A couple of weeks ago I went with my brother to spend a week on the north Norfolk coast, staying in an 18th century flint-faced fisherman's cottage in the heart of the beautiful village of Blakeney, once one of the largest harbours in the UK but the harbour is now silted up and barely clinging on. The growth of Blakeney Point is the main culprit, but it is also a large draw for tourists, supporting much wildlife including a large colony of Terns and also Common and Grey Seals on the shingle spit.
One of the highlights of a trip to the north coast is the opportunity to see Marsh Harriers, last year we saw lots at Cley but this trip outshone that as we saw Marsh Harriers being mobbed over the marshes from Blakeney quayside within minutes of arriving in the village! We saw the Harriers again and again through the trip, around Blakeney, at the Cley nature reserve and at the Titchwell reserve, but at the end of a walk around Wiveton Downs and Glandford we found a Marsh Harrier in a field flying through a large flock of Woodpigeons and watched amazed as it flew back and forth over our heads, magnificent in the afternoon sunshine.
Repeated views of hunting Barn Owls, bats flying within inches of us on the marshes, Bearded Tits and Avocets at Cley, Fulmars at Hunstanton and Tawny Owls in the woods at Holkham were only some of the highlights, we saw so many wonderful things during that week. Norfolk really does justify it's reputation as it features so many habitats and supports a great wealth of wildlife. The reserves may be tourist honeypots but it doesn't take much effort to leave behind the crowds and I'll never forget a muddy morning walk along the coast path, the rain slowly clearing away and then as the sun peeked out I saw a Barn Owl, quartering the fields amongst the cattle.
A Marsh Harrier wheels overhead
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