First stop was Welney where a routine stop would see us grab a lifer for Paul in the shape of the Glossy Ibis.
..Wrong! Arriving at first light there was no sign..this was to be the day it chose to have a lie-in. We stayed until 9 without seeing it and decided we had to move on.( the inevitable text came through that it appeared at 9:55)
Cley was next where there had been all sorts of good birds around all week including an American Golden Plover, which I was desperate to see. We started off at the beach hoping if someone else located the bird they would put out the news, meanwhile we could go and find some of the other goodies that might be around.
There was an obvious passage of Kittiwakes going on, a very late Arctic Tern hung around the Coastguards, a Red-throated Diver was close in and a reasonable flock of Common Scoter was seen, but other than that the sea was quiet.
Popping in to North Hide, the obvious highlight was not 1, not 2, but three Grey Phalaropes on the marsh. Other than that it was pretty standard fare, a large number of Pintail being notable.
Disappointingly no Snow or Lapland Buntings or Shore Larks were found.
Brent Geese at Cley With no word on the Plover we moved on to Holkham which the previous day had hosted a flock of some 65 Lapland Buntings, surely we would find them !
I can honestly say I've never Known Holkham so bird-dead and we didn't see anything worthy of note.
The day was turning into a bit of a washout, so a trip to reliable old Titchwell was called for - surely that wouldn't let us down.
A flock of Twite near the New Parrinder Hide was good and a flock of 11 Shore Lark on the beach was even better. A Yellow-legged Gull in the gathering Gull roost failed to raise the spirits and we set off for home feeling a day that had promised so much had failed to come up with the goods - I don't think I've ever felt that way about Norfolk, maybe familiarity is breeding contempt !
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