David, Malcolm, Roger and
myself were off for a day’s birding in West Norfolk and after Roger took David
and I to Malcolm’s, Malcolm drove for the rest of the day.
We saw a Hobby as we were
approaching Guyhirn but hadn’t seen a great deal else by the time we reached Titchwell.
We arrived in the car park
just before 08:30 and then spent some time in the overflow car park looking for
a Turtle Dove, without success, although Malcolm did see a dove fly out of its
favoured tree. Whilst looking for the
dove we did have three Blackcaps and a Lesser Whitethroat and a few commoner
species.
From the car park, we walked
to the west bank and then headed out towards the sea. We hadn’t seen anything of note when we
reached the Freshwater Marsh, where there were plenty of birds. Most appeared to be Avocets and Black-tailed
Godwits but there was also a good number of roosting Oystercatchers and
Bar-tailed Godwits and Roger found a Common Sandpiper and I picked up a
first-summer Little Gull. As we moved
further along the path we noted three Spoonbills on the Freshwater Marsh and
there was a Little Egret on Thornham Marsh and a Grey Plover on Lavender Pool.
It was clear that the tide was
coming in as the creeks on Thornham Marsh were quite full and so David and I
headed for the beach, leaving Malcolm and Roger observing the marsh. Volunteer Marsh was also flooded and on
reaching the Tidal Marsh we found several more Grey Plover and there was also
several Dunlin, Redshank and Turnstone.
There had been a juvenile Purple Sandpiper on the Tidal Marsh yesterday
but there was no sign today.
When we reached the beach
Malcom and Roger had joined us again but there was very little on the sea. We did see a dozen Common Scoter, four
Gannet, several Great Crested Grebes and a few Sandwich Terns. When we looked along the shore there were a
few Oystercatchers and several Sanderling to the east and good numbers of Sanderling
to the west along with a single Dunlin and a Turnstone.
Sanderling and single Dunlin over the tide line
Sanderling over the tide line
We could see David Gurney
looking and photographing something further along the beach and eventually we
and several other birders walked along the beach to join him. When we reached we found he was looking at
the Purple Sandpiper, which was most obliging, allowing close views and a good
photo opportunity. We spent a good
thirty minutes observing the bird before we walked back to the west bank. As we walked back there were clearly more
Sandwich Terns and we spent more time observing the sea but didn’t see anything
new.
Juvenile Purple Sandpiper
Juvenile Purple Sandpiper
Juvenile Purple Sandpiper
Juvenile Purple Sandpiper
Juvenile Purple Sandpiper
Juvenile Purple Sandpiper
Juvenile Purple Sandpiper
Juvenile Purple Sandpiper
As we walked back there were
more birds on the Tidal Marsh but we saw nothing new and when we reached
Volunteer Marsh it was still flooded and so we continued onto the Freshwater
Marsh.
We viewed the Freshwater Marsh
from the northern corner and David found a couple of Knot amongst the Bar-tailed
Godwits. He then started to walk back to
the car after which we found two adult and two immature Mediterranean Gulls
amongst the roosting Black-headed Gulls and the Little Gull also put in an
another appearance.
We eventually got back to the
car as David was returning from the overflow car park not having any luck with
the Turtle Dove. He had seen a Great
Spotted Woodpecker that then flew over the car whilst we were getting our
lunch.
After lunch, we walked out
along the Fen Trail to view Patsy’s Pool, where we found the water level quite
high. There were a few birds on the
pool, which were mainly Mallard and Coot but as were thinking of leaving David
saw a bird drop in but out of sight at the water’s edge. He thought it was a dove but a Woodpigeon
dropped in afterwards and we assumed that what he had seen. However, the Woodpigeon flew again a few
seconds later and was followed by a Turtle Dove and we then also saw a couple
of Snipe.
We walked back around the Fen
Trail to the West Bank, seeing a couple of Jays, and then went into Island Hide
to look out over the Freshwater Marsh. David
saw a Spotted Redshank in flight but it dropped out of sight before Roger and I
got onto it. We were seeing much as we
did this morning including the Little Gull and several Mediterranean Gulls and
there was also a single Little Ringed Plover.
Malcolm hadn’t come into the hide but had continued along the West Bank and was sitting on a seat scoping the marsh.
Juvenile Spoonbill over the Fen Trail
Malcolm viewing the marsh from the West Bank
Ruff
Dunlin
Adult Spoonbill
Adult Spoonbill
Adult Spoonbill
Avocet
We joined Malcolm and found he
had seen two Spotted Redshanks but they had flown off over Thornham Marsh but
he hadn’t seen much else. David then
picked up four Bearded Tits on the edge of the reeds but I only managed to see
three, although David and I had seen one briefly earlier. He then found a Spotted Redshank feeding up
against the reedbed and Malcolm then found a second. There were fifteen Golden Plover with some
still in summer plumage and seven Spoonbill but we weren’t seeing too much else
and decided we would call at Eldernell on the way home. As we walked back along the path a rather
tatty Emperor Dragonfly provided some nice views.
Dunlin
Emperor Dragonfly
We drove back to King’s Lynn
via Choseley but didn’t see a great deal and arrived at Eldernell at around
16:30, which gave us about thirty minutes before we needed to head off
home. We didn’t see the hoped for Cranes
but did have three Marsh Harriers, two Buzzards, five Kestrel and a Hobby.
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