On the first full day of my holiday in Norfolk I decided to head off to Titchwell, a reserve as good as any, a place where you would expect to see some birds. On the way to the reserve, whilst travelling through Stiffkey, I passed a lot of cars parked beside the main road. It must be some kind of twitch to attract that many people. Looking on Twitter I discovered it was the first record of RUFOUS BUSH CHAT in forty years. But for some perverse reason I decided to ignore that and persevere onto Ticthwell, because there was bound to be something there, right?
With a fall of rare birds all along the Norfolk Coast, Titchwell wasn't, surprisingly, the place to be. It was surprisingly quiet for birds, which was bad, and with so many birders twitching elsewhere, was quiet for people, which was good. Without the hordes, it was so much less of a hassle to concentrate on birding. I can handle crowds in places where they belong, in the cities and towns, just not in the countryside.
The best bird at Titchwell, today, was also the first, a nice male HEN HARRIER. Seen from the start of West Bank footpath, the bird quartered the Thornham Marshes, an area of saltmarsh to the west. It was present when I walked out and was still there when I came back. It disturbed a lot of birds, including a surprising amount of SNIPE as it hunted, a bird I wouldn't have seen if it wasn't for the harrier. Most of the wintering harriers are from the continent. In the UK this bird is highly persecuted, and as a result it is so much rarer than it should be, all so millionaires can shoot some grouse.
As the path travels from the car park, it cuts through a succession of habitats, firstly through woodland and then passed reedbeds, before coming to Freshwater Marsh. This water levels on this large pool were high so there weren't too many waders present, a few DUNLIN and a few lingering AVOCET. DUCK numbers were also relatively low, mainly TEAL and GADWALL.
The next area of interest, further up the path, is Volunteer Marsh, a tidal area allowed to be flooded by the sea. It a relatively new part of the reserve, and that short amount of time the area has become overgrown by saltmarsh, just as it should be. The tide was out and as a result there was lots of mud, but few waders. A SPOTTED REDSHANK was the best goodie to be had here.
The path finally makes it out onto the beach, a vast sandy expanse that stretches all the way to the horizon. Out here I was hit by a rain storm, which absolutely soaked me. As a result visibility was poor and I couldn't do any sea watching (not that I wanted to do any, feeling sorry for myself). On the sandy beach there were plenty of WADERS, OYSTERCATCHERS, CURLEW, GREY PLOVER, KNOT, SANDERLING and BARWIT, the usual sort.
Heading back was to simply walk the path I had just come from. On the way back, I checked out Patsy's Pool, a small area of water in amongst the reedbeds, where there was a nice GREAT WHITE EGRET. This is a new sighting of this bird for me at Titchwell. I have been saying that a lot about this bird as its range gradually expands throughout the country.
With so much happening round the coast it was a surprise that Titchwell came up so poorly. This is one of the greatest reserves in the country, and you would expect to see something unusual. Anyway, the day was still young and from here there were more plenty of birds to see. To make up for the poor showing here I decided to head back to Stiffkey and take part in the twitch there. I shall write about that in the next blog.
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