After the extravagance of 20 miles, our final day was just a 14 mile wander. This was to be the main birding day, starting at The George and wandering along the East Bank at the NWT Reserve. Perhaps the most famous bird walk in Britain, definitely England. I knew that I would be lagging behind and so it proved. Wendy was almost at Salthouse beach by the time I finished birding at Arnold's Marsh. Bearded reedling, marsh harrier, greenshank, spotted redshank, ruff and bar tailed godwits were all noted around Arnold's before I climbed on to the shingle, a stretch of 5 miles of hard walking.
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| mute swan |
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| mute swans |
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| 5 spoonbills |
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| avocets and a few black tailed godwits |
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| black headed gulls, black tailed godwits, sandwich terns et al |
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common tern.
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The main attraction at Arnold's Marsh was 5 spoonbills. In over 40 years of birding this patch I have never seen so many of these. They appear to be breeding at Holkham and, I suspect, will continue to become an even more regular sight, in much the same way little egrets did in the 1980's.
Along the shingle was tough with grey wagtail and another stonechat being noted around Kelling. The climb into Sheringham deserved refreshment, so off to the splendid Lobster pub for a pint of Wherry before the climb up to Beeston bump. From here, through the woods behind East and West Runton and down into Cromer, finishing with another pint at the pier. Job done and all credit to Wendy for her amazing efforts with such sore feet. Another 6 hours of walking must have been most uncomfortable. However, we raised over £700.00 for a local charity, kisses4kids and it is not too late to make a kind donation:
www.justgiving.com/jonathan-wendy
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6 spot burnet moth
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Bird List Day 3:
bearded tit, greenshank, bar tailed godwit, spotted redshank, ruff, grey wagtail, buzzard, gannet, rook and great spotted woodpecker.
Final total, 77 species of bird.
Total butterfly list:
common blue, small white, green veined white, large white, small tortoiseshell,dark green fritillary, painted lady, red admiral, peacock, small heath, small skipper, large skipper, meadow brown, speckled wood, white admiral, ringlet. A most pleasing 16 species.
Others: common toad, common frog, broad bodied chaser dragonfly, rabbit, moles, 6 spot burnet moth, various grass micro moths, few wave species (small fan foot wave, dwarf cream wave,) cinnabar moth.
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| Just 44 miles to go |
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| hard wandering; sand dunes |
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| Day 2, just another 10 hours of walking. |
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| More sand and heat. |
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| 5 miles of shingle |
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| The end: Cromer pier |
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