Carlsberg day in North Norfolk!

After a 5am start and a quick coffee stop, Jono and I arrived at Titchwell just after 7am.

We decided to go straight to the beach for some sea watching.

We immediately saw two families of Eider not too distant though poor light and the sea swell made photos almost impossible as you can see below!

There were a number of Common and Sandwich Terns and amongst them I found a Black Tern. However, the best was to come when Jono found a Roseate Tern which was a lifer for me in the UK! There were Oystercatchers and Sanderling on the beach.

Passerines were a bit thin on the ground though on the way to the beach we did see a Whinchat and a very posey Meadow Pipit.

From Parrinder Hide there were the normal array of ducks and waders with large flocks of Black Tailed Godwits, Avocets, Lapwing, Ruff and Dunlin. However, Jono and I had noticed a slightly different wader which had a very strong white supercillum with predominantly white underneath. We gave up on ID at the time but when we both investigated on our return. It was later confirmed to be a White Rumped Sandpiper - lifer number two!

As we headed back to the visitor centre for a coffee we saw a pristine Painted Lady which was to be first of some decent butterflies.

We made our way to Burnham Overy which is always lovely but it is around two miles to get to the dunes and Gun Hill. Although there were a few hedgerow birds the only birds of note were Wheatear and, on a small pool a lone Wood Sandpiper.

Again though a distant Clouded Yellow and Wall Brown butterfly added extra interest.

After eating our rolls and enjoying the reliably delicious cappucino at the Cley visitor centre we decided to make our way round to Winterton Dunes. This is a vast area of dunes and adjacent scrub either side of a car park. There had been reports of Greenish Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Wryneck and Red Backed Shrike.

Jono had been given some advice about location and we made our way to the totem pole area where the Wryneck had been seen. Although there were a number of birders none of them had actually found it so we carried on to see if we could get a look at the Shrike.

It was a good two mile walk and apart from a lone Whinchat we saw no other birds for the whole of the walk!

Eventually we arrived to find two photographers and a stunning male Red Backed Shrike posing happily on a nearby bush. A few photos later and my third UK lifer of the day - fantastic!

Our walk back was equally birdless though a very showy Yellowhammer did give good views.

We had a cursory look at the South Dunes but although we could see birders it would have been another long walk to find the other birds. I was knackered by now and Jono had a curry booked with Her Wendiness so we made our way home.

A terrific day and some marvellous birds. Roll on our two night trip to Portland in a couple of weeks!