Out with the old ...

A few of the thousands of European Golden Plover at Cley NWT, Norfolk.

I spent the last three days of the year in Norfolk, but because of family commitments only managed to get out in the field for a couple of hours just before heading back to London for New Year's Eve. Having studiously ignored it on the last two trips up here, I therefore decided to do the decent thing and twitch the Western Sandpiper down the road at Cley. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be many people looking, but I found it fairly quickly out on Simmond's Scrape; unfortunately it remained rather distant, hence the poor record shots below. Plenty of wildfowl, waders and more to enjoy in the limited time - here's a few pics to sign off with until I get out and about in 2012.

Cley's long-staying Western Sandpiper was conveniently present on arrival ...

... but always remained distant, and then flew even farther away!

One of the numerous Black-tailed Godwits on Pat's Pool.

An aberrantly marked dark-bellied Brent Goose among the hundreds present on the reserve.