Dotterels and Wood Sandpipers: a run up to the North Coast

The presence of a long-staying trip of Dotterels at Choseley caused Brian, Norman and me to bring forward our usual day out: with hindsight (and had we known about the RTA on the Fakenham Road) we should perhaps have left earlier. In the event we were looking at four Dotterel by around 8.30: the heat haze, however, was already ferocious. Lots of Corn Buntings were jangling about as we drove on to Titchwell.

No sign (nor sound) of the Turtle Doves: in truth, high water levels meant there wasn't much to look at all, just a few Sandwich and Common Terns and the increasingly-abundant Mediterranean Gulls. A couple of juvenile Long-tailed Tits posed beautifully!

A move to Wells Scrape was instantly more rewarding, with close views of two Wood Sandpipers. We enjoyed the drama of Avocets and Lapwings driving off a predatory Heron, before continuing eastward to Cley. Pat's Pool held a good selection of goodies, all of which were unfortunately rather far away: two Temminck's Stints and a Little Ringed Plover were the best of the bunch. The walk to the sea along the East Bank added Little Tern to the year list, but that was about it!