Otter than July

Day 6. Thursday 18th October 2012.
Another strange kind of day with an extremely quiet start but a decent ending.
First couple of hours seawatch at Winterton, usual suspects but nothing else. Same goes for the south dunes. Not a good start. Off to Breydon Water but the tide right in so nothing doing there. Great Yarmouth Cemetery same as usual. Over to Strumpshaw Fen and within minutes of arriving our spirits were lifted with a Marsh Tit on the feeders near the visitors centre. Then a hike to the Fen hide nothing of note here just a few Cetti's calling along the way. A longer hike to the Tower Hide, at least an hour spent here produced very little. Our spirits extremely dampened and we were at a loose end as to what to do next. We met a couple of birders who said they had just had good views of a Kingfisher from the Fen hide. More in hope than expectation we made our weary way back to the Fen Hide. After a few minutes the Kingfisher flew in and perched on a branch in front of the hide and fished for a couple of minutes, affording good views before flying off.  Our spirits now lifted we headed for the car whilst discussing where to go next. On passing the visitors centre we were alerted to lots of people viewing the pool in front of the centre. We went to view the pool ourselve's and were delighted to see an Otter busily fishing in the centre of the pool. We watched the Otter for some time as it caught and ate numerous fish. Also on the pool an escape Black Swan and a Water Rail. Our day seemed to have taken a turn for the better. In the car park we saw another Marsh Tit. Then a brief visit to Breydon Water South Bank. A good number of waders but fairly distant; Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Redshank, Dunlin, Curlew, Brent Goose, Mediterranean Gull. To finish the day we decided to head over to Stubbs Mill. We had only been there a few minutes when a Barn Owl showed really well and this was soon joined by a second bird. Lots of Marsh Harriers flew in to roost and a real bonus sighting of a ringtail Hen Harrier flew in and dropped into the long grass to roost. More Marsh Harriers came in to roost and both Barn Owls continued to show well.  It was now nearly dark when several hundred Pink-footed Geese flew over. Then our last action of the day in nearly complete darkness was 16 Common Crane flying in to roost.
The following were added to our week list.
117. Marsh Tit, Strumpshaw Fen.
118. Kingfisher, Strumpshaw Fen.
119. Water Rail, Strumpshaw Fen.
120. Hen Harrier, Stubbs Mill.
Pics below Kingfisher at Strumpshaw Fen and Barn Owl at Stubbs Mill.