And now for a week in North Norfolk.

Saturday 25th October 2025.

Pebble Cottage, our holiday location for the week.

We have now started our week's holiday in North Norfolk, staying at the small, but cosy Pebble Cottage on the outskirts of Holt, in North Norfolk. The drive up was fraught with a lot of stoppages on the motorways and took an hour longer than expected, but we arrived safely late last night. On our way up, I saw a large ‘covey’ of Grey Partridge in a field adjacent to the roadside on the outskirts of Holt and also a small flock of around 20 Pink-footed Geese (my first of the year) in a field near the village of Fakenham. At least 20+ Red Kites and around 10 Common Buzzards were also seen on the way up and also a single Kestrel.

Holt, North Norfolk:

Some nice areas to search for birds in Grove Lane, near our Cottage.

After a lovely long sleep, I was up around 7.30am this morning and though the weather was a bit grim (drizzly rain, overcast and a strong north-westerly wind), I took the dogs for a good walk down Grove Lane; the road in which our Cottage is located. I couldn't help noticing how large most of the houses were along this road and the huge gardens they had. Could a ‘rare’ bird be hiding in one of these gardens, perhaps. Not this morning, but I did pick out a few Redwing flying out of one of the big copses along the road. I found a clump of Toadstools on the grass by the footpath and I deduced (though by no means 100% correct) that they were probably Brown Rim-roll Toadstools (according to Google Lens).

Quite possibly a Brown Roll-rim Toadstool. 

Salthouse & offshore, North Norfolk:

The sea was very rough here at Salthouse this morning.

As it was only 9 miles away, I decided that my first destination for a spot of birding was going to be Salthouse and to check the sea for anything of note passing through on that strong north-westerly wind. A quick look on Birdguides had revealed that a Little Auk had passed through off Cley Coastguards and so the signs looked good for seabirds. Because of Storm Benjamin, which had moved north towards Scandinavia, the sea was very rough and with the wind whipping up the sea, it was most certainly spectacular with 20 foot waves crashing onto the shingle and I could not resist in taking quite a few photos. The only problem I was having was the sea spray which fogged up my binoculars and camera more often than I liked. Sadly, there is nowhere shelter to get out of the wind and so I had to use my binoculars to find anything of note going past. The good news was that there were some interesting birds passing through.

Above and below, the four Barnacle Geese flying over the sea from Salthouse.

Above, some seriously rough waves coming in onto the beach and below, a Great Black-backed Gull effortlessly flying through the strong wind along the beach.

Pick of the bunch was a flock of four Barnacle Geese flying west over the sea. A single Brent Goose was seen earlier and so to see these Barnacle Geese going through, I am quietly confident that they were most likely wild birds instead of feral birds. I wonder where they will end up? A large flock of Common Scoters flew west and then all landed on the very choppy sea together, but after around 30 minutes or so, they all eventually took off and headed off west low over the sea. Up to two single Great Crested Grebes headed low over the sea westbound and a single Guillemot was seen heading the opposite direction.

Above, both male and female Common Scoters passing over the sea and below, good numbers of Gulls also went through including these Black-headed Gulls.

Above, a juvenile Herring Gull and below, a lone Brent Goose heading west.

The sea was still rough and standing there with the strong wind buffeting me was challenging at times, but there was always the chance of something rare to pass by. A lot of gulls were going through: Great Black-backed, Herring, Black-headed and Common Gulls; but nothing more rarer than that and a shame that yesterday’s juvenile Glaucous Gull here at this site didn’t linger. Further west along the coast, a Sabine’s Gull had been seen passing Holme as did a Pomarine Skua. Good numbers of Cormorants were seen passing over the sea, but after a while, I decided to check out some of the nearby freshmarsh and the pools.

Another photo of the big waves coming in and below, Wigeon with a single Shoveler (far right) on the nearest pool.

Above and below, there was a good number of Wigeon present on the pools.

Above, the saltmarsh looking west from Saltmarsh.

The Pools could hold a Grey Phalarope (there was one on Cley Marshes today) and so I gave it a good look. No Phalaropes, but there was a good number of Wigeon on the pools and among them, there were at least a dozen distant Teal present and a pair of Shoveler. A few Meadow Pipits and a probably Reed Bunting were seen and I was absolutely sure I heard a Snow Bunting calling, but I could not locate the bird in the strong wind blowing over the site. Many years ago, when Geoff Farwell, Andy Fisher and myself used to drive up here for a days birding, this site was very good for Snow Buntings and people even used to put out seed for the birds and therefore giving all the ‘toggers’ superb opportunities to see these delightful birds. Hopefully I might get lucky later this week.

The raging sea crashing on the shore at Salthouse.