This was a family holiday at
Brancaster, which allowed me to visit Titchwell every day except the 25th
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 18th 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 20th 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
Peregrine
Black-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwits
Bar-tailed Godwits
Redshank
Ruff
Ruff
Ruff
Whist at the cottage in
Brancaster on the 20th 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 22nd 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 23rd
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
Brent Goose
Grey Plover
Grey Plover
Black-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit
Curlew
Snipe
Shore Lark
Shore Lark
Shore Lark
On the 24th 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.
Little Egret
Brent Goose
Wigeon
Teal
Lapwing
Snipe
Snipe
Snipe
Ruff
Stonechat