Rod's Birding: A week in West Norfolk - October 18 to 25, 2013

This was a family holiday at Brancaster, which allowed me to visit Titchwell every day except the 25^th when we were focussed on coming home. Most visits were early am, although I made several afternoon visits as well. I also visited Choseley Barns on a couple of occasions, which were rather disappointing.

My first visit to Titchwell was during the late afternoon on the 18^th when I saw little on the sea but did have my only Jack Snipe of the week from the new trail and a Barn Owl performed quite well. Whilst Cetti’s Warblers were always heard I did see one close to Fen Hide. There were a few Redwings and a Whinchat was a good bird so late in the month. As is usual there was also a good selection of waders present with a single Spotted Redshank being the best.

I was out early the following morning and had saw six Marsh Harriers coming out of roost. The tide was very high as Thornham Marsh appeared to transformed with much more water visible and the Volunteer’s Marsh was completed flood. As I walked out to the sea there was a single Sparrowhawk that flew along the path and perched on one of the benches and brief views of a Kingfisher was a nice surprise. There was also two superb summer plumage male Long-tailed Ducks and a Red-necked Grebe on the sea but otherwise the sea was rather quiet with just four Eider, two Common Scoter and Red-breasted Merganser as well as a few Gannets. Again there was a good selection of waders present including three Greenshanks that turned out to be my only sightings of the week. A Cetti’s Warbler was observed alongside the path to the sea and a Stonechat was observed towards Thornham as was the Whinchat. I made an additional visit during the morning and returned with my granddaughter in the evening as she wanted to see a Barn Owl. The owl duly obliged as did a ring-tailed Hen Harrier, which was over Thornham Marsh.

This was one of the days I made a visit to Choseley Barns but all I saw were seven Grey Partridge and a Marsh Harrier.

A walk with my granddaughter along a footpath at Brancaster produced a couple of Jays and my only Chiffchaff of the week. I had been seeing Starlings moving west whilst at Titchwell and the movement was emphasised at Brancaster during the afternoon when I also began to notice Chaffinches moving as well and counted c.150 there and on my last visit to Titchwell.

On the 20^th I was back at Titchwell and moved quickly to the beach and saw two nice male Velvet Scoters close in before they flew off to the west. There were also at least four Red-throated Divers, at least fifteen Gannets and single Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes on or over the sea. Three Sandwich Tern flew over during the morning visit and another was observed during the afternoon as was a Shag. Two Peregrines that were obviously a juvenile male and female, and a possible third bird was seen a little later. A Lapland Bunting flew over as I was walking back during the morning. During my second visit, which was at lunchtime I saw a female Red-crested Pochard, five Spotted Redshanks and a single Bearded Tit and the Stonechat was still present, although there was no sign of the Whinchat today.

Juvenile Gannet

Velvet Scoter

Kestrel

Peregrine

Black-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwits

Redshank

Ruff

Whist at the cottage in Brancaster on the 20^th a Merlin flew over but second visit to Choseley was again disappointing with just c.600 Pink-footed Geese, four Grey Partridge and circa seventy Golden Plover being of interest.

As I walked down to the beach on the Monday morning I saw eight Marsh Harriers come out of the roost as well as a single Ring-tailed Hen Harrier and a Peregrine flew over Thornham Marsh. On reaching the sea I found three Long-tailed Ducks, a Red-throated Diver, a Red-necked Grebe, a Slavonian Grebe and a single Razorbill and Rock Pipit also flew over.

I made a second visit during the afternoon and there were plenty of waders during both visits that included Oystercatcher, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Ruff, Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone. The highlight of the afternoon was a juvenile Arctic Tern that spent most of the time feeding towards Brancaster.

The 22^nd was my younger granddaughter Fleur’s birthday and so I didn’t make the usual early morning visit to Titchwell. I did go out in the afternoon, which proved to still be quite good. There was a female Red-crested Pochard showing as I walked along the footpath and on reaching the sea I found three Long-tailed Ducks, fifteen Common Scoter, two Red-breasted Mergansers, a Red-throated Diver and eight Gannets but there was no sign of any grebes and six Snow Bunting were also observed on the beach.

Lapwing

Grey Plover

Redshank

Herring Gull

Snow Bunting

As I walked back towards the centre there were three Marsh Harriers over Thornham Marsh and the ring-tailed Hen Harrier performed for a while over the north west corner. The Barn Owl was also observed as it quartered the southern edge of the marsh before flying towards Thornham after being harassed by a Marsh Harrier. Waders were again well represented very much as yesterday but I also saw three Spotted Redshanks.

Wednesday the 23^rd was a little cooler, although it was mainly sunny. As I approached the last lagoon I saw the Kingfisher again as it flew from the near corner towards the sea before disappearing. I found the three Long-tailed Ducks on the sea and also seven Red-breasted Mergansers. There was also at least six Gannets and eventually I saw three Slavonian Grebes, two Razorbills and I found my only skua of the week , which was an Arctic. The Whooper Swans had departed by the time I had walked back.

After some breakfast I went to Hunstanton before returning to Titchwell in the afternoon. Four Shore Larks had been reported at Thornham Point in the morning but not since but I thought I would walk out as I felt it was more likely that no one had looked since the first sighting than the birds actually going. On the walk to the beach I saw a pair of Beaded Tits and a single Little Stint and Spotted Redshank. It was quite difficult walking to Thornham Point as the fresh wind was blowing into my face and was also carrying some sand. As I got close to the point four birds flew towards me and I saw as they went past that they were the Shore Larks. They settled just after going by me and I realised that four walkers had flushed them. I could see the birds on the beach and asked the walkers to walk closer to the dunes. However they became interested in the birds, which eventually flew to the base of the dunes and the walkers were able to continue on their original path. I managed to get several shots of the birds before they flew back towards the point but they then turned and headed off strongly to the east.

Brent Goose

Grey Plover

Black-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

Curlew

Snipe

Shore Lark

On the 24^th I again went to Titchwell early and there were thirteen Whooper Swans on Thornham Pool. Two Marsh Harriers flew from the reed-bed to the marsh putting up a Short-eared Owl as they did so and another four Marsh Harrier were observed over the marsh. On reaching the sea the tide was still advancing and it was rather quiet I all I could find was two Red-necked Grebes.

After some breakfast I went for a walk with the family to Brancaster beach seeing a couple of Little Egrets and hearing a couple of Cetti’s Warblers.

On returning to the cottage they went to Holt shopping and I returned to Titchwell.

On arriving back at Titchwell I walked straight to the beach as I was hoping the tide would be relatively high. I was not disappointed as there were clearly more birds present. There were three female Eiders; seven Long-tailed Ducks, including a stunning summer plumaged male; two Red-breasted Mergansers; four Red-throated Divers, a close Great Northern Diver; fifteen Gannets; two Red-necked Grebes and seven Slavonian Grebes. I eventually made my way back and after some lunch walked along the new trail from fen hide seeing very little so I returned to the main path where I enjoyed the last hour or so of my visit on a very pleasant afternoon. The only bird of any note I saw though was a Stonechat.

I had a very pleasant holiday with my family and some reasonable birding recoding 120 species, three of which were year ticks.