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LOWESTOFT & BROADS: January 1st day out

1st January 2013

First day of the year and a leisurely tour of north Suffolk and east Norfolk to see some birds. We started off by heading to Lowestoft, where a Great Northern Diver has been in the harbour for several days. It was out of sight when we first arrived, but after ten minutes or so it appeared close in. Unfortunately this put it directly in some strong sunlight, so what could have been a great photo opportunity was actually a point-the-camera-in-roughly-the-right-direction-and-hope opportunity. So here we are:

 I call this one "ah, it's come up closer than I thought" (click to enlarge)
This one I call "it would have been good if it's head was side on"

Afterwards we headed northwards back over the border to Breydon. It was high tide, so picking out birds from the tightly packed masses was tricky, but we saw flocks of Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit & Avocet, along with thousands of Wigeon and a few Teal and Pintail. A stop off at Rollesby Broad added some common wildfowl, but some boating on the broad reduced the potential return. Nearby at Repps-with-Bastwick 19 Bewick's Swans fed in a ploughed field. We then headed on up to Walcott, where we saw Turnstones and I managed to pick out an adult Med Gull on the sea, which then flew out of view.

From Walcott we headed back to North Walsham via Ebridge Mill. There was no sign of any Grey Wagtails, but there was an Egyptian Goose on the path and lots of Mgapies, possibly getting ready to roost. On our way back to Norwich we stopped at Horstead, where a Grey Heron was standing in a field and a Barn Owl flew around before heading off towards the mill.


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