Sweet and Salt

Another enjoyable day here in North Norfolk. It started in a surprising way. I'd intended to get up early and step outside our holiday cottage onto the marsh to watch the early morning passage of Pink-footed Geese, but as I hadn't slept very well, I turned over when the alarm went off. However, after a few minutes, I thought I could hear the geese, so I got out of bed and peeped out of the bedroom window, to see a lovely blue sky, and, as luck would have it, a Barn Owl flying past, no more than a couple of metres from my nose. That galvanised me and I put on my coat over my jammies and went out to watch the geese fly over, as well as lots of other birds moving across the marsh. After the lovely bright start, it turned a bit grey, but it stayed mild and dry. I had a break from lugging round my long lens. We drove inland and spent the morning in Holt. I had heard good things about it but never managed to get there on previous visits. It lived up to, even exceeded expectations - a lively, vibrant market town with lots of lovely independent stores and barely a familiar high street logo to be seen. We then drove back to the coast and did the "must do" walk through Holkham reserve and back along the amazing beach. Anyone who knows this part of the world will be nodding, as it is a classic and unmissable walk. Today we were treated to sightings of a Cormorant roost, which must have contained at least 60 birds, a couple of Marsh Harriers and a Great White Egret. There were lots of fungi along the way too. Sadly the hoped-for sunset didn't materialise, but the walk back along the beach at twilight was still a great end to our day out.
The image is Salts Hole, on the Holkham reserve, as the name suggests a salt-water pond some distance from the sea, which supports an interesting mini ecosystem. No one seems to know how it comes to be there.