Hunstanton Shags & Fulmars

Yesterday was an unexpectedly lovely winter blue sky day and even more unexpectedly I managed an hour and a half away from family duties to take a walk under the cliffs at the end of our road.

Not sure what I'd been expecting to see and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of Fulmars hanging around the cliffs either sitting on the flat calm waters of The Wash, flying over head or sat on the cliffs themselves. They were incredibly vocal and their calls, which I always feel sound a bit like a Geiger counter filled the air.

Fulmars, Hunstanton Cliffs

Apart from the Fulmars I'm inclined to say that it was the usual suspects with Turnstones, Redshanks and Bar Tailed Godwits feeding on the foreshore and Herring, Common and Black Headed Gulls present on reasonable numbers. Off shore were Great Crested Grebe and a couple of fly by Red Breasted Mergansers. Noticeable by their absence were any Brent Geese, but perhaps the beach was just a little too busy for them today.

I also managed to see four or five Shags, a two or three feeding just offshore and a couple more roosting on the cliffs. I had been told about the big Shag roost on the cliffs earlier in the winter and knew that this had peaked at over 100 birds but family commitments had prevented me going to look for them and to be honest I'd forgotten about the fact that they were still there. So it was a special treat to finally catch up with what has been a record breaking assemblage of these birds in Norfolk, albeit only a few of the many birds that had been present and to take a few pictures.

Shag, Hunstanton Cliffs