As we looked out over the salt marsh with several other birders, we saw several Marsh Harriers and two Hen Harriers (Northern Harriers to my American friends). There was a dark breasted Barn Owl (ours are generally pale birds, so this one probably came over from Northern or Eastern Europe) and two Short-eared Owls. These were particularly lovely to watch with their peculiarly mechanical flight.
I loved this area and wished we could have stayed longer until dusk, but with only one evening available to us we decided to head further along the coast to enjoy the Pink-footed Geese coming in to roost at Holkham. Here is a panoramic view of this beautiful area of Salt Marsh at Warham Greens, first from the left.....
...and the right......
.....and the centre! You can't see it in these photos, but the sea is there just beyond the marsh.
And so on to our final birding spot of the day. There is nothing like the spectacle of watching and hearing thousands upon thousands of Pink feet coming in to roost at the end of the day. I would recommend it to anyone! A few thousand would come along and gradually settle to the ground and then you'd see what looks like smoke in the distance and another few thousand would gradually come closer and descend.
I particularly like the two tone effect in this photos and the randomness of the geese as they wiffled their way down to earth.
A not so random formation flying over our heads. The colour of the sky was amazing. I haven't touched up these photos at all by the way.
As the sun sank below the horizon I was able to get some beautiful shots across the standing water in the fields.
These last two, I couldn't decide whether I preferred the landscape or portrait shot. I think the landscape wins it for me by a whisker! 
A perfect end to a wonderful days birding with great friends!
10 comments:
Those are great skein shots Jen and the sunset shots are just out of this World. They definitely need to be enlargedd and erected on the wall somewhere. Brilliant.
Hi Roy, it was such a great evening with amazing colour in the sky. One to remember!
Wonderful scenes. The geese certainly are an amazing spectacle.
Those sky shots are gorgeous! Do you think the Pink-footed geese prefer a pink sky? They look lovely flying in it :-) I'd say you had a geat day of birding...harriers, owls, geese, and gorgeous scenery. Terrific post!
Hi Celeste, yes I felt lucky to be there to see it.
Hi Mary, I'm SURE those pink feet must like that pinky sky! (-: It was a great day. We were s'posed to be birding on Sunday too, but the weather was awful. We did bird a bit, but I didn't get my camera out for it.
An abundance of great landscapes, birds galore and an amazing sunset, Jenny! You truly discovered the pot of gold on your outing. I can't get over the number of birds. The only time I've seen that many is at Freeze Out lake and the snow geese. Thank you for sharing your day.
What a great time and beautiful photos Jenny! Hope everyone is well at home!
What a great time and beautiful photos Jenny! Hope everyone is well at home!
You asked me about puzzles and I just wanted to let you know I posted about some in my This, That and the Other Thing blog including one with English birds on it :-)
Hi Christine, I really did love this trip. I always love Norfolk for birding and the landscape too, it may be quite flat, but it still has loads of character....much like the Somerset Levels.
Hi Evie, glad you enjoyed the posts. Yes, all is well with my Mum, I'll write you later.....
Hi Mary, yes I've just been over to your new blog and left a comment. A great post!
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