A half-day at Titchwell, Norfolk - October 12, 2018

Sandra and I were having a few days holiday in Norfolk and left home around 09:30. There were two Red Kites just after passing through Glaston in Rutland, another near North Luffenham in Rutland and a forth before we reached the A1 junction in Cambridgeshire.  There was a Common Buzzard as we approached Wansford and another at Guyhirn.

We arrived at Titchwell just after 12:00 and after some lunch I went onto the reserve for a couple of hours.  A Yellow-browed Warbler and a Firecrest had both been seen earlier and so I went along the Fen Trail to hopefully find them.  There were other birders along the trail, but the birds hadn’t been seen for a while and I had no joy and continued onto Patsey’s Reedbed.

There were plenty of birds on the pool that included six Red-crested Pochard, three males and three females, a Common Pochard and twenty-nine Ruff and I also saw a female-type Western Marsh Harrier.

I walked back along the path to the west bank and saw a Little Egret over Thornham Marsh and a male Western Marsh Harrier just south of Thornham Pool.  When I reached the Freshwater Marsh, the water was very low but there were plenty of wildfowl and so I went into Island Hide to get out of the wind.  When I entered the hide another birder informed me that there was a Jack Snipe on the edge of the reedbed.  It wasn’t easy to see but I eventually had views as it bobbed up-and-down at the back of a small area of vegetation.

With most people crammed at one end of the hide looking at the snipe I turned my attention on the rest of the marsh.  There were thirty-four Common Shelduck and a single Northern Pintail amongst the more numerous Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard and Teal.  Waders were few with six Pied Avocet, a single Black-tailed Godwit, another twenty-three Ruff and eight Dunlin.  Mike Snow who had arrived in the hide then found a couple of Brent Geese and I then found two Pink-footed Geese, which included the bird with the damaged wing.

With little else I returned to the car and Sandra and I went and checked into The Ship, which was our accommodation for the next five days.

Once we were settled I went back to Titchwell for the last couple of hours of light.  Although it was still very windy the cloud had broken and there were now some prolonged sunny periods.

I went around the Fen Trail again hoping for a sighting of the Yellow-browed Warbler and/or the Firecrest.  There were still a few birders looking and this time I did find the party of Long-tailed Tits that they were seen with this morning.  I watched the flock, which appeared to be doing a small circuit and saw four Eurasian Blue Tits, a Great Tit, a Common Chiffchaff and a Common Chaffinch but there was still no sign of the two target birds.

They suddenly went quiet and so I went onto Patsy’s Reedbed again and found there was a large concentration of Little Egrets that were obviously gathering to roost.  Eventually there were sixty-four on the pool and they were joined by a single Great Egret.  As I scanned the reedbed and to the east I counted fourteen Western Marsh Harriers quartering over the marsh but as the light faded I called it a day and headed back to The Ship.