SHORELARK
I was walking along the wide windswept beach at Holkham when I disturbed a group of small birds, which flew off over behind a dune stack. Curious, I followed, climbed over the dune and spotted one of the birds - a SHORELARK. I was watching it through my bins, when another bird came into view. And then another, and then another. In the end I counted twelve, which for a bird that is so scarce is a huge total. Its a beautiful bird, the shape of a SKYLARK, but with a yellow face and little black horns. Its a great little find one that restores my faith with the world.
Holkham is a huge reserve with a vast area of grazing marsh, dunes, and conifer woods. The plan was to spend only a short time here with a brief look at the different areas. The grazing marshes are huge and are looked over by hides. On the grassy marshes were carpets of WIGEON, grazing in tight groups. A SPOONBILL was seen in flight, distant but distinctive as it flies with its head out, whereas EGRETS, of which there were many, tuck their head in.
Immediately in front of the hide was an area of reedbed, in which there were a pair of CHINESE WATER DEER, and it looked that MARSH HARRIER were looking to nest there, a female kept flying over and around it. One of the HARRIERS had green tags on its wings, a way of recording the bird.
For such a quick visit I saw a lot. The extremely volatile weather meant there were few people about, making the place seem more bleak than usual, but in more warmer weather the area can get inundated, its a big honeypot site.
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