Bird Watching In Norfolk
Norfolk can be described as one of the UK’s most important area for Bird-watching. Below is a few of the more well known locations to visit. However the immediate area around Burrow Cottage is also full of surprises. The cart-lodge at the barn plays host to Swallows. This year we have 6 nests and are treated to an areal display that never ceases to amaze.
This is a lit of species that have been seen at or near the cottage. It really is a special place.
Hobby, Sparrow Hawk, Kestral, Buzzard, Rough Legged Buzzard, Red Kite, Long Eared Owl Little Owl, Barn Owl, Tawney Owl, Kingfisher, Greater Spotted and Green Woodpecker, Treecreeper, Ring Ouzel, Crossbill, Yellow-Browed Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher and Quail.
Cley Marshes
Cley Marshes is Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s oldest and best known nature reserve. It was purchased in 1926 to be held ‘in perpetuity as a bird breeding sanctuary’. It provided a blue print for nature conservation which has now been replicated across the UK. It has reed-beds, a shingle beach, saline lagoons, and grazing marshes.
More information can be found here.
Holkham National Nature Reserve
Holkham Nature Reserve is vast, stretching from Burnham Norton to Blakeney. There are rugged coastal wetlands, saltmarshes, dunes, pinewoods and scrub, grazing marshes and foreshore.
It is possible to explore most of the area by following footpaths from the main car parks. Detailed information is available here.
Hickling Broad National Nature Reserve
Hickling Broad National Nature Reserve is found on the largest of the Norfolk Broads.
The reed beds are home to the birds in Norfolk Broads including booming bitterns and bearded tits great crested grebes and stunning marsh harriers. Click here for more details.
Pensthorpe Natural Park
Set in over 700 acres of woodland and lakes in the upper reaches of the River Wensum. The river Wensum is one of the the most important chalk rivers in Europe. Pensthorpe Natural Park is a wildlife lover’s dream. Great White Egrets, Common Teals, Common Cranes, Cetti’s Warbler and Marsh Harriers have all been seen in the park. More details here.
Strumpshaw Fen
Strumpshaw Fen is on the River Yare, around six miles east of Norwich. The reserve has a full range of broadland habitats and wildlife.
Read more here.
Titchwell Marsh Nature Reserve
Thousands of migrating birds pass through Titchwell Marsh in spring and autumn, and many spend winter here, giving you an unrivaled opportunity to see many species of ducks, waders, seabirds and geese. More here.
Foxley Wood
The largest ancient woodland in the county where all of the common woodland birds reside: green and great spotted woodpeckers, nuthatch, treecreeper, marsh tit and jay. Common summer visitors such as blackcap, garden warbler, chiffchaff, and willow warbler occur, and declining species such as turtle dove, grasshopper warbler, and spotted flycatcher may also be seen. More details here.
