Norfolk holiday round-up

With any holiday, you are likely to get new species of many types, even commoner ones. But the Holiday to Norfolk had a new record of 11 new species of which I managed to photograph 10. That is quite incredible. In Scotland 2 years ago I struggled to get even one and on recall I cant remember if I did even get one. Every new species you see the next one becomes harder so this is really a phenomenal achievement when I have 200 birds already ticked. Here is a list of the birds and animals I managed to catch up with during the 5 days plus their accompanying photos.
(do the maths and it comes down to 2.2 species a day)

Trumpeter finch
obviously there is no better bird to start with that this. The eight ever record of a trumpeter finch in the UK and a lucky find really. I almost dipped out but luck was on my side and unlike those I met my first attempt I was given a second chance and boy did it show. for a first twitch, a mega and a mega in style.




red backed shrike

first told about to me by the warden at tichwell, a stunning bird and a real surprise to me size-wise. I was expecting a magpie sized bird rather than a blackbird sized bird. A stunning adult male as feature on springwatch. 2 hours was a worthy wait to see this little cracker



swallowtail butterfly
The whole reason for coming to Norfolk at this time of year. I thought that I might end up dipping out but luckily the weather held out for about 10mins for me to get this photo and this sighting. Its really great to see and without a doubt the most beautiful British butterfly.



Bearded tit
after years of torment from little cheeps from within the reeds I finally saw the little hiders and managed to break their cruel hearts. After I saw one there were loads of them and I saw at least one every day of the holiday. A great way to settle that score!



red crested pochard
sadly the photo is not as good as my other record shots but you can still make out the red crest amongst the mallards. It is great to see one of these birds that we can be sure is not a pet escape as these birds are from Holland. Beautiful ducks although a little closer would have been nice



spotted redshank
not much to say on this one because I lost it almost straight away. No photo as it was so far away and when I tried to get closer I lost it. A pity really as it was a full summer adult male so it was a real cracker in black.

Chinese water deer
A great bold little animal. You can really see the fangs that make this the most interesting of all the introduced deers. Great to see that it had no fear for people and was happy to let me watch it.



cettis warbler
One of the best birds of the holiday, not least because of its explosive call. When it first sung I though my ears had exploded. It was great to be able to take a photo of it because they are notoriously hard to take a photo of because of their skulky behavior. Personally I was really pleased with the tick but to take a photo as well, that was really something



red eyed damselfly
not as major as the others but still a great new species to see. Its eyes are blood red and its back even glows red in the sun. What a special animal.



black tailed skimmer
great to eventually get a new dragonfly over the holiday and in the nick of time too. It took some waiting for but it eventually settled and allowed me to take some photos. Its only a baby so its not as stunning as it would be but at least I have seen one.



Banded demoiselle
a really stunning animal and possible the most beautiful animal of the whole holiday. The colors at least make it a stunning with the most beautiful shades of blue. There were so many and their flight was so pretty, a real delight to see.