Winter Birding in Norfolk 2025/26 Part 1

 Winter Birding  2025/26

The most reliable rarity in Norfolk this winter has been the very smart male eastern black redstart which has exchanged the rocky snowline screes of central Asia for the admittedly nippy gardens and rooftops of Sheringham. A jaunty splash of colour on a grey day, it has done nothing for the public perception of birders as groups of hooded enthusiasts have haunted quiet suburban streets through the Christmas period and well into the New Year in search of the wind-tossed vagrant.   

It had a very different appeal to the monochrome beauty of the black-winged kite which held court at Hickling Broad after moving across from the Ludham area. I saw the 2023 bird at some distance across the reedbeds from Stubb Mill so it was a delight to watch this individual go through its paces at closer range; making rapid circuits of the reeds, hovering at times, dropping down for prey and then perching haughtily on the tops of the larches, confirming the falcon characteristics which have been so remarked upon. Such a striking bird with its black eye mask and epaulettes, the record-shot photos at my distance  did not match the good views through the scope.

The day in the Broads held a grey chill which never quite lifted but which amplified the wild, bugling calls of the cranes as the marsh breathed mist to a weak sun. A group of 14 were feeding at Hickling and two passed over the track en route to the kite, but for most of the time they remained an atmospheric soundtrack to the bleak expanse of the winter landscape. Soon we will see their noisy lines appearing on the north coast as they venture out on their spring stretches before settling down on more familiar territory to breed. 

Wild swans, mostly whoopers, were dotted around the Ludham area but the end of the day was given over to the short-eared owls at St Benet’s, as they emerge in the late afternoon murk to forage in the rough pasture alongside the River Bure. One  materialised on a post, quite close in but somewhat obscured by the skeletons of last year’s giant hogweed. It essayed a few hunting flights before circling the drainage ditches further away and disappearing into the gathering dusk. 

Many years ago, while sea-watching on a bitterly cold day in Holkham Bay, a short-eared owl flew in off the sea and then, to the teeth-chattering delight of those few birders perched on the dunes, cruised low over the marram tufts at head height before seeking sanctuary in the pines. Staring directly into its yellow eyes was a unique, if somewhat surreal experience.

At the other end of the spectrum from the EBR is the starling – numerous and noisy as a Cromer bank holiday crowd with a sparkling swagger all its own.

However, this winter, migrant passerines did seem in shorter supply along the coast. After an initial movement of thrushes back in the autumn, numbers of fieldfare and redwing declined considerably and it has been a poor year locally for brambling. For the first year in a long time, there have been no shore larks at Holkham, very few snow buntings on the north coast and only a handful of twite in the Cley/Blakeney area.