Norfolk – Cley– 5th September 2009

Looking at the calendar, its sea watching time again and as per last year we decided to get out early to the beach at Cley. On arrival there was already quite a gathering and talk of a few sightings, in our two hour stay we had Fulmars close in, Sandwich Terns continually fishing, four Great Skuas and a distance they half filled the scope and two Arctic Skuas at about the same. Also going past were Scoter, Teal, Oystercatcher and Turnstone. Not a fantastic species list, but nice to see birds closer in. We then took the opportunity to visit the reserve and queued for short glimpse of the Ortolan Bunting. Then on the scrapes we had very good views of 6 Spoonbills as they were dodging cattle moving around in the water. Also in the scrapes was a Curlew Sandpiper, White Wagtail, numerous Black-tailed Godwits, Ruff and Dunlin. Life bird count: 389 Year bird count: 239 Month bird count: 59