North Norfolk trip
We had been planning to get to north Norfolk for a while but did not make it till this Saturday. An early start was planned as we wanted to get to Snettisham for dawn, so we left the house at 5.00am and got there for 7.00, with coffee and sandwiches to keep us going.
It was not supposed to be a spectacular day for the geese flying in from the sea, although high tide was 7.15am which would tend to drive them into land. I think this was mainly as there was a full moon, which was out when we arrived but then disappeared behind a cloud never to be seen again. There were flocks of knot and lapwing out on the Wash and some skeins of geese eventually came over but not vast numbers. I got shots of the old breakwater and, with the 400mm Sigma, a cloud of knots.
The place had been pretty damaged by the recent storm and only the first hide was opened. All the little shacky houses that you can see as you walk down have seemed to have survived.
From Snettisham we progressed down to Titchwell, where the dunes had been severely battered and flattened. The walkway leading from the reserve onto the beach was mangled. On the beach there are the remains of a couple of World War II tanks - Covenanters (which were supposed to be unreliable) and they cannot always be seen but the sand had been cleared around them by the high raging tide. The beach was used for firing practice during the war. In a pool a little further on there were a couple of seals whose bobbing heads somewhat bemused the dog.
We ended up at Brancaster Staithe where we noticed the public toilets were still being dried by some machinery. The slipway was covered in mud and non existent. We bought a large bag of mussels and took them home for tea!
It was not supposed to be a spectacular day for the geese flying in from the sea, although high tide was 7.15am which would tend to drive them into land. I think this was mainly as there was a full moon, which was out when we arrived but then disappeared behind a cloud never to be seen again. There were flocks of knot and lapwing out on the Wash and some skeins of geese eventually came over but not vast numbers. I got shots of the old breakwater and, with the 400mm Sigma, a cloud of knots.
The place had been pretty damaged by the recent storm and only the first hide was opened. All the little shacky houses that you can see as you walk down have seemed to have survived.
From Snettisham we progressed down to Titchwell, where the dunes had been severely battered and flattened. The walkway leading from the reserve onto the beach was mangled. On the beach there are the remains of a couple of World War II tanks - Covenanters (which were supposed to be unreliable) and they cannot always be seen but the sand had been cleared around them by the high raging tide. The beach was used for firing practice during the war. In a pool a little further on there were a couple of seals whose bobbing heads somewhat bemused the dog.
We ended up at Brancaster Staithe where we noticed the public toilets were still being dried by some machinery. The slipway was covered in mud and non existent. We bought a large bag of mussels and took them home for tea!
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