Nov 13th Happisburgh

Happisburgh Lighthouse

The Norfolk coastline has always been under threat by the sea and nowhere is this clear than at the small coastal town of Happisburgh (pronounced Hays-bra). It is a town that is crumbling into the sea. Year after year, chunks of the cliffs and everything built on top of it falls away and eventually this town will disappear completely beneath the waves for good. It's famous lighthouse still stands tall, for now, towering above the years of destruction in it's red and white striped paintjob. How long will it too falls victim to the full force of the sea? Only time will tell.




The crumbling coastline of Happiburgh

Rainbow over the sea!



Happisburgh 2009

I haven't been to Happisburgh since a college outing in 2009. These two photos are from that trip and just shows you the damage that the sea can do. I expect the devastation is much worse now. In fact, the car park we used back then is no longer there! A new car park has been built, but it would only be a matter of time to see how long it would remain there.

Destruction aside, the main reason I was here this morning was to look for shore larks and snow buntings. A flock of each has been reported on a field close to the clifftop adjacent to the car park within the past few days. It has been quite some time since I last saw a shore lark, 11 years in fact, and I really want to see one again. Thankfully, there was a small group of birdwatchers that were also looking for them. They've been successful, however, the birds have been spooked off the field by something by the time Mum and I arrived. It was now a waiting game until they returned again.



Snow Bunting

While we were waiting, the other target species that I wanted to see turned up. A large flock of snow buntings flew past us, landing further up along the field. They then moved back towards us, hopping from one section of field to another until they were close enough to see without binoculars. Annoyingly, though, it was quite windy and taking photos while in it was a challenge as I was constantly buffeted about while trying to get some snaps of the buntings. A flock of turnstones were even closer, just a few yards from us, but even at this range, it was difficult to keep the camera steady.

Turnstone

Shore Larks

Eventually, a flock of about 6 shore larks did show up. Again, the wind was a nightmare to work in as well as the glaring sunlight over the field, but I did manage to get a couple of ok shots of them. These larks are winter visitors to the East Anglian coastline from Scandinavia. They are rather striking birds with a yellow and black head and a black marking at the top of the breast. During the breeding season, two small tufts of feather sprout out from the bird's head, which gives the species its other name, the horned lark. It is still a great bird to see with or without the horns and I am very pleased to finally see some after all these years. I do wish they were a little bit closer and that it wasn't so windy for some better, clearer shots, but I'm still happy either way.