Day Trip Success: Naturetrek Feature in the Daily Telegraph

Writer Mike Unwin, who regularly pens wildlife-oriented pieces for the Daily Telegraph, joined two of our Day Trips in Norfolk during December and captures the essence of them perfectly in this article, reproduced by kind permission of the Telegraph.

First, a dark shape appears, drifting low over the marsh. Our binoculars reveal the signature shallow-V flight profile of a Marsh Harrier, returning to its communal roost. No sooner have we picked out three more, straining the limits of our vision, than a clarion bugling diverts our gaze to a line of larger birds emerging from the south. Deep wingbeats and outstretched necks identify these as cranes, Hickling’s speciality. Their high, rolling calls bring a brief blast of northern taiga before they, too, drop down into the reeds.

Even now, the show isn’t over. With the landscape reduced to silhouette, a murmur rises in the north, quickly swelling in volume, like a distant advancing mob. “Pink-feet,” says Mike. “Look up.”

And here they come: a straggling army of pink-footed geese materialising in waves against the last of the light. The thin etch-a-sketch skeins thicken, converging overhead in a milling canopy of birds thousands-strong, their individual voices lost in one over-whelming clamour. We stare up in awe as they pass, then they’re gone. With the sky silent, but our ears still ringing, we turn back towards the car park.

My visit to Hickling Broad has come courtesy of wildlife tour company Naturetrek, which last summer – its global wings clipped by the pandemic – launched a new UK day trip programme. The idea is simple: up to five guests, travelling under their own steam, meet up with an expert guide for a socially distanced wildlife day out. Some trips cater to general interest, while others are more specialised. Our trip targeted the Norfolk Broads during a season when huge numbers of wintering wildfowl offer one of Britain’s finest avian spectacles.

The mist rose, unveiling a landscape that was flat, sodden and packed with birds. At first, we focused on the ducks that thronged the pools and ditches. Mike pointed out their differing feeding strategies: Shovelers surface-trawling; Wigeon grazing, heads bobbing. “Teal somehow inflate both ends at the same time,” he said, as we watched two dapper little drakes in their courtship routine. “I’ve tried to do the same, but it doesn’t impress the wife.”

By lunchtime, we had moved to nearby Strumpshaw Fen. Cue more ducks, Marsh Harriers, squealing Water Rails and the “ping” calls of elusive Bearded Tits – their soft-toy incarnations on sale at RSPB reception. And after socially distanced sandwiches at the cars, we headed to Hickling for those cranes and pink-feet. It was 5pm, with the stars out by the time we said our goodbyes. The day’s bird total stood at an impressive 74 species.

For me, however, there was more to come. The next day, Naturetrek had another Norfolk day trip scheduled – this one to the north coast – so I had booked in at the nearby Blakeney Hotel to make a weekend of it. Early the next morning, geese were already overflying the quayside and curlews calling from the marsh as I pulled away from this picturesque retreat. Check: boots, binoculars, hand sanitiser… The rosy dawn promised a clear day ahead.

The day’s rendezvous was the car park of Holkham Estate, 15 minutes east of Blakeney along the coast. Here I met the new guests and hooked up with Mike – again. “This is our most vibrant living landscape in Norfolk,” he explained, as we zipped up jackets. A Robin hopped around his telescope tripod, as if in deference to our leader.

From the car park, we walked down to the beach through a marshland even more bird-congested than yesterday’s. Wigeon and Teal set the scene again, their pinks, chestnuts and creams vibrant indeed against the dripping greenery. Leggier Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank probed among the tussocks, while a great egret winged overhead and a red kite drifted along the horizon, trailing a retinue of protesting rooks.

The beach brought a new cast. Brent Geese, the most marine of their tribe, nibbled over the saltings, while a flock of Snow Buntings, rare visitors from the north, fluttered among the dunes, their white wings like windblown scraps of the Arctic. Out on the waves, the low winter light illuminated sea ducks riding the surf – Eider, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Scoter – while a Great Northern Diver sat preening a little further out. The more we scanned, the more our list lengthened: Red-necked Grebe, Mediterranean Gull, Sanderlings…

The afternoon brought rain. We hunkered down with the Fallow Deer under the sheltering oaks of Holkham Estate and peered out at the stately pile, seat of the Earl of Leicester. There was no rest for the birds, however. Mike explained how winter brought together mixed-species feeding flocks, and we watched as a wave of diminutive tits – Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed – worked the branches above us, Goldcrests and Treecreepers tagging along.

The day ended once again with a sky full of Pink-footed Geese – about 25,000, reckoned Mike, but this time further away, like a distant plague of winter locusts. Then, after a brief sign-off from a passing Barn Owl, I was back in the car and heading home. Soon Norfolk’s dark lanes had deposited me on to the M11, southbound, my wipers working over-time. But my head was still full of honking – and I reflected how, when you really “get out and amongst it”, your home horizons can be as wild as any.

Inspired to join us on a Day Trip? We’ll be communicating our plans, and launching new dates and venues, just as soon as Government restrictions are lifted sufficiently to enable us to do so. Keep a close eye on your inboxes!

This feature originally ran in the Telegraph on this page: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/needs-costa-rica-got-norfolk-broads/