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A day out in Norfolk, UK


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Posted

Yesterday my friend Steve and I went for a day's birding and seal watching in Norfolk. We arrived at Gt Yarmouth just as the sun was coming up and on the beach north of Brittania Pier I saw five shore larks (a first for me!) and a nice big flock of snow buntings, plus Mediterranean gulls.

 

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PB307455 adj by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

 

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PB307391 adj by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

In the meantime, Steve had walked further down the beach and had found a sick and abandoned Grey Seal pup under the pier and was baby-sitting it until the RSPCA arrived to help. Commendably, they had an officer out within the hour and she assessed the situation and determined that, whilst it was not as sick as Steve had initially thought, it would still have to be taken into care at their East Winch centre where it would have a very good chance of survival. We might even be able to visit it at some point.

 

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PB307461 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307465 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Further up the coast, there were six Whooper Swans in the field west of Somerton Holmes, a brown hare dashed from cover and sped off away from us and a Peregrine dashed over.

 

An enjoyable couple of hours were spent watching the Grey Seals and their pups on Horsey Beach and the walk back along the Nelson track produced a ringtail Hen Harrier and Chinese Water Deer.

 

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PB307474 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307494 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307511 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307534 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307544 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307562 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307569 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307584 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307613 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307620 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PB307631 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

Lastly, we headed to Stubb Mill to watch the raptors (mainly Marsh harriers) coming in to roost. It was, however quieter than we usually find, with no cranes, ringtailed Hen harriers or owls seen whilst we were there. But we did see five Bewick's Swans that flew over the Hickling area and there was a good sized flock of 150 Fieldfares, plus a muntjac deer.

 

 

 

Posted

Very cute baby seals!

Posted

@@kittykat23uk Great series of images and report. Is there a website for the rehab centre? Can you always expect to see seals on Gt Yarmouth beach?

Posted

http://www.rspca-eastwinch-wildlifecentre.co.uk/

 

The place to go to see breeding grey seals is horsey. They also breed at some sand bars off shore, but not on the beaches at Yarmouth.

Posted

Hi @kittykat23, we were in North Norfolk this time two years ago, and I really enjoyed seeing the seals (although not the 3 mile cold walk across shingle to get there....brrrrrr)

Posted

Thank Steve for his baby sitting efforts. I was just thinking about seal pups the other day, and here they are.

Posted (edited)

Those are adorable seal pups.

 

I visited a seal colony in Carpinteria, CA last week hoping to see a few but all the members of the colony were at sea :(

 

I saw some stinky sea lions though.

Edited by Sangeeta
Posted

Thanks all, currently at Malaga airport and our flight is delayed for three hours! :(

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