European bee eater

A small group of European Bee eaters have taken up residence for the summer, and are breeding, in a quarry on the North Norfolk coast.  I'd been thinking about going to visit them for a while, so when we were planning a day out, I suggested we check them out.  The RSPB have got themselves well organised, with a field for parking, some temporary loos, and a "good" viewing spot.  Well - good if you have a telescope, but sadly a bit too far away for those of us with only binoculars.  There is an RSPB telescope that you can look through, so we did manage a reasonable view.  

The photo is taken at maximum optical zoom on my Canon camera, hand held - you can just about make out the vivid colouring of the two birds sitting on the telephone wire.  I couldn't crop it any more, it became unacceptably grainy.  Even though the photo is not very good, I felt it deserved to be the blip for today.

We didn't stay very long - there's only so much time one can spend watching small, barely identifiable birds flying around.

We then set off towards Cromer and Sheringham, thinking about either Sheringham Park or Pensthorpe for a walk, and afterwards, for lunch.  But as we passed the turn off to Felbrigg, I suggested that this would be a reasonable place to while away an hour or two, and maybe get lunch.

We first had a cuppa, then took advantage of our National Trust membership, to have a look round the house - noted that we are not the only ones with damp problems.  Best bit was the huge walled garden, which was full of thriving plants - puts our parched patch of brown to shame.  Unfortunately, they had had a disaster in the kitchen that morning, so there was no cooked food, just some sandwiches - didn't really tickle our fancy.

So we set off again, planning a stop at Pretty Corner cafe - but sadly it seems to have shut down - perhaps a victim of the pandemic.  Instead, we stopped at the Dales Hotel, and had a nice "lite bite".

All in all, a pleasant way of getting out for the day, taking our minds off the slow progress on our house sale.