25.01.2025 - Outdoor Meeting : Holkham Nature Reserve

​Leader: Ptolomey McKinnon
Report: David Laurie.
Bird List: Seamus O'Dowd

Fifteen of us met at the Holkham village car park at 9:00 on a clear, sunny but cool morning. In celebration of the date, which is Burns night, Ptolemy generously handed out shortbread and read to us from 'To a Blackbird' by the great man.

'Go on sweet bird, and soothe my care,
Thy tuneful notes will hush despair;
Thy plaintive warblings void of art,
Thrill sweetly thro' my aching heart.
Now chuse thy mate, and fondly love,
And all the charming transport prove;
While I a lovelorn exile live,
Nor transport or receive or give.'

Then on to the birds. Firstly, we made a brief foray into Holkham Park where there were Nuthatches, a Treecreeper and a couple of Fallow Deer. Moving on to Lady Anne's Drive we came across the first of the day's Wigeon, a couple of Brent Geese, a Buzzard and two Red Kites showing their full range of colour as they circled in the sun. Three Great White Egrets were dazzling in the bright light. In the pools on either side were Pintail, Shoveler and numerous Teal while on the grass were Lapwings and Curlews. The birds were regularly disturbed by Marsh Harriers and then by a swiftly passing Merlin. It perched in the top of a tree but only showed in silhouette against the low, bright sun.
After a brief stop at the Lookout we turned left into the pines where a party of Long-tailed Tits were accompanied by a Treecreeper and flitting, ever active Goldcrests. There were also Coal Tits high in the trees. On the way to the Washington Hide a reed-lined pool held Gadwall, a Mute Swan and Little Grebes. At the Hide we could see marshes full of geese and the calls of Pink-footed and Greylag made
a persistent background sound to the day.
We moved on to the Joe Jordan hide, newly rebuilt and still smelling of cut pine. There were crowds of Greylag with several groups of
White-fronted Geese showing the white patch around the bill and their distinctive black bars across the belly. The ones at Holkham are
usually the sub-species albifrons which breed in Russia rather that the flavirostris from Greenland. Nearby were several Egyptian
Geese, native to Africa but introduced in the 17th century by aristocrats with a fondness for exotic waterfowl on their estate lakes. The geese escaped, of course, and can now be found across East Anglia, the Home Counties and London.
By now the sun was directly in front of us and viewing was less easy so we headed back to the Lookout cafe and welcome hot drinks. Lunch was accompanied by circling Red Kites and a couple of Pied Wagtails in search of scraps.
Some of us had to leave at this point but the rest made a short foray back to Lady Anne's Drive to scan the numerous Teal in search of a recently reported rarity. A Green-winged Teal has been seen there but it isn't an easy bird to pick out being very similar to our usual Teal but with the white stripe on the side moved from horizontal to vertical. We made a careful search but if it was still present it evaded us on this occasion. However, we did find a lively pair of Stonechats and a couple of resting Snipe to add to the day's list.
Next, we went to the shore where around 70 Redshank were feeding among the vegetation. A little further on were Skylarks, Linnets and a group of Meadow Pipits accompanied by at least one Rock Pipit. Moving on to the roped off area we looked for Shore Larks and eventually found them beyond the enclosure and showing well on a strip of shingle. There were eight in all, distinct with their yellow and black faces.
Moving round to the seaward side of the dunes there was a seal carcass where a few days before Ptolemy had found a feeding Turnstone while on reconnaissance. Do Turnstones eat carcasses or is it the attracted invertebrates? Possibly both. There was nothing there today but the beach was busy with walkers with and without dogs.
The wind strengthened during the day but was never too cold for comfort, given enough layers of clothing, and as it was coming from the South we could take shelter below the dunes while engaging in a spell of sea watching. It was high tide and the light was excellent but birds were a long way out except for some Sanderling scuttling along at the water's edge. Out on the sea were large groups of Common Scoter, perhaps two to three thousand in all, and when they took flight a couple showed the white wing bars that identified them as the less numerous Velvet Scoter. There were also a couple of Great Crested Grebes, a Red-throated Diver, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls and small parties of Red-breasted Mergansers.
This marked the closing stage of the day and the final part was a walk back along Lady Anne's Drive. Still no Green-winged Teal, but we did have good views of up to eight Red Kites.
It was an excellent day out, and our thanks go to Ptolemy for leading.

Bird List: (71 species)
Blackbird Black-headed Gull Black-tailed Godwit Blue Tit
Brent Goose Carrion Crow Coal Tit Common Buzzard
Common Gull Common Scoter Coot Cormorant
Curlew Dunnock Egyptian Goose Fieldfare
Gadwall Goldcrest Golden Plover Great Black-backed Gull
Great Crested Grebe Great Spotted Woodpecker Great Tit
Great White Egret Greenfinch Grey Heron Greylag Goose
Herring Gull House Sparrow Jackdaw Jay
Lapwing Linnet Little Grebe Long-tailed Tit
Magpie Mallard Marsh Harrier Meadow Pipit
Merlin Moorhen Mute Swan Nuthatch
Oystercatcher Pied Wagtail Pink-footed Goose Pintail
Red Kite Red-legged Partridge Red-breasted Merganser
Red-throated Diver Redshank Robin Rock Pipit
Rook Sanderling Shelduck Shore Lark
Siskin Skylark Snipe Starling
Stock Dove Stonechat Teal Treecreeper
Velvet Scoter White-fronted Goose Wigeon
Woodpigeon Wren