Sunday 19 July
10.03am Third leg of the Norfolk Coastal Path today with the great and good of the Gentleman’s Film and Leisure Club. A 7.30am start and we drove to Cley-next-the-Sea to park. Then the coastal hopper bus along the coast road to Wells-next-the-Sea.
The usual elements of our walks featured; the coffee to start, no bacon sandwiches but croissants all round. Plus, the phone-only photo competition. the theme being close-ups. Another i-Spy book up for grabs as the first prize.
A brief walk through Wells, and we were on the raised footpath heading east. The drizzle had drifted off and the thick cloud had burnt away. Once again, we had a day of huge blue skies and astoundingly vast stretches of salt marsh as far as the eye could strain. Facing north, it was just sky and salt marsh with the occasional thread of golden sand between.
But it’s not quite as simple as that, when you look closer. Veins of water weave in, around and through the silt and vegetation, bringing fresh supplies of salt water and nutrients inland. Clay and minerals settle, algae grows, more settles around that, samphire, sea lavender and other plants then take root.
This uber-fertile habitat is great for insects, which I turn attracts birds. Simple really. Which is why it seems crazy not to look after these precious areas of our coast.
We stopped of at a pub in Marston. An odd affair, everyone is seated outside and it is table service only. The staff all wear masks.
Then the final stretch looping round to Cley (rhymes with sky). It’s easy to be a bit blas`e about the birds, butterflies, insects, flowers and plants that we encounter on these walks. But I never take it for granted. Several kestrels, little egrets, black headed gulls, lapwing, cormorants, reed warblers and skylarks. Another great walk.
The winning picture?
The Bald Birder 