David, Roger and I set off to
Norfolk again today and as usual we were picking Ken up at Uppingham. With the exception of a Red Kite as we
approached the A1 junction we had seen very little by the time we reached Choseley
but did find ten Grey Partridges near the barns. There was no sign of any Corn Buntings and so
we continued on to Titchwell where there had been a Pectoral Sandpiper and a
Yellow-browed Warbler yesterday.
After parking we spent about
an hour in the area of the car park looking for the Yellow-browed Warbler but
without success. There were plenty of
birds feeding in the bushes around the car park and we had at least three
Blackcaps and several Siskin flew over and Jays were also quite active. Nine Black-tailed Godwits flew over the car
park and there was a single Ruff in the field to the east of the car park. A Marsh Harrier was also observed to the
north as it headed east.
Black-tailed Godwit
We eventually made to the
centre and established that the Pectoral Sandpiper had been seen from the end
of the Autumn Trail and so we set off in that direction. There was still no sign of the Yellow-browed
Warbler as we walked along the Fen Trail but on reaching Patsy’s reedbed we
found five Red-crested Pochard on the pool along with a Ruff and a Black-tailed
Godwit. We viewed the pools again from
the eastern end and found eight Ruff and three Black-tailed Godwits and another
eleven Red-crested Pochard flew over the reedbed with two dropping onto the
pool whilst the others eventually came down further away.
Red-crested Pochard
Red-crested Pochard
We continued along the Autumn
Trail hearing a Water Rail and several Bearded Tits before reaching the end of
the trail. There was no sign of the
Pectoral Sandpiper but as usual there was a good selection of birds on the
Freshwater Marsh that included Pintail, Avocet, Golden Plover, Grey Plover,
Dunlin, Ruff, Snipe and Redshank. After
some time scanning the lagoon we retraced our steps back to the Fen Trail and
as we approached the West Bank I checked the phone to find that the
Yellow-browed Warbler had been reported and apparently close to where we were. There was no sign of any birders but we then
spent further time trying to seek out the bird.
We did locate the tit flock and were able to follow them as they moved
through the area but most of the time we could only hear them and we only saw
Goldcrest, Blue Tit and Long-tailed Tits.
They eventually just vanished and so we continued to the West Bank and
went to take another look at the Freshwater Marsh. As we were scanning the marsh a party of
Bar-tailed Godwits dropped in and looking at them more closely we also found a
single Knot. We also located two
Turnstones and a Yellow-legged Gull with a Spotted Redshank flying over and a
Grey Wagtail was on Thornham Pool.
Black-tailed Godwit on the Tidal Pool
Brent Geese cover Thornham Marsh
We returned to the car park
for some lunch before going back to the west bank and walking out to the
beach. Other than three Little Egrets
and a few Curlew we added little but a party of c.250 Pink-footed Geese flew
east high over the sea. On reaching the
beach there was c.100 Oystercatcher on the beach and twenty-nine Sanderling
flying along the shore but there was little else. We did see five Gannets over the sea, a Great
Crested Grebe flying west and a single Common Scoter on the sea. As we walked back to the centre David picked
up a Sparrowhawk flying over Thornham Marsh.
As there had been further
rumours of the Yellow-browed Warbler calling around the Fen Trail we made one
last effort but got the same result and with another report of another at
Brancaster we decided we go there before going home.
The details of the sighting
were a little confusing and after going right out the golf club without success
we returned to the village and walked along the beach footpath, when the
instructions suddenly made perfect sense.
We realised that the bird had been seen in the hedge alongside the
footpath and so agreed to invest the remainder of our time searching for
it. We heard a Green Woodpecker and I
found a Coal Tit but it wasn’t looking too good when David felt he had heard it
and a few minutes later he and Roger had brief views of it at the top of a
tree. Ken and I had failed to connect
during its brief appearance and there was no sign of it although several birds
came out of the tree. David then said he
was going back to the car and wanted to leave in about fifteen minutes but as
he turned to go another bird flew out of the tree and I watched it as it landed
in a small apple tree. I scanned the
area of the tree the bird had entered and bingo it was the boy and both Ken and
I had reasonable views before it flew off further down the track.
Having felt that Ken and I
were going to dip out walking back to the car we were all feeling a lot better
and we still had time for a coffee before setting off home.
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