Sunday 18 January 2015

Cloudy Cley, Sunny Salthouse

We decided to head along the coast last weekend for a circular walk taking in a bit of sea and farmland. We headed from Cley along the shingle ridge to Salthouse, inland across Salthouse Heath and back to the coast road.

It wasn't meant to be a birding walk but we did pick up a few things. Along the East Bank we came across a party of 15+ bearded tits feeding right next to the track. They didn't seem bothered by all the people walking by although I am pretty sure many didn't even see them.
Along what is left of the shingle ridge was a pair of stonechat and a large flock of 70+ goldfinch but the highlight was a flock of 63 snow buntings. They were very approachable and didn't seem bothered by us being there. Most of them were preening and one even looked like it was sleeping! We dropped onto the beach so not to disturb them and headed onto Salthouse.

The walk up through the village and up onto the heath was quiet. Several small groups of pinkies flew over and a couple of mistle thrushes feeding with some horses.

The sun started to come out on the heath showing up the flowering gorse nicely. A bit of pishing pulled out several goldcrests from the scrub but otherwise it was quiet.

Nice weather and a nice walk

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