Stiffkey Fen: 36 Spoonbills and a surprise Cattle Egret

Linda and I decided to visit the North Coast in advance of the predicted stormy weather: we left early and were on the East Bank by 8.00am. Almost the first bird we saw was the long-staying Pectoral Sandpiper at the north end of the Serpentine, but it disappeared into the grass before I managed a photo.

The sea was pretty barren, with just a Guillemot and Common Scoter worth pointing the camera at: this was also the case with the scrape in front of Bishop's Hide, ( just lots of House Martins and two Swifts) so we moved along to Salthouse and walked out to Gramborough Hill. Only two birds of note: a male Stonechat and a smart Wheatear (or two!) so we adjourned to the Visitors' Centre for coffee and teacakes, picking up Greenshank on the way back to the car.

With little reported along the coast, we drove the couple of miles to Stiffkey Fen, where we knew there was a decent flock of Spoonbills. In the past these have been tricky to see, but either someone's cut back the foliage or there's been a natural die-back. Either way we were soon enjoying views of 36 Spoonies dozing in the sunshine. A very pleasant couple of visiting female birders thought they might have seen a Great Egret: scanning the distant islands I realised they'd discovered a Cattle Egret! Distant, but always good to see. And so home to batten down the hatches!