It seems fairly quiet bird-wise at the moment, with just Frampton
producing the only good birds within striking distance but we had seen the
Stilt Sandpiper on Thursday and therefore decided to have a day in West
Norfolk. Roger was unable to get out
today and so Ken was joining David, Malcolm and myself and after meeting David
and Malcolm at David’s, David drove to Uppingham to collect Ken.
We had agreed to go to Titchwell first and on reaching Kings Lynne we
headed in land through Bircham and Docking and approached Titchwell via
Choseley Barns. We didn’t see too much
on route with two Red Kites between Flitcham and Bircham being the best. A brief stop at Choseley Barns produced
nothing but we did have two Common Kestrel between there and Titchwell.
We arrived in the Titchwell car park just before 09:00 and were surprised
how few cars there were. We were soon kitted
out and the centre was just opening as we approached it and so we went in to
check what had been seen yesterday but there had been nothing of real note and
so we headed to the west bank and the sea.
There was a single Little Egret over Thornham Marsh and we reached the
Fresh Marsh the water was very low and looked ideal for waders. There were four Eurasian Spoonbills at the
back of the marsh and small party of Dunlin were feeding on the exposed
mud. As we scanned through the flock we
found a single Curlew Sandpiper and there was also a good number of Ruff and
five Common Ringed Plover. A small party
of Pied Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits were roosting further out, but we
couldn’t find anything else and continued onto the sea.
The others had gone on further and all I could see on Volunteer Marsh
were a few Common Redshank and a Eurasian Curlew. When I caught Ken up at the Tidal Marsh he said
there was nothing of note and we joined David and Malcolm on the beach. David indicated that there were Grey Plover,
Bar-tailed Godwit, Red Knot and Ruddy Turnstone on the Tidal Marsh and so Ken
and I went to look. We soon found a
small flock of Ruddy Turnstone and a single Red Knot but there was no sign of
the Grey Plover and all the godwits appeared to be Black-tailed.
When we got back to the beach they had seen both Grey Plover and
Sanderling and on scanning the beach to the west I soon found a single Grey
Plover and several Sanderling and there were also good numbers of Bar-tailed
Godwits and Eurasian Oystercatchers to the east. The sea however appeared very quiet with just
a few Sandwich Terns moving west. Three
Dunlin and a Common Ringed Plover then landed just in front and I picked up a
Northern Fulmar heading west. David then
found a couple of Common Scoter on the sea and Ken picked up a Northern
Wheatear on the fortification. David
then picked up two Northern Gannets heading east, and he also had a skua briefly,
but it disappeared all too quickly. A
good twenty minutes later the birds on the shore all started flying and we
picked up a bird coming west along the beach, which turned out to be a juvenile
Peregrine Falcon. With just a single
Common Tern adding to the day list Ken and I decided to go back along the west
bank.
As we made our way back thirty plus Common Redshank were on the Tidal
Marsh but there was no sign of the Red Knot, although the Ruddy Turnstone were
still present. Volunteer Marsh was now
almost bird less and as we approached the path to Parrinder Hide, David and
Malcolm caught us up. Our intention was
to go to the hide, but I noticed that there were now far more Dunlin on the
Fresh Marsh, although they appeared quite flighty, they were closer to Island
Hide and so we continued along the west bank.
We went almost as far as Island Hide as the sun was making viewing a
little difficult. There were now over
200 Dunlin present, which was a significant increase, but other than the Curlew
Sandpiper there was nothing else. The
roosting Black-tailed Godwits were leaving the marsh and flying out to the sea
and so were fewer than earlier, but three more Eurasian Spoonbills
arrived. David found two Pink-footed
Geese and an Egyptian Goose on the Fresh Marsh but with nothing else we made
our way back.
I went to Patsy Pool whilst David went back for a nap and Malcolm and Ken
followed David. There were quite a few
birds on Patsy Pool that included Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, Eurasian
Teal, Common Pochard and Tufted Duck but the hoped for Red-crested Pochard
wasn’t amongst them and I went back to the car.
After lunch we drove along Chalkpit Lane hoping for Grey Partridge but
all we found were a few Red-legs and Malcolm and I had a Eurasian Sparrowhawk. A brief call at Roydon before heading for the
Nene Washes failed to produce anything other than a Common Kestrel.
All we saw before reaching March Farmers at the Nene Washes were a couple
of Common Kestrel. On reaching March
Farmers, Ken, Malcolm and I went onto the bank to view the washes, whilst David
had a nap. There were five Western
Yellow Wagtail feeding amongst the sheep and horses and we found a Whooper Swan
to the east. Two more Common Kestrel
were observed, and a Common Whitethroat flew into a bush and gave nice but
brief views. David then called to see if
we had seen anything but with little to report he stayed in the car. Shortly afterwards we had a couple of
juvenile Western Marsh Harriers but with little else Malcolm and Ken went down
to the bridge.
Another birder had joined me on the bank, when Malcom and Ken came
running back to get their scopes saying Malcolm thought he might have a
Whinchat. We all then went down the
bridge and Malcolm confirmed that it was a Whinchat and gave directions and we
all then saw a rather nice male some distance away perched atop of the
vegetation. I called David who then
joined us, but the bird was now moving about a bit. David did see it but shortly afterwards it disappeared,
and we didn’t see it again. As we were
going back to the car David found an immature European Stonechat.
After getting back to the car we drove the short distance to Eldernell
where we had another Western Marsh Harrier, five Pied Avocet, another Common
Kestrel and a Peregrine Falcon before we headed for home.
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