North Norfolk - 100 up!

A 4.30 am start with Jon picking up Dave and I at the Pub.

A pleasant journey with a quick caffeine hit coffee stop got us to Hunstanton cliffs where large numbers of passerines were flying through including Siskins, Goldfinches, Lesser Redpolls and Linnets.

As usual, Dave had already remarked that he fancied chips and this became the reoccurring theme whenever we got in the car to move to another spot!

We then went to Choseley Barns with a particular target bird in mind - Corn Bunting. The fields were full of Red Legged and Grey Partridge as well as Pheasants. Then, on a telegraph wire, Jono saw a Corn Bunting which stayed long enough for us to get pictures along with a very photogenic Goldfinch.

Next stop Titchwell. This is so popular that it is worth arriving early and by doing so had much of the Reserve to ourselves.

The feeders gave up the normal birds but Brambling - so rare in our neck of the woods - was a lovely bonus. Below the feeders was a very obliging Song Thrush!

As we started down the main path we looked for and found the Water Rail which is hard to photograph due to the intense foliage but a welcome bird to our list.

The reeds were buzzing with Reed, Sedge and Cettis Warblers. We walked straight down to the beach but the wind was already blustery and there was little out to water. The first part of the main lake gave a pretty Little Egret.

The scrapes gave us some excellent views of waders with a particularly fine summer plumage Spotted Redshank the highlight. An obliging Black Tailed Godwit gave decent views too.

The Parinder hide gave large numbers of ducks, geese and more waders including Little Ringed, Ringed, Grey and Golden Plovers, Redshanks, Avocets, Black Tailed and Bar Tailed Godwits.

One small mud flat also gave us a Pied and White Wagtail - great to see next to each other to notice the difference.

The reeds and flats over Thornham had already given us Marsh Harrier and Kestrel but another soaring raptor gave us superb views of a male Hen Harrier.

By this time Dave and I had eaten our cheese and pickle rolls and Jono had his obligatory cheese and chorizo rolls but Dave still wanted chips!

Onwards to Salhouse and Cley with a quick whizz round Holkham and a whistle stop in Wells for Dave to buy some sweets including three stcks of rock!

Cley was particularly quiet with nothing in particularly special though we did add Turnstone to our ever growing list. Another coffee stop and a quick drawl at the stuff in the visitor centre and we went to Arnold Marshes. Dave has seen a Pipit looking bird on a post but it flew so we parked up and looked about but saw nothing. I did see a Grebe like bird and when it was visible using the scope saw it was a female Goosander - great find!

Jono then found a glorious pair of Yellow Wagtails but as we drove back to get a better view they disappeared so we started looking for the Pipit. Low and behold it was down by a small pool of water. It gave long enough views for us to be certain it was not a Meadow Pipit (we had already seen these) and concensus of opinion was that it was the greyer Rock Pipit - another excellent bird.

Other quick stops included Warham, Kelling Heath and Weybourne but they added little to our list.

Eventually we got to Sheringham by which time Dave was in hysterics about chips so we had a delicious pint in the Wyndham Arms, got Dave a fields worth of chips, then finished with a pint of Wherry in the Lobster.

We were all knackered by now and so wended our way home arriving over 15 hours after we started!

A Red Kite on the journey gave the 100 birds for the day - fantastic and, as always, truly enjoyable.