I did my early morning visit to Titchwell Marsh prior to breakfast and
after parking David arrived, but I sat off down the west bank first as he said
he would catch me up. It was still quite
dark when I reached the bank but as I reached the open reedbed a Eurasian
Sparrowhawk flew over. I scanned to the
east and saw five Western Marsh Harriers quartering over the reedbed and there
were twenty-five Little Egrets in the trees beyond Patsy’s Pool. As I walked a little further three Eurasian
Curlew flew over the reedbed and I heard a Whimbrel calling but couldn’t locate
it.
David then caught me up and we made our way to the beach where there were
plenty of waders that included 200+ Eurasian Oystercatcher, a Grey Plover,
fourteen Eurasian Curlew, thirty-nine Bar-tailed Godwit, seven Ruddy Turnstone,
seven Sanderling and twenty-five Common Redshank. The sea was very quiet with just a couple of
Great Crested Grebes feeding off shore, but I did pick up a distant Northern
Gannet and David picked up a Red-throated Diver as it flew east.
With little else we began to make or way back down the path and found six
Common Shelduck, six Grey Plover, c.300 Red Knot, three Ruddy Turnstone and
three Dunlin. I then noticed a party of
eight Black-tailed Godwits as they appeared to drop on Volunteer Marsh and when
we reached the marsh we found them in the channel along with five more Dunlin
and a Little Egret.
I stopped near the path to Parrinder Hide to scope the Freshwater Marsh,
but David went on to Island Hide to look for the Jack Snipe. There were four Egyptian Geese on the marsh
and three Common Shelduck flew over and I then counted another thirty-two on
the marsh. There was a single Dunlin
towards Island Hide and I counted seven Pied Avocet, forty-six European Golden
Plover, twenty Ruff and found a single Black-tailed Godwit.
As I walked further down the bank there were two Little Egrets on
Thornham Marsh and when I reached the hide David was still searching for the
Jack Snipe. He had seen a Common Snipe,
which was still present, and a Water Rail appeared briefly as he was pointing
out a couple of Bearded Tits. He then
found the Jack Snipe, which was well hidden, and only gave itself away when it
started bobbing. We did eventually manage
to piece the whole bird together but it was never fully in view. As we made our way back to the cars we had a
Common Pochard and a two Little Grebes on the Reedbed Pool and heard at least
two Bearded Tits and a Cetti’s Warbler before reaching the woodland.
I went back to The Ship for breakfast and afterwards went back out to Titchwell as My wife was off to Wells and Burnham Market shopping.
I did a tour around Choseley before going to Titchwell hoping for Grey
Partridge or a Corn Bunting. There were
quite a few passerines as I approached the barns, most of which were Common
Starlings but there were also quite a few small birds, some of which perched on
the overhead wires and I identified Meadow Pipit, Linnet and Yellowhammer,
although many more dropped out of view unidentified.
The car park had filled up and I had to park in the overflow area where I
joined one of the volunteers who was scanning the hedge on the edge of the car
park. There were quite a few Goldcrest
in evidence and I also found a Common Chiffchaff, a pair of Blackcap and a
couple of Song Thrushes.
I walked around the Fen Trail again looking for a Yellow-browed Warbler
without success and I continued onto Patsy’s Reedbed, hearing a Cetti’s Warbler
on route. There were two Western Marsh
Harriers visible over the reedbed screen and there were three Little Grebes and
three Ruff on the scrape.
I walked back along the path and again stopped hoping for one of the
Yellow-browed Warblers, which produced just a couple of Goldcrests. When I reached the West Bank, I continued
along the path and went into Island Hide where I counted twenty-nine Ruff. One of the volunteers then announced that
there was a male Hen Harrier over the east bund and I managed to pick it up
towards Titchwell church. It started
gaining height and continued heading south but was in view for quite some time,
although always distant. I made my way
back to the car seeing another Western Marsh Harrier, a Common Buzzard and I
picked up a Brambling flying over with a group of migrating Common Chaffinch.
I drove the short distance to Holme and parked near the golf course
before walking along the footpath to the beach.
Six Shore Lark had been reported on the beach for the last few days, and
again today. As I walked out there was a
Common Kestrel perched and then seen hunting along the edge of the golf
course. Several returning birders
indicated that the larks were still there and when I reached the beach I could
see a small party of birders who I assumed were watching them. As I walked towards them they started to come
towards me and I thought that they were going back but in fact they hadn’t seen
the larks as they had flown off towards Hunstanton. I followed them along a ridge and we soon
found two of the six feeding with a group of Common Linnets, but we were unable
to locate the other four. As I retraced
my steps back towards the beach to view the sea, more Common Chaffinches were
flying over and again I picked out a single Brambling. As I approached the beach a Eurasian Curlew
flew over and there was c.150 Eurasian Oystercatcher on the beach but I saw
nothing else and went back to the car.
When I got back to the car I had a bite to eat and considered going to
the Holme Reserve but with no news since early morning I decided to go back to
Titchwell. As I approached Thornham I
thought it might be worthwhile checking out the harbour. After parking I could see that there were
plenty of birds on the sand towards the sea and went to the edge of the car
park to view the area. As I did so
another birder asked if I would be interested in a Short-eared Owl as one was
sitting on a fence post on the other side of the seawall. Obviously, I was interested and went over the
bridge and up onto the seawall. Another
birder already had the owl pinned down, which was sitting on one of the fence
posts that went out into the field and there was a Common Kestrel on the same
line of posts but closer. As I stood
talking to the other birder we heard a rather loud call, which I recognised as a
Red Crossbill, but we didn’t manage to pick up and it soon disappeared,
although another birder towards Thornham had seen it well. I assumed that it was almost certainly
between him and us and had proved difficult as we were looking into the sun, making
it a frustrating experience. There were
139 Eurasian Curlew on the salt marsh and 200+ Eurasian Oystercatcher on the
exposed sand. I counted sixty-four Brent
Geese and twenty-three Common Shelduck along with five Little Egrets and twenty
Pink-footed Geese flew over and there was a Western Marsh Harrier towards
Holme. I then noticed a Spotted Redshank
roosting in the channel and as I was leaving it was feeding and so I went and
got the camera hoping a could get a few shots.
Spotted Redshank
Spotted Redshank
I made my way back to Titchwell and again went to look for the Yellow-browed Warbler but again had no joy and continued along the path to view the marsh between the reserve and Brancaster but all I saw was a Common Kestrel over Patsy’s Pool. As I walked back others were looking for the warblers, including David but again they weren’t seen or heard, and David and I went to the west bank.
There was another Common Kestrel over the field towards Thornham and a
Grey Plover flew over. The only thing we
saw that I hadn’t seen earlier on the Freshwater Marsh was a female Northern Pintail,
but David then picked up a Western Barn Owl towards Thornham, which I saw
briefly before it disappeared. As I
approached the car I added Eurasian Jay to the day-list, which reached ninety,
with two the Shore Lark and the Red Crossbill being year-ticks.
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