Cley

2nd May 2009
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Trying to fill in a few gaps in the year list, me & Adam took advantage of the new Coasthopper timetable to beat the crowds to Cley. A few nice photo opportunities from a singing Sedge Warbler and a Kestrel along the road, before we reached the middle group of hides. There was very little around, and not much more from the east bank. We were the only people in North Hide, and Adam picked out a resting juvenile Spoonbill, and with more effort in the heat haze, Little Ringed Plover. A few Ruff and a Common Sandpiper were also on the scrape.

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Further round, I was watching a lone Brent Goose on the Eye Pool when Adam spotted a Short-eared Owl flying over the marshes towards Blakeney. It went down below the ridge before I saw it, but luckily it reappeared before flying down the marshes behind the point. We went back to the visitors centre for lunch, before heading back to Sheringham. We walked up to Beeston Bump to check for migrants, but with every member of the ramblers and their families out, we gave up and got the train home.

Year list 185 species.