Up North!

Took a bit of spin up to the north Norfolk coast today with Nick. Foggy at first but by 11am it had burned off and what a fine day it was.
We stopped first near Burnham Overy to search for the Rough-legged Buzzard but to no avail. The sound of Skylarks filled the air though. The best here was a 1st cy Marsh Harrier and one very smart looking male. I had a brief glimpse of a Green Woodpecker skimming along the tops of the hedgerows (of little interest to anyone else) but it and the Pink-foots are still a relative novelty for me coming from Ireland. A good size flock of Brents came in, again a wee novelty as they're all dark-bellied here rather than our light-bellied race over in Ireland.
Having dipped on the RL Buzzard we headed over to Salthouse for Snow Buntings and Shore Larks. No problem with the Buntings but we dipped on the Lark which hadn't been seen today at all (or at least was not reported).
Wonderful to see places like Cley, Blakeney Point, Holkam Pines and Salthouse for the first time. Places synonymous with rare birds but I have to admit a little concerned by the sheer numbers of birders. I'm told by Nick that this is nothing and I should go to Titchwell if I really want to understand what crowds are........I don't!