David, picked Roger and myself
up from home and then along with Malcolm we headed for Titchwell where we were
hoping to see a Great Knot that had been present over the last two days.
We had a Green Woodpecker fly
down the road in front of us as we entered Billesdon and there was a Red Kite
to the south as we approached Wansford.
We had received a message by
the time we reached Titchwell that the Great Knot was on the beach about 400
meters east of the boardwalk. We headed
straight out to the beach not taking too much notice of what was on the
reserve. When we reached the beach we
couldn’t see any other birders but as we walked east we saw a crowd moving
slowly down the beach towards the sea.
However as I looked towards the beach I couldn’t see anything on the
shore but as I got closer there was a tightly packed group of Knots roosting
someway of the shoreline. The group of
birders that had been walking toward the sea had stopped and were now scanning
the roosting Knot. The Knot were packed
very tightly and there must have been at least a thousand birds and it appeared
that no one knew where the Great Knot was but apparently it was somewhere in
the flock. As I scanned through the
flock most birds were in winter plumage but I did find an odd summer plumage
bird but the Great Knot remained hidden.
As the tide continued to recede small numbers of the Knot flew off
towards the tide-line and gradually the numbers leaving began to increase. As I scanned the birds leaving I was pretty
sure I caught the Great Knot flying out with a group of Knot but couldn’t
relocate it. Seconds later David
appeared saying another birder had seen it fly off and that it had come down
further along the beach. The whole group
of birders then moved along the beach and I stopped to scan the birds on the
shore. It was now much easier to
identify each individual bird and I soon located the Great Knot as it fed on
the shoreline. The whole flock was very
mobile and they were continually moving further west obviously trying to locate
the best feeding areas. We spent the
next hour following the birds up and down the beach and saw the Great Knot on
several occasions seeing it finally amongst a small party of Knot on the
exposed rocky area before it flew and disappeared amongst a larger group of
Knot and the rocks.
At that point in time we
decide to go and take a look on the reserve and hoped that the Great Knot would
appear later on the Freshwater Marsh as it had done the previous two days. Whilst on the beach I had also seen a Dunlin,
a Curlew and a Turnstone and several Oystercatchers amongst the thousands of
Knot and a Little Tern over the sea.
As we walked back there were
three Little Egrets around the Tidal Marsh but between there and there
Freshwater Marsh there were just a few Shelduck and a single Curlew. On reaching the path to Parrinder Hide we
went down the path and viewed the Freshwater Marsh from the viewing area
outside the hide. There was a single Little
Ringed Plover close to the hide and we could see five Avocet chicks with c.200
adults on the marsh. There was a pair of
Red-crested Pochard roosting on one of the islands and I counted 148
Black-tailed Godwits, most of which were roosting on nearby island and there
were circa eighty Bar-tailed Godwits roosting in the shallow water. David then found a summer plumaged Spotted
Redshank feeding in front of the distant reedbed and he then picked up two
Little Gulls that were flying towards Volunteer Marsh. I ran to the other side and picked up the two
first-summer Little Gulls but they then flew back and disappeared. Just after this surprisingly I saw my first
Redshank and then David found one of the two Little Gulls on a post but again
it disappeared pretty quickly. He then
went into the hide only to return as few minutes later to inform us that both
Little Gulls were now to the right of the hide and we then had nice views of
both birds, both of which were developing a black head, with one looking
particularly smart.
As we got back to the path
along the west bank three other birders had been watching a Spoonbill that had
was flying west, which Malcolm then picked up but it was now some distance
away.
Avocet on the Freshwater Marsh
We didn’t see too much else
until we reached Island Hide when three waders flew east and behind the
hide. David was pretty sure that they
were Ruff and on scanning the marsh we found them amongst the Bar-tailed
Godwits. Two of them were actually
rather smart males but they didn’t stay too long and headed off east. There was another drake Red-crested Pochard
along with two Little Grebes on the reedbed pool and there was a female Marsh
Harrier over the reedbed. We had heard
several Cetti’s Warbler during the visit and after one sang to our left and
then a bird flew over the path into the bushes on the other side of the path,
which we thought was the Cetti’s. After
a brief wait with Roger it sang again and confirmed that it was the Cetti’s and
then Roger and I had a brief view of a Blackcap and a real surprise was a
female Siskin on the feeders when we got back to the centre.
David had suggested that we
should go for a drive and try and find Grey Partridge and Corn Bunting and we
left the reserve and headed to Chalkpit Lane.
We did find a single Corn Bunting and a few Red-legged Partridges but
there was no sign of any Grey Partridges.
We also a rather nice male Marsh Harrier as it quartered the fields to
the south of the barns.
Corn Bunting
Corn Bunting
Corn Bunting
Malcolm had received a message
indicating that the Great Knot had flown off in the direction of Skolt Head and
hadn’t been seen for a couple of hours but we returned to Titchwell hoping that
it would still come onto the Freshwater Marsh at high tide.
After some lunch in the car
park we went along the east trail to view Patsy Reedbed seeing a Chiffchaff as
we did so. There were nine Red-crested
Pochards on the pool along with a couple more Little Grebes and a couple of
Green Sandpipers and a Cuckoo flew over.
Another birder then announced that there were two Bearded Tits visible
at the base of the reeds near the Green Sandpipers, which we eventually found,
with one being a nice male.
As we walked around Fen Trail
back to the west bank we saw another Blackcap and stopped briefly to view the
Early Marsh Orchids alongside the path.
With still no news of the
Great Knot we went to Island Hide to view the Freshwater Marsh but we didn’t
too much extra, the best being a female Shoveler with a brood of nine.
Female Shoveler with one of the nine young
Avocet
Black-tailed Godwits
With still no news of the
Great Knot we decided that we would call at Marsh Farmers on the Nene Washes as
two Great White Egrets had been reported there several times recently.
We left Titchwell via Choseley
and saw a single Grey Partridge and another Marsh Harrier just after passing
the barns and had yet another Marsh Harrier as we approached Flitcham.
David made a brief stop at
Roydon Common as he was hoping that we might see Woodlark. Malcolm, Roger and I went for a short walk
onto the common and saw a distant Stonechat and three Mistle Thrushes flew over
but other than a singing Chiffchaff we had little else and returned to the car.
We saw a Buzzard as we
approached Wisbech and another Marsh Harrier as we approached the roundabout at
Guyhirn.
When we reached March Farmers
the weather had improved and it was now sunny and quite warm. After parking we walked up the bank to view
the wash and Malcolm soon found the two Great White Egrets amongst a small
party of Little Egrets of which there were t least fifty. We were only on site about forty minutes but
one of those moments when good birds kept appearing. A Marsh Harrier was visible for most of our
stay and a second was also seen and I picked up a Hobby that came particularly
close before heading off a west but still kept performing throughout or stay
and there was also a distant Snipe displaying.
David was on his way back to the car to change his boats and Roger and I
started to follow him saying to Malcolm give us a shout if anything else
appears. We had only gone a few yards
when he and another birder cried out Bittern.
Roger and I ran back up the bank to the see it flying low over the other
side of the dyke and as David joined us it landed in a hawthorn bush where it
remained for a short while before dropping into the reeds. We had no further cries from Malcolm but a
Whitethroat performed nicely just before we departed and there was a Yellow
Wagtail along the road as we drove back towards the A605.
We had a Red Kite and a
Buzzard near Wansford and another Red Kite before we reached the A43 and then a
Great Spotted Woodpecker near Gaulby and as we stopped briefly at David’s I saw
a Painted Lady.
It had been an excellent day’s
birding with ninety-five species recorded, one obviously, the Great Knot, new
for the year.
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