David, Ken, Roger and I
planned for a day in Norfolk and after Roger picked me up went to David’s, who
then drove for the day. After picking up
Ken in Uppingham we continued along the A47 to Norfolk seeing just a single
Buzzard before reaching Kings Lynn.
David had decided that a stop
at Roydon Common might be worthwhile and during our brief stay of just over an
hour we saw two Kestrel, circa twenty Swift, a Willow Warbler, a Blackcap, two
Whitethroat and three Stonechats.
Male Stonechat
Our plan was to now head for
the Montague's Harrier site near Docking and when we arrived we found quite a
crowd and the female and two juveniles were preforming quite nicely. The two juveniles continued to perform on and
off during our stay and the male put in a brief appearance as we were thinking
of moving on. He was further away than
the other birds but all three birds got up when he came in and presumably there
was a food pass, although we didn’t see it, as after his visit things went
quiet. I saw two Buzzards and a House
Martin whilst were on site but there was nothing else of note.
After walking back to the car,
we headed to Docking and then on towards Titchwell, stopping briefly at
Choseley where we saw a couple of Marsh Harriers. There were also a good number of wagtails,
mainly Pied but also at least five Yellow.
It was just after 11:00 when
we arrived in the car park at Titchwell but we decided to have an early lunch
before venturing onto the reserve. As we
walked along the west bank there were five Little Egrets around Thornham Pool
but we hadn’t seen a great deal else as we approached the Freshwater
Marsh. The water level on the marsh was
just about right as there were plenty of waders both feeding and roosting. On scanning the marsh there were good numbers
of Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits feeding and a small party of Bar-tailed
Godwits and two Knot roosting and six Whimbrel and three Spoonbills doing what
they do best, sleeping.
We didn’t dwell too long as we
suspected the tide was high and continued along the west bank to the
beach. When we reached Volunteer Marsh
it was flooded indicating that the tide was still high and there was very
little on either this marsh or the Tidal Marsh.
When we reached the sea, the
tide was just beginning to turn and there was very little on the
shoreline. As we scanned the sea there
were numerous Sandwich Terns mainly moving west and we could also see fast
numbers of terns on Scolt Head, which were also presumably Sandwich Terns. I don’t think I have seen quite so many terns
over the sea here as there must have been several hundred but they all appeared
to be Sandwich Tern. There was a small
party of Common Scoter off shore and I picked up a single Gannet and Roger then
found a distant Arctic Skua harassing some terns. As we continued to scan I found a small party
of Sanderling on the shoreline and there were at least a couple of Great
Crested Grebes on the sea. Ken decided
to go back and view the Fresh Marsh and just afterwards a dark-phase Arctic
Skua flew west.
As we started to walk back
there were a few wades on the Tidal Marsh that included a Golden Plover, nine
Dunlin and six Turnstones and there was a Common Sandpiper on Volunteer
Marsh. Roger who had lagged behind then
called to say that a Short-eared Owl had been seen over Thornham Marsh and
David and I walked back to join him when we had some nice views of the
owl. I called Ken to make him aware and
he found it from the path leading to Parrinder Hide. We eventually caught up with Ken, seeing four
Spotted Redshanks before we made our way along the path to the hide.
Turnstone
Turnstones
We didn’t go into the hide but
stood in the viewing area just beyond to view the Freshwater Marsh. This time we spent longer viewing the area
and found a forth Spoonbill, which eventually flew off to the west. Wader wise there were good numbers of
Oystercatchers, Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits and four Knot, fourteen
Dunlin, twenty-six Ruff and a single Snipe.
There were also a few juvenile Mediterranean Gulls and at least one second-summer
bird and also two Common Terns. David,
Ken and Roger went back to the car park area to look for a Turtle Dove, whilst
I stayed to continuing viewing the Freshwater Marsh. I didn’t see anything new but did find
several more Mediterranean Gulls, including a moulting adult.
Spoonbill
Juvenile Mediterranean Gull
Juvenile Mediterranean Gull
Juvenile Mediterranean Gull
When I got back to the centre
I called Ken and found they were viewing Patsy’s Reedbed and so I went to join
them, seeing a single Chiffchaff on route.
When I reached the screen just David and Ken were there and they then
went to find Roger, whilst I stayed to view the area.
Whilst viewing Patsy's Reedbed
I saw a two Pochard, a juvenile Marsh Harrier, a Sparrowhawk and a Reed
Warbler.
When I got back to the car
park I found the others all there and we were soon beginning to make our way home. We called at Hunstanton where they had brief
views of a single Fulmar, which I manged to miss. A Red Kite just after entering Rutland was my
ninety-third species of the day, which is not a bad total for July, which
included my only year-tick of the month, the Arctic Skua.
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