Great day's birding in Norfolk for 7 ticks.

A early call from Brian to meet up at 6 am See's us arrive at Lady Ann's drive just before 8 am.
With the car park fee payed for a few hours we head off down the board walk to Holkham Pines.
It's a couple of hundred yards or so before we reach the start of the roped off area & we get the first tick of the day as a flock of Shore Lark drop down just inside the roped off area,maybe 20 or so birds.
As we scan the area a large flock of Snow Bunting are spotted at the far end of the ropes, so a quick walk round to them gets tick number 2 .
After 2 hours we think it's time to move on hard as that was to stop watching these great little fellows.
Walking back we spot Stonechat & a single Dartford Warbler in the left side bushes, the 2nd one we have seen this year away from where we normally go to find them.
Heading back to the car we scan the fields on both sides of the drive looking for the reported White-fronted Geese but all we see are thousands of Pink foot, in one of the fields all you could see were Geese the grass was not visible.
Next up is the car park at Cley beach as a Glaucous Gull was about.
Of course the the bird had to be right at the east end of the beach & it looked a long long walk on the pebbles but a tick's a tick so off we set to find it.
Find it we did after about a mile walk, sitting on the sea & then very obligingly it drops down on the beach a few yards away from us, so tick number 3 for the day.
Off to Sheringham for an easy tick so we think but in fact all we see is just one Purple Sandpiper but that makes it tick no 4.    We plan to head home now but Jimmy tells us the White-fronts had been seen at Holkham.
Brian thinks we should try once more for the White-fronts,    Good of him as he did not need it for a tick himself, we head on past Lady A's drive for about a mile & scan over a gate & get tick no 5 when we pick out 25 of them fairly distant but good scope views.
While in the area we had to try for the Rough-legged Buzzard at Choseley Barns. We go past the barns & start to scan past the pig field, no luck at first until Jimmy gets us onto what he thinks is a bird sitting in the ploughed field & as everybody gets on it we have tick no 6 & what a cracking bird as it takes to the air to give us all great long views of it.
What made it so good was that we have been up here a number of times & not found the bird.
We really must head home now,but not before tick no 7 shows as a Woodcock flies up & over the car.

 The Glaucous Gull

In flight ( Brians photo )

Purple Sandpiper

( Brians )