Custom Tour For Two Lovely American Guests North Wales And Norfolk September 2023
Our Tour For Two started in North Wales, photo RSPB South Stack, before heading east to Norfolk.
We met Vince and Judy while we were guiding a tour in Southern Argentina, and all got on so well we stayed in touch. In Spring 2022 we arranged a custom Birdwatching Trips Tour to Spain for them visiting Extremadura and Coto DOÑANA seeing amazing birds and having a lot of fun. This year they visited the UK – their first birding trip here.
We picked them up from Manchester Airport and whisked them back to Llandudno where they were staying at the St. George Hotel. Their lovely room overlooked the North Shore at Llandudno with views of the pier, both the Great and Little Ormes and the sea. It was lovely to see how much they loved the location and the room.
Over the next four days we picked them up each morning at the hotel and visited birdwatching sites across North Wales. We are so lucky here to have so much variety of bird life and scenery all within one hours drive of Llandudno. From the mountains of the Snowdonia National Park to the coast of Anglesey we enjoyed lots of birds and lovely scenery and great food.
Red-billed Chough are always popular birds on our North Wales tours.
Just a few of the highlights included Red-billed Chough on the Great Orme and at RSPB South Stack, superb Peregrine Falcons, wonderful White-throated Dippers, a scarce juvenile Garganey, lovely juvenile Ruff, a very obliging Common Kingfisher, Black Guillemots, Manx Shearwaters, super views of a pair of hunting Hobby and so much more.
We enjoyed lovely lunches at local cafes where Vince and Judy enjoyed trying Welsh produce and each evening, we all ate at a new restaurant again enjoying super local food and hospitality.
We were lucky to see Wood Sandpipers at both Frampton Marsh and Titchwell RSPB Reserves.
On the fourth of September we all headed east for Norfolk and the prospect of lots more exciting birds. We broke the journey over at RSPB Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire where there were masses of birds. Waders, aka shorebirds for our American guests, were a feature here with Wood, Green, Common and Curlew Sandpipers all enjoyed along with Little Stints, Red Knot, Ruff, Pied Avocets and masses of Black-tailed Godwits.
We then continued to Norfolk and our lovely hotel close to the famous RSPB Titchwell Nature Reserve. For the next four days we explored the North Norfolk coast visiting many reserves and other wonderful sites to see great birds. We also enjoyed wonderful food in the cafes at lunch time and in the restaurants in the evenings. We were again very lucky with the weather, as in Wales, though early morning fog was a little frustrating for pre-breakfast birding.
We enjoyed seeing Eurasian Spoonbills at many sites along the North Norfolk coast.
Just a few of the highlights included a fantastic visit to RSPB Snettisham on The Wash, a vast estuary, to witness some 100,000 waders coming into roost! Over 59,000 of these Red Knot – a breath-taking sight and we had perfect conditions to enjoy it. Flat calm seas and morning sun made for magical experience and so many species as well as individuals to enjoy. We even found a Dark-bellied Brent Goose on the shore here. RSPB Titchwell, just two minutes from our hotel provided fantastic birds as always including a rare Red-backed Shrike and an American Golden Plover, though Vince and Judy were more excited by the European Golden Plover with the rare visitor. This fantastic reserve also produced a big flock of Eurasian Spoonbills – fifty-three birds – along with a lovely Wood Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, hundreds of Pied Avocets, super views of Bearded Tits and so much more. Holme Bird Observatory was another great place we enjoyed visiting and our friend Roger showed us around and we were able to watch as he ringed a Eurasian Reed Warbler and a Common Chiffchaff. Offshore here we were surprised to see a Greater Scaup. More than birds at Holme Bird Observatory we also enjoyed seeing the moth trapping, over 500 moths caught, Wasp Spidres and Bee Wolves. Cley Norfolk Wildlife Trust Reserve was wonderful for close views of birds in perfect light and Judy took stunning pictures here. Bird highlights at Cley included Bar and Black-tailed Godwits, Green and Curlew Sandpipers, Little Stints, Ruff, Little-ringed Plover, and great views of a Water Rail.
On the 9th of September we headed back towards Manchester Airport stopping at Welney Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Reserve for some more birding. The light was perfect here, another hot day with 30C temperatures crazy for the UK in September. We had lovely views of Cattle, Great and Little Egrets from the main observatory and enjoyed Whooper Swans, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwits and lots of beautiful Yellow Wagtails. At the visitor centre we watched Tree Sparrows at the feeders, our first for the trip taking us over 150 species of birds enjoyed during the two-centre tour.
We broke the journey back with a delicious lunch in Uppingham at The Falcon Hotel before on to Manchester Airport where we helped Vince and Judy check into their room before sadly saying farewell.
A wonderful Tour for Two with fantastic birds, delicious food, stunning scenery, great weather, and the best company. We do hope we can enjoy more adventures with Vince and Judy in the future.
We run our Birdwatching Trips throughout the year a mix of set departure tours and custom-made trips perfect for you! To book your custom tour or any of our set departure trips please email us here….