curlew - 4
Velvet Scoter - 1 at 10.06 (flew past Climping at 09.22)
Shag - 3
Eider - 1 drk
Harbour Porpoise - 2
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| Brent Geese past Splash Point |
Having resided the fact that the Owl wasn't going to show I was all for the Mother's Day duties, but then the dreaded pager came into full swing with a sighting of the Owl, this time at Snettisham RSPB. I quickly rang Gareth and with gritted teeth arranged to meet and head straight up to Norfolk. Eventually after an extremely tense drive we made it, with still another twenty minutes of long strides towards the southern end of the reserve to go, where luck was finally on our side as the bird had spent all the time in the grass, but just prior to our arrival, flew up onto a fencepost and posed admirably for the remainder of the day. The
Snowy Owl was just stunning and performed better then I could've ever imagined. As the day went on and the light fading, it flew from one fencepost to another, before flying up onto the seawall and then flying off. One of my top birds seen in the UK, and a long overdue world tick. A
Barn Owl was also knocking about with another two seen on the walk back.
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| female Snowy Owl at Snettisham RSPB |
