Best ever Little Owl, Raven, Woodcock and other great stuff!

Not a case of bolting the stable door: Brian and I fancied a drive out to the north-west of the county to look for Short-eared Owls (And, of course, there was just a chance we might be in the right place if the Snowy turned up again.)

First stop was Abbey Farm, Flitcham: a delightful little private reserve that produced a distant Little Owl and several jaunty Oystercatchers. A move to Sandringham failed to add Golden Pheasant to the day list, but a Raven gronk-gronking from a tall conifer was a pleasant surprise. (Not so pleasant was an extremely rude and abusive couple who let their Gordon Setter off the lead right by two 'All dogs on leads' signs.)

Snettisham Pits provided some good exercise and views of a drake Pintail and plastic Barnacle Goose, as well as all the regular waders.

An enforced detour via Docking gave Brian and me our best-ever views of a second Little Owl in a roadside tree! We carried on to Titchwell for lunch, adding Woodcock, Red Kite (complete with big rat!) and Bearded Tit to our satisfyingly full day list.