David, Malcolm, Roger and I
left David’s around 06:30 heading towards West Norfolk for a day’s
birding. We saw a perched Buzzard as we
approached Billesdon and then a Red Kite near Morcott and Malcolm picked up a
Common Sandpiper flying over the River Nene between Guyhirn and Wisbech.
We then saw very little until
we arrived at Choseley where I picked up a female-type Marsh Harrier on the
ground. We stopped the car and looked
over the field below the barns where we found circa fifty Golden Plover and
good selection of commoner birds. At the
barns we saw the Marsh Harrier again and also found a female Blackcap near the
barns and a couple of Corn Buntings on the hedgerow. Stopping at the concrete pad further along
the road we found a Whinchat and a Whitethroat and there were forty plus
Swallow feeding along the hedgerow and David and Roger had a Lesser Whitethroat,
which flew off before Malcolm and I could get on it.
We finally arrived at
Titchwell at 09:35 hearing a Chiffchaff singing as we got ready to walk to the
beach. As we moved away from the trees
there was a Buzzard over Thornham Marsh, with two Little Egrets on the marsh
and a Marsh Harrier was over the reedbed.
As I approached Malcolm near the Island Hide he had already found a
couple of Spoonbills that were doing an excellent job of hiding behind a brick
wall. There were also plenty of Avocets
and Black-tailed Godwits on the lagoon with smaller numbers of Ruff. David then thought he had a Curlew Sandpiper
and whilst trying to find this I came across fourteen Knot but on getting to
the right area could only find Dunlin.
We did then pick up a Little Stint and eventually had three and after
some disturbance we also found six juvenile Curlew Sandpipers.
Robin in the car park
We continued to walk along the
path and found an adult Curlew Sandpiper closer, along with more Dunlin and
Ruff and several juvenile Curlew Sandpipers joined them.
Moulting adult Curlew Sandpiper
Moulting adult Curlew Sandpiper
Adult winter Ruff
Juvenile Ruff
Juvenile Dunlin
Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper
Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper
Malcolm then cried Hobby and
as looked there were two circling over Thornham Marsh with one coming quite
close before flying off quickly to the north-east. As we moved beyond the Fresh Marsh we reached
the Volunteer Marsh where there were several Grey Plover, Curlew and Redshank
and a two Turnstones.
Hobby
Hobby
The tidal marsh produced very
little with just a few more Redshank being seen as I headed to the beach. David and Roger had seen three Fulmars and a
Gannet when I arrived and it wasn’t too long before I picked up a Fulmar moving
west and Roger found another Gannet.
There was a good movement of terns off shore with both Sandwich Tern and
Common Tern being seen and there were plenty of Oystercatchers and Bar-tailed
Godwits on the beach. As we continued to
scan the waders began moving as the tide was receding and several hundred
Bar-tailed Godwits flew west along with smaller numbers of Grey Plover and
David picked up a single Sanderling, which the rest of us didn’t see. I then noticed a gull approaching that was
either a juvenile Kittiwake or Little Gull and as it got closer we were able to
identify it as juvenile Little Gull. As
we were watching the Little Gull twelve Common Scoters flew west and shortly
afterwards Roger picked up an Arctic Skua flying west. Just as we were about to leave I saw a
Mediterranean Gull flying along the shoreline but unfortunately flying away
from us and only David managed to pick it up.
Turnstone
As we moved back along the
west bank there was a single Golden Plover on the Fresh Marsh and David and Roger
had brief views of Bearded Tits but I had to be content with just hearing
them. We had discussed and agreed that
we would head for Beeston Common next to hopefully see a Wryneck but felt we
should take a look on Patsy’s Reedbed before we left Titchwell.
David had gone on ahead and
when we arrived he had already located a Garganey, a Snipe and a
Greenshank. It didn’t take too long to
find all three species and we were soon making our way back to the car and head
off east to Beeston.
We stopped at Burnham Overy
Staithe for a bite and look over the marsh towards Holkham Pines; however it
was very quiet with four Buzzards being the highlight.
When we reached Beeston there
was some confusion as to whether or not we were in the right place, as there
was no sign of any other birders or the pill box the bird had been reported
close to. David got some clarification
from a local who assured us that there was a pill box on the common and
provided some vague directions. After
walking some distance there was still no evidence of other birders or the pill
box and we became separated from David.
Malcolm then noticed someone sitting on what remained of a pill box and
we therefore continued along the track in the general direction. Fortunately we found David and then found the
individual on the pill box. He had seen
the Wryneck earlier and gave us further instructions but indicated that the
bird hadn’t been seen since his sighting, which was now several hours ago.
We continued around some
bushes and found several birders observing an area of quite dense scrub. We then spent over an hour peering into the
bushes during which time all but one birder had left. We did see a Buzzard, Great Spotted
Woodpecker, a Willow Warbler and Whitethroat during our stay but eventually
gave up on the Wryneck and headed off for home.
As we were leaving Sheringham
I had a tweet indicating that a Pied Flycatcher had been seen in Sheringham and
on checking further found that it was actually in the area of the pill
box. Needless to say there was another
tweet before we got home of the Wryneck being seen again but presumably only
briefly as the dreaded word elusive was used.
It had been a good day’s
birding, despite dipping on the Wryneck, with ninety-five species recorded with
one, the Arctic Skua, being a first for the year.
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