3 Little Owls

ONorth Norfolk Coast (Salthouse – Choseley Barns) – Thursday 18^th June 2015 

Salthouse Marshes

We left home at 1.30pm. It was a bright day with a moderate wind and the temperature was 17˚C. On the way to the North Norfolk Coast, Jan saw a Kestrel.

Funnel Web Spider Webs

We arrived at Salthouse at 2.50pm and parked near the beach end of Beach Road. What was a bright day was now becoming overcast and the wind had a bit of a chill to it so it didn’t feel much like 17˚C. Plenty of birds were moving about and it was encouraging to see so many Sand Martins. Where we parked in Beach Road we could see several Funnel Web Spiders’ webs.

It's Very Difficult To Tell Chiffchaffs & Willow Warblers Apart But We Did Hear It Sing So We Would Say It Was A Willow Warbler

Moving up to Salthouse Heath, where we had our picnic lunch. We heard more birds than we saw but we did see a Willow Warbler and we had a close encounter with a Hare that was making its way toward the car, it stopped about 10 metres from us and seemed a bit confused as to what to do next before eventually retracing its steps and moving out of sight. We saw some fine Foxgloves in the woodier bits of the Heath.

We then went to Cley Beach car park where we had a good view over the Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Cley Marshes. It was here that we saw a Spoonbill on one of the pools, it was a bit too far off to get any pictures but was easily recognisable from its size and the way it was moving along moving its head from side to side as it was sifting through the mud. There were quite a few of the bigger Gulls hunting for chicks which were causing a problem to the Avocets and Lapwings. We also saw quite a few Common Terns come over with Sandeels in their beaks.

The day had become quite gloomy which was quite a bit different from the weather forecast for the day. I know that weather forecasting is not an exact nature but we have noticed that quite a few of them in recent weeks have not been totally correct but then, what would we have to talk about?

Making our way to Stiffkey Saltmarsh we had a brief stop at the end of Green Lane. There were mainly Black-headed Gulls and a few Little Egrets so we didn’t stay very long.

After a short stop near West End Watermill at Burnham Overy Staithes we continued our journey having a welcome comfort stop at the NT toilets at Brancaster Staithe. The tide was now at its highest point so we didn’t stop at any of our usual places.

Scenes From Salthouse Heath (And Above)

We decided to have a look up at Choseley Barns before heading home. I must admit I was very tired as my usual erratic sleeping had been quite bad over the last few days with it getting to quite a low with 3 hours sleep in one 24 hour period. As we approached Chosely Barns our 4th Marsh Harrier of the day appeared hunting low over the fields and as we pulled into the corner of one field a Kestrel was hunting and he came down with a terrific thump quite near the car, he was successful and we saw him carrying off his prey. I think we were both surprised at how hard the thump sounded, undoubtedly to kill the prey straight off. We were also surprised that although the Kestrel was carrying his catch he continued to hunt in several places before disappearing out of sight.

On the way home we saw 3 Little Owls all of them were sitting on the top of telegraph poles; the first just outside Swaffham, the second just before entering South Pickenham and the third just before Ashill.

Wild Flowers At Cley Marshes

What we saw:

3 Kestrels

3 Little Owls

4 Marsh Harrier

Swallow*

Sand Martin*

House Martin*

Little Egret**

Spoonbill

Black-headed Gull*

Marsh Pipit**

Goldfinch**

Lapwing**

House Sparrow**

Skylark**

Avocet**

Shelduck*

3 Magpie

Swift**

Willow Warbler

Chaffinch**

Common Tern**

Redshank

Starling*

Oystercatcher**

Greylag**

2 Buzzard

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Heron

3 Linnet

9 Hare

Bat** (probably Pipastrelle)

Orange Tip Butterfly**

Funnel Web Spider Webs**

*   = Too many to count

** = Several

Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting.