December 2009 birdwatching & photography tours in Norfolk

1st December - Day One - Brecklands

The day started very successfully with a Merlin followed later with great views of a Firecrest, & nice tree top views of Crossbill, at least 12 flying around in the area. We also had a nice mixture of commoner woodland species including many Marsh Tit, a few Nuthatch, 1-2 Treecreeper & several Siskin.

We headed off to another area & whilst having lunch we had lovely views of around 60 Brambling, plus a Grey wagtail, Kingfisher & a few more Crossbill.

We finished the day off with a roost - 8 Marsh Harrier, 2 Whooper Swan, several calling Water Rail & point blank views of a perched Barn Owl.

2nd December - Day Two - North Norfolk

The day again started well with a lovely flock of around 60 Snow Buntings showing very well, also quite exciting was an amazing movement of Lapwing with around 4000 passing west in just 3-4 hours.

Offshore & close in were 6 superb drake Long-tailed Duck, a Great Northern Diver, 2+ Red-throated Diver, 20 Red-breasted Merganser, several Common Scoter, Goldeneye, 16 Eider completed a nice selection on the sea.

We then birded an other coastal harbour area nearby, & were awarded with an exceptional 8 Lapland Bunting, also seen well were several Scandinavian Rock Pipit, with fantastic views of 8 Bearded Tit sitting atop the reeds. Also Water Rail & Cetti's heard but not seen.

We stopped off further along the coastline & after much searching & almost when we were back at the Van - 20 Twite eventually gave themselves up. This turned out to be fortuitous as just as we were about to leave - a lovely Short-eared Owl flew into view & we had nice flight & perched views. Also here we had a ringtail Hen Harrier, a Pintail & 2000 Golden Plover.

The day finished with a raptor roost - 1 Buzzard, 2 r/t Hen harrier, 1 Peregrine & 2 Marsh Harrier. The quiet of dusk was broken just as were again about to leave as 11 Bewick's Swan passed overhead.

3rd December - Day Three - North Norfolk

A fantastic start today, we had started early & 20,000 Pink-footed Geese were still at their roost - an amazing site! Also 2 Marsh Harrier & Barn owl whilst watching them.

Out on the shoreline there was a nice mix - 2 Great Northern Diver, 10 Red-throated Diver, 1000 Common Scoter, 1 Red-necked Grebe, 20+ Eider, 10 Red-breasted Merganser & 1 Razorbill.

The day ended with good views of Bittern at around 1540 as it flew into roost, also Barn owl hunting, Buzzard, 3 Marsh Harrier & Cetti's Warbler.

An excellent 3 days winter birding tour with a total of 117 species recorded & 12 new species for the client!

6th December - Two Day Photography tour

Another one to one tour for two days - the first morning was spent evaluating & working on principles & technique mainly classroom based.

The afternoon & next morning we were out taking images & the final afternoon was spent working on raw conversion, editing techniques in Adobe Photoshop.

Jessica's comments & favourite image are below:-

" I just wanted to thank you again for a FANTASTIC two-day photo workshop.

I had extremely high expectations for the workshop, as it had been recommended to me, but I can honestly say that you exceeded my expectations in every way.

Spending time with someone who is so knowledgeable and passionate about birds as well as photography was awe inspiring to say the least. I cannot believe how much I’ve learned and I can’t wait to keep practicing.

I am really glad that I chose to book two days with you as one day would not have been enough.
Although I did not request to see any specific species, I was particularly grateful to see the massive flock of Pink-footed geese coming in to roost.

I was amazed at how close we were able to get to waders such as Bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Turnstone, and the many fantastic opportunities I was given to photograph these birds during the two days.

I just looked at my images again and I’m really pleased.

I would not have thought I could have taken images this nice a few days ago – and I can’t wait to keep practicing all the tips you’ve given me.

Thanks again for a very memorable weekend! I can't wait to see my print!!!