Dawn Treaders

The nicest thing about Autumn is that it's bird watching time again. Dad and I got up before dawn and drove all the way to Norfolk to a place called Snettsham. It's on the West Coast of Norfolk and is basically famous for mud. Miles and miles of it stretching out into the Wash. To humans it looks anything but welcoming but to millions of birds it's FOOD big time. The trick is to get there just as the tide is starting to ebb. As soon as any mud is exposed flocks of waders fly in from the fields and start frantically digging and poking. If you're standing on the shore they fly right over your head, lines and lines of them, thousands of them. The knot form vast flocks that from a distance look like live smoke or huge arial monsters you can't see individual birds. The whole thing flashes black and white as the birds all turn in unison and you see their white tummies. I've seen it on TV but it's even more amazing in real life. We had a dreadful drive there through v scary dark and torrential rain but dad's trust in the weather forecast held good. It stopped as we got out of the car about 8 oclock and by 9 as we were watching the flocks on the wash the sun came out behind us, lighting the scene up as it by magic. We could see right across to Lincolnshire on the other side.
Snettisham's famous winter bird though is the pink footed goose. Most of the world population comes here from Iceland and Greenland. They spend the night on the wash and at dawn fly over in their thousands to feed on the sugar beet in the fields. We missed them this time - apparently December is the time. So another trip clearly in order!