Dave, Roger and I had decided
to have a day out in Norfolk today and after meeting at Dave’s we set off for
Titchwell with planning on to Holt later if there was news of the Parrot
Crossbills.
Dawn was just breaking as we
set off and a Buzzard near Uppingham was our first notable bird of the day and
there was also a Red Kite seen as we approached the A1 junction. There had been reports of Cranes alongside
the A47 recently between Thorny Toll and Guyhirn and to our surprise we had
three in flight just as we passed the Chill Out cafe. We saw little else until we had a party of
Pink-footed Geese near Great Bircham with another flock just afterwards and
then a single bird close to the road.
As we approached Choseley
drying barns there were even more Pink-footed Geese, which we estimated in
access of 2000. Partridges in a roadside
field turned out to be Red-legged and we saw very little at the barns, with
just a few Pied Wagtails and a few Chaffinch.
We discussed the lack of birds as we continued on to Titchwell when we
spotted more partridges and this time there were eight Grey Partridges and then
I spotted another group that turned out to be another fourteen Greys. Further down the lane we stopped again to
look into another field and Roger noticed a bird in the hedgerow, which turned
out to be a Corn Bunting and then we found a second. This was a good spot as we were losing hope
of seeing them here again as there had been so few birds at the barns during my
last few visits and thought that they might have disappeared from this site.
After parking and checking the
log book in the visitors’ centre we moved off down the path towards the
sea. Thornham Pool had been drained and
there had been several Rock Pipits of the Scandinavian race and two Water
Pipits present over the last few days.
There were over eighty Ruff feeding on the mud, with a few Dunlin and
Redshank and a single Black-tailed Godwit.
We saw several pipits, all rather distant and also very mobile. This, combined with bright sunlight was
making identification of them quite difficult.
There were clearly either Rock or Water pipits and despite several claims
of Water Pipit I felt we had only seen Rock.
I then picked a bird up at the back of the pool and got Dave and Roger
onto it. I felt it was a Water Pipit and
they agreed before it too quickly disappeared.
We then had much better views of a it or another closer to us and we
were able to discuss the differences and we all agreed all of the earlier
sightings were of Rock Pipit. We
eventually had at least five Rock Pipits and just the one Water Pipit. A single Sparrowhawk was observed as it flew
over the reed-bed and two Water Rails were observed on the pool.
Long-tailed Tit
Female Marsh Harrier over the path
Female Marsh Harrier over the path
We continued along the path
towards the sea, seeing a couple of Avocet and c.250 Golden Plover on the fresh
marsh and a single Grey Plover on Thornham Marsh. There was also a good number of Pintail on
the fresh marsh and I counted ninety-eight during the visit. On reaching the Volunteer Marsh it was mainly
mud as the tide was out but there numerous Redshank and several Black-tailed
Godwits and a single Bar-tailed Godwit.
We eventually reached the
beach with tide well out and therefore plenty of feeding areas for waders. We added Oystercatcher, Knot, Sanderling and
Turnstone for the day and there were plenty more Bar-tailed Godwits and a few
Grey Plover as well as Curlew and Redshank.
There appeared to be very little on the sea at first but we did
eventually found several Great Crested Grebes, a single Eider and three Common
Scoters and had several Red-throated Divers.
As we continued scanning I picked up what I thought was a smaller grebe
but although we all got on it we were unable to identify it. We decided to walk closer but on reaching a
suitable point all we could find were Great Crested Grebes. We did have better views of the Eider, Dave
picked up a diver in flight that was clearly not a Red-throated and probably a
Black-throated Diver and a single Long-tailed Duck flew west. We also found at least fifteen Red-breasted
Mergansers feeding in the area of rough water and Roger then found are elusive
grebe. It was still rather distant and
tended to face away from us most of the time but we eventually agree that it
was a Slavonian Grebe. Roger then picked
four Gannets fling towards us, which were to be our only one ones of the day.
We returned back along the path
seeing a Peregrine over the fresh marsh.
There was a report of a Shore Lark on Thornham Pool but when we got there
no one knew anything about it and it certainly was not visible. Another birder then informed that a
Short-eared Owl had been performing well and a quick scan of the marsh and we
had some excellent views of it hunting in the bright sunlight.
Brent Goose over the fresh marsh
Brent Goose over the fresh marsh
Brent Goose over the fresh marsh
Brent Goose over the fresh marsh
Female Shoveler on the fresh marsh
Short-eared Owl over Thornham Marsh
Short-eared Owl over Thornham Marsh
One of many Starling migrating west
Whilst having lunch there was
a report of a single Parrot Crossbill at Holme but as it was now approaching
14:00 we decided to stay at Titchwell.
We walked back down the path
having further views of the Short-eared Owl before continuing down as far as
Volunteer Marsh. As we walked back I
found a Spotted Redshank roosting at the back of the fresh marsh and Dave found
an adult Yellow-legged Gull amongst the gulls on the fresh marsh.
During the afternoon visit we
saw at least five Marsh Harriers, a single ring-tailed Hen Harrier and a
Buzzard. A second Sparrowhawk was also
observed perched on the chimney of the old building on Thornham Marsh before it
flew towards Thornham Village. Several
birders had miss identified it as a Merlin, which was not totally surprising as
one might have expected a Merlin to be more likely to take up such a
position. A Bearded Tit was also seen
very briefly as it dropped into the reeds and a Red Kite was seen towards
Choseley.
At least three Cetti’s Warblers
were heard during the visit on numerous occasions but not surprisingly we
didn’t see any of them.
We finally decided to call it
a day and reflected on what had been an excellent day’s birding.
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