It is half term in
Leicestershire & Rutland and with the family away in Spain my wife and I
had booked three nights at Briarfield’s in Titchwell and were on the road by
09:25 heading for West Norfolk. It was
quite misty when we left home, which did clear somewhat on route and we arrived
at the RSPB Reserve at Titchwell at around 12:00. However, we found the car park full and therefore
went to Briarfield's just to park but found that the room was ready and so unpacked
before going for a walk to the reserve.
There is a footpath from the hotel onto the Autumn Trail and from there
we walked around to the centre.
From the centre we walked
along the west bank to the sea seeing a nice male Marsh Harrier over the
reedbed and a female-type over Thornham Marsh.
There was a good selection of waders on the Freshwater Marsh with two
Avocets, a Knot and two Little Stints being the highlights. There were also Dunlin, Ruff, Black-tailed
Godwit and Redshank and a Turnstone was observed on Volunteer Marsh.
When we reached the sea, it
was quiet with just two Common Scoter and a couple of Great Crested Grebes
being observed on the sea with only a few waders on the beach due to the tide
being quite high. I did find several
Oystercatchers, three Sanderling and two Bar-tailed Godwits but there was very
little else. As we walked back I saw a
single Pintail in flight, a Rock Pipit on the Freshwater Marsh and along the
Autumn Trail there were two Swallows hawking over one of the tall trees and we
got back to the hotel at 16:05.
I drove back to the reserve at
around 17:15 and walked out onto the west bank, seeing two House Martin over the
car park, but didn’t go out to the sea again spending until around 18:30
observing from the bank. I had a
Greenshank fly in and there were now noticeably more Ruff on the Freshwater
Marsh and I counted ninety-eight. I had
at least eight Marsh Harriers over the reedbed, including a single male and I
saw sixteen Little Egrets go to roost in the wood beyond the Autumn Trail. As I made a final scan over Thornham Marsh I
picked up another harrier and realised it was a male Hen Harrier and managed to
get the scope on it before it disappeared, which was a fitting end to the day.
I was back on the reserve at
06:45 with dawn just breaking where there was a light south-west wind, although
hurricane Ophelia, which had caused so much devastation in the Caribbean would
be having an impact latter. It was
barely light as I headed off down the west bank from where I heard a Tawny Owl
calling back towards the centre and a Water Rail called but only once. There were several Marsh Harriers over the
reedbed area and gulls were streaming out from their roost.
When I eventually reached the sea,
it was again very quiet, although there were more waders on the falling tide
that included, Oystercatchers, ten Knot; twelve Sanderling, forty-eight Bar-tailed
Godwit and a Turnstone. Two Common
Scoter on the sea were presumably those I had seen yesterday and there were at
least four Great Crested Grebes. A party
of four ducks were observed in flight with one dropping onto the sea, which I
was then able to identify as a Long-tailed Duck but the other three remained
unidentified.
On the walk back there was a
Turnstone on the Volunteer Marsh and five Avocets, two Little Stints,
thirty-eight Dunlin, 128 Ruff and c.200 Black-tailed Godwits on the Freshwater
Marsh.
After breakfasting we went to
Burnham Overy Staithe for a walk and went from the road along the footpath to
the sea and then walked back again.
Before we set off I checked the geese in the first field hoping that
either the Taiga Bean Goose or Greenland White-fronted Goose would be amongst
the Greylag and Pink-footed Geese but there was no sign, so we then walked down
the path towards the sea wall. We didn’t
see a great deal and on reaching the beach all I could find were seven Gannet,
an Oystercatcher and a Curlew. As we
walked back I found a single Little Egret on the marsh and four Stonechats on
the saltmarsh side of the wall and then a fifth near where the Pallas’s
Grasshopper Warbler was in September.
Burnham Overy Staithe
The beach
Gun Hill
Holkham Marsh
Pink-footed Geese
The sun had come out during or
walk to the beach and even though the wind had increased significantly it still
felt very warm when we got back to the car.
A quick scan towards Holkham Pines produced a Red Kite and a Buzzard.
From Burnham Overy Staithe we
went to Burnham Market and after a walk around the shops and a coffee we went
to Hunstanton where the wind was quite fresh as the remnants of Hurricane
Ophelia was having an effect with the sun turning red and eventually
disappearing when it turned quite gloomy.
When we got back to the hotel
I walked to Titchwell in what were still gloomy conditions and after checking
unsuccessfully for a Brambling I went along the west bank. There were several thousand gulls already
assembled on the Freshwater Marsh and I counted twenty Marsh Harriers, seven
over Thornham Marsh, seven over the Freshwater Marsh and another six just east
of the reserve. It was eerily quiet with
most birds becoming silent, obviously disoriented by the effects of Ophelia. I went into Island Hide to get out of the
wind and found the wind had pushed the water into the northeast corner exposing
new areas of mud, which some waders particularly Dunlin were exploiting. I counted 128 Ruff and there were over 200
Black-tailed Godwits on the lagoon, but I couldn’t find the little Stints I had
seen earlier. Another birder then
indicated that he had some Bearded Tit, which was quite a surprise considering
the wind. I scoped the reeds in front of
the hide and found two feeding right at the base of the reeds and clearly
sheltered from the wind. They remained in
view for a few minutes allowing all present in the hide to find them.
I eventually made my way back
towards the hotel and had twenty-six Little Egret flying around the trees that they
appear to roost, but the dull conditions had now been replaced by bright
sunshine and they appeared not to know whether to go to roost or not and there
were also fewer Marsh Harrier in evidence.
When I got back to the hotel
the wind was at its worse and it was now noticeably cooler.
Another early morning visit to
Titchwell on the 17th when it was still very windy but at least
dry. I went straight out to the beach
but found the sea was again very quiet, but I did have three Razorbill fly
west, which were my first of the year, and a single Gannet. There were a few waders on the beach including
several Oystercatcher, a Grey Plover, five Knot, thirty-six Sanderling,
seventy-six Bar-tailed Godwits and nine Turnstone. There were 120 Ruff and 123 Black-tailed
Godwits on the Freshwater Marsh along with thirty Dunlin but there was no sign
of any Little Stints, although I did have my first Ringed Plovers of the week
on Volunteer Marsh.
After breakfast I went to Holt
with my wife and spent the morning walking around the shops before having a
coffee and making our way back.
When we got back we walked to
the Titchwell Visitor’s centre and I then spent twenty minutes looking
unsuccessfully for a Brambling, which Roger, who only arrived today had
seen. We walked back to the hotel seeing
a couple of Red-legged Partridge and I then drove to the reserve and met up
with Roger.
I found out that he had seen
the Brambling on the front feeders, so we had a look before going along the
west bank. The Brambling appeared after
a few minutes and it looks as though I had been given some duff information as
to where it was. The wind had now
dropped considerably and the water in the Freshwater Marsh had relevelled and
we found a single Little Stint but nothing else of note I hadn’t seen during my
earlier visits and so we continued to the sea.
The sea was still very quiet with nothing new and there were very few
waders along the shore.
We went back along the west
bank to view the reedbed where we had eight Marsh Harrier and noted twenty
Little Egrets going into roost and had three Swallows fly over before we
returned to our cars.
When I got back to the hotel I
walked to the footpath leading to the reserve to view the field, which looked
suitable for a Barn Owl and I didn’t have to wait too long before one appeared,
although unfortunately it disappeared again quite quickly.
The forecast for this morning,
the 18th, wasn’t good but although it had rained overnight it was
now dry and I went for another visit to Titchwell. Yesterday it was forecasting northeast winds
and I was hoping the sea might liven up, but the wind was easterly, and the sea
was again quiet. There were lots more
Common Scoter but except for three the rest were out towards the wind turbines
and other than a few Great Crested Grebes I just had one Red-throated Diver fly
east. The tide had just turned, and waders
were increasing whilst I stood on the beach and I saw Oystercatchers, a Grey
Plover, two Knot, eight Sanderling, forty-one Bar-tailed Godwits and twelve
Turnstone.
As I walked back there were
another thirteen Grey Plover on the Tidal Marsh along with a few Black-tailed
Godwits and Redshank. Volunteer Marsh
was still mainly covered but water was flowing out fast and a several Redshank
were taking the opportunity to feed.
On the Freshwater Marsh I had
four Avocets, five Golden Plover, two Little Stints, sixteen Dunlin, 120 Ruff
and sixty-eight Black-tailed Godwit and I had counted fifty-eight Curlew flying
off after roosting earlier and had seen at least twenty-three Little Egrets
with most leaving the roosting site.
After breakfast I went to
Burnham Overy Staithe to see if either of the scarce geese were there. There were plenty of geese mainly Pink-footed
and Greylag Geese but also two Barnacle Geese and forty-two Egyptian
Geese. I drove further along the road to
find most of Pink-footed Geese were in the field to the east where it is
impossible to park safely and so returned to Titchwell for a coffee before
setting off home.
As were walking down to the
centre another birder informed me that there were two Yellow-browed Warblers
showing and calling well in the coach park.
Sandra went on to get the coffees whilst I went back to have a look for
the Yellow-browed Warblers but there was no sign and I went back for my
coffee. I called Roger to make him aware
of the warblers as he was at Titchwell but on the beach. Whilst having my coffee I had a chat with a
guy who does the moth trap at Titchwell, which should have been put out last
night but wasn’t. He had found and
potted several moths he had found around the lights that included three firsts
for me, which were Green-brindled Crescent, Large Wainscot and The Chestnut.
After my coffee I went back to
the car and found a crowd watching something, which turned out to be one of the
Yellow-browed Warblers, which I then saw quite well before it was lost again.
No comments:
Post a Comment