An enjoyable long weekend on the Norfolk coast with Dazza, staying at an Airbnb accommodation at Brancaster Staithe. The weather was very kind during our stay with some long spells of sunshine and little rain.
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| Water Pipit from the Parrinder Hide at RSPB Titchwell on Friday morning |
After arriving late afternoon on Thursday I made an early start at RSPB Titchwell on Friday morning while Dazza had a well-deserved lay in. As chance would have it another Brandon regular John Raven was staying locally too and so we met up at 7am in the Titchwell car park. We spent a few hours on-site before heading off back to our respective accommodations for breakfast.
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| Red Knot having a wash down |
The water levels on the 'Fresh Marsh' remain particularly high and so not a great deal of wader activity here, apart from a group of eighteen
Avocet asleep in the shallows. It was a bright but bitterly cold visit and all the regular wader species appeared to be on the 'Tidal Marsh' with
Ringed Plover,
Black-tailed Godwit,
Bar-tailed Godwit,
Dunlin,
Red Knot,
Grey Plover,
Avocet,
Redshank and
Curlew all noted. Our tide timings couldn't have been any worse with low tide coinciding with our visit and predictably the sea was very quiet with just a small raft of around 30 or so
Common Scoter and a pair of
Red-breasted Merganser. The highlight for me though was a
Water Pipit, regular here but often elusive during my visits. However, this time it was showing quite well from the Parrinder Hide as we made our way back.
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| Numbers of Mediterranean Gulls are starting to build up at Titchwell, now regularly breeding here |
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| Sanderling along the tideline at Titchwell. |
After breakfast my second visit of the day to RSPBTitchwell in glorious sunshine, this time with Dazza. Further highlights were some brief views of a pair of
Bearded Reedling near the Island Hide, a flyby of one of eight
Meditteranean Gulls noted during our visit and for Dazza's benefit some close views of her favourite
Sanderlings along the tideline.
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| Around thirty or so Frogs along the boardwalk at Titchwell. |
We also enjoyed a stop along the boardwalk where a large group of
Common Frogs were noisily getting down to business, a
Water Rail also noted while here. After Titchwell a brief stop at Cholsey drying barns and surrounding areas for Dazza to get a look at several
Hare's, which seemed to be everywhere today. Both
Red-legged and
Grey Partridge also noted during our stops, plus
Yellowhammer and at least four
Muntjac.
From Titchwell we drove across to Holkham and stopped for a while just off the A149, where some good views of the 'freshmarsh' can be obtained. We knew that
Spoonbill's had been reported and after a short while managed some decent scoped views of two individuals perched in some trees. While here two
Great White Egrets and around 100+ Russian
White-fronted Geese were seen grazing, along with 26
Egyptian Geese. During a low
Marsh Harrier pass (one of many today), which lifted even the Geese a
Chinese Water Deer could be seen scurrying for cover, with reasonably close views. Before heading back to the accommodation I took Dazza for a look at the long-staying
Rough-legged Buzzard at Wells, which we eventually found huddled in among Hawthorn, not the most inspiring of views but still!
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| A single Brambling below the feeders at Lynford Arboretum |
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| One of three Hawfinch feeding below the Hornbeam |
Saturday a drive across to Lynford Arboretum in search of
Hawfinch. Although they did take some finding we eventually connected with three birds feeding at the base of the Hornbeam trees in whats known as the Paddock. We also managed to find a single
Brambling in the feeder area and despite being quite distant and difficult to photograph I've included a couple of record shots above.
Also of note... We did try on three separate occasions for
Twite at Thornham Harbour but incredibly dipped, although to be honest, we didn't give it our best effort with breakfast calling on each attempt! However, a couple of highlights were a
Spotted Redshank and
Rock Pipit while here. Sunday after a late breakfast we headed off to Sherringham, stopping for a walk along the East Bank of Cley Marshes past the Serpentine and Arnold's Marsh to the beach. Nothing new on the bird species count but our first
Small Tortoiseshell butterfly of the year. We spent a while at Sherringham for a coffee and some train spotting and before heading home managed a single
Purple Sandpiper on rocks below the car park.
