Egrets, Spoonbills and Whitefronts: Holkham delivers the goods!

With just half a day at our disposal, the 'Summer Wine Crew' headed north to Cley. The walk out to Bishop's Hide convinced us that 'doing' the beach circuit was not an option, but we stopped in the hide to enjoy a cup of tea. Apart from fifty or so Avocets and a fly-through Kingfisher, there seemed little about: then suddenly I noticed a delightful little Water Pipit just in front of the hide. This charming and active little bird put on a great show before departing eastwards: we did the opposite, and moved on to Holkham.

£3.20 bought us a couple of hours, so we decided on a walk to Jordan hide, just to stay out of the chilly wind. On the way we added Buzzard, White-fronted and Brent Goose to the day list, as well as the first of, perhaps, four Great Egrets. Although somewhat distant, nine Spoonbills were good to see: at one point they were joined by two Little Egrets and another Great Egret. As we drank some more tea, we noticed two more Great Whites in the reed beds, and were delighted when a decent flock of White-fronted Geese dropped down right in front of us!

Back to the car (adding Snipe to the burgeoning year total) With time running short, we drove back to Cley for a brief - and completely unproductive - seawatch. And so home!