I love Norfolk, I really do, especially with days like yesterday which would be difficult to replicate anywhere else.  Phil and I started at Cantley RSPB, where we saw nothing, no geese, nothing apart from some Black-headed Gulls and a couple of Mallard.  Moving on to Buckenham Marshes however and we hit pay-dirt - some 70 Taiga Bean Geese, one or two White-fronts, about 200 Pinkfeet, stacks of Wigeon and a marauding male Peregrine, all without moving 50m from the crossing gates!

Next stop, Ludham Bridge, where lots of the local wild swans were on a recently ploughed field close to the road.  With parties flying in there were at least 17 Whoopers and 150 Bewicks by the time we left, while an adult Med Gull fling through and a scattering of winter thrushes added variety.  The site behind the Catfield gas storage station was almost empty of swans however - presumably they had moved to Ludham.

Bewick Swans flying in to Ludham

Last stop was Barton Broad for Smew and whatever else was on the unfrozen bits.  Two distant drakes and a couple of redheads were duly seen from the boardwalk along with 50+ Goldeneye and stacks of Teal, Pochard and Tufties.  Two Peregrines were hunting over the ducks and gulls, but the real bonuses were Phil refinding the drake Ferruginous Duck from last year and a mammal tick for me in the shape of an Otter swimming across the broad, something I thought I might never see, having missed them on the west coast of Scotland recently.

Cold drizzle then brought proceedings to a halt which even a cuppa at Walcott couldn't change, but what a terrific day.