Brian's turn to drive, so we threaded through the frosty lanes to Holkham, pausing briefly to search in vain for the Glossy Ibis at Stiffkey. A walk out to the fenced off part of the beach failed to produce any Shorelarks or Snow Buntings, but there were a few waders to scrutinise: Ringed Plover and Sanderling both being year ticks. A bizarre find was a freshy-dead Sooty Shearwater: I took a couple of photos, but you'll have to e-mail me to see them (bit gross!)
A half-hour seawatch revealed a vast flock of Scoter, among which were alleged to be lots of Velvets and a Surf Scoter: as you can see below, they were too far out to separate! A scan of the grazing marsh produced the year's first White-fronted Goose and a well-marked Buzzard, but little else.
Next stop was Stiffkey for another negative search for the Ibis: lots of Wigeon and Curlew failed to make up for the dip. Carrying on, we parked at Blakeney Harbour where we were told that neither the Twite nor Glaucous Gull were on offer. Coffee at Cley gave me decent views of a ringtail Hen Harrier from the visitor centre (camera in Brian's boot!)
Weybourne Beach turned up - I think - a duck Velvet Scoter and a possible Caspian Gull, as well as a Stonechat. We finished the day with a totally birdless walk around Salthouse Heath.
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