Waxham and Titchwell Marsh - 16th August 2014

As we were staying in a static caravan in Sea Palling, we thought it would be a good time to get out onto the Norfolk coast, and see what was about. Dad and I headed to Waxham early morning to do a bit of sea-watching. We got a few distant Arctic Skua's, a nice Fulmar north and a possible Sabine's Gull that flew close North but it was very brief.

Later on that day, we headed to Titchwell, hoping for the Spotted Crake. We got out to the Island Hide, and prepared to wait for an hour or so, in hope of the Spotted Crake making an appearance. We were entertained while we waited by Ruff, Golden Plover and Sandwich Terns...

A Wall Brown posed for us outside the hide...

With no sign of the Spotted Crake in the morning, we headed out of Island Hide and to the beach and Parrinder Hide. The sea didn't hold much apart from some Eider close inshore and a Buzzard that came in-off! Parrinder Hide held the usual Spoonbill flock, 19 strong, and a couple of Spotted Redshank which were nice to watch...

We headed back to Island Hide, where hadn't missed the Spotted Crake. Unfortunately, it never showed throughout the day, but we I did spot a Water Rail in the spot where the Spotted Crake had been, which got people excited!

We also got 4 Red-crested Pochards in the Reedbed before the freshmarsh which was a nice Norfolk year tick!

A quick visit to Cley provided us with a distant Little Stint, a Whimbrel, a flock of Spoonbills and the gull flock which held the Franklin's Gull, but we didn't see it...

Happy Birding!!

Lackford Area

Mum, Dad and I went around the Lackford area yesterday. As I was on 90 for the British Year List, my target for the day was to get to 100. Day started off well with a Green Woodpecker in Norton, and a flock of Grey Partridge at Stowlangtoft. We then arrived at our first destination, at West Stow CP. We parked up, and asked a birder for directions for the Crossbills that have been showing extremely well in the puddles. He said "they're right behind you!" I said "it's not a panto mate!" LOL. Anyway, got all the optics set up, and waited for the Crossbills to come to the puddle. Loads of noise and traffic, so its surprising that they a re this tame. We got some great pictures of them in the trees....

They then came down to the puddle...

We then moved on to Lackford Lakes. As it is winter, the Bitterns should have returned to the reserve. I have never seen a Bittern here before, so it would have been great if we were to see one here. We started off with Marsh Tit, Shoveler on the year list, and a cracking male Goldeneye....

We then got a superb Kingfisher in the double decker hide...

We then got a flyover Grey Wagtail as we headed to Steggals Hide. On the way we got a pair of Egyptian Geese on the golf course

We arrived at Steggals and found 4 Red-crested Pochards showing incredibly close!

I then started scanning the reedbeds at the back, and blow me down I spotted a distant Bittern sitting in the reeds!!!!!!!!! OMG! A bit distant for photos, but the digiscope got some decent pics....

An incredible first for the reserve from my perspective. We didn't think the reserve had much else to offer, but we got 6 very distant Goosanders, including 3 drakes.

Finally, we went to Bess' Hide, to see the gull roost, and the hope of picking up something rare. We got in there and had the hide to ourselves. There was about 100 Lesser-black Backed Gulls on the lake, with a lone Barnacle Goose, 3 Goldeneyes and several other common water birds. I started scanning through the gulls and picked up about 3 Yellow-legged Gulls, and a adult gull that looked very suspicious. Either Herring or another Yellow-legged Gull. Maybe a hybrid????

What a great day. Reached 100 species!!!! We never have a bad day. So lucky!

Happy Birding!

Titchwell Marsh

Sorry about the delay to this post, I have just had so much homework it's unreal! I shall get started straight away, so on the 3rd March, Dad and I went to Titchwell. When we got their, a group of Golden Plover and Lapwing flew over the car park which was a promising start to the day. We got to the visitor center, and went out onto the feeders. We could see about 5 Brambling and a Water Rail under the feeders...

We then walked down the main track, and we knocked on to a Kingfisher distantly on the Thornham Grazing Marsh. Then we went into Parrinder Hide. Not much there, just the regular Black and Bar-tailed Godwits, Snipe, Dunlin, Redshank, Curlew etc. We then went onto the beach. We got fantastic views of 4 Long-tailed Ducks, 2 being a flypast, the other 2 were close inshore, them being female. We also saw Goldeneye, a big group of Eider, Red-breasted Mergansers and Common Scoters. A brief Juvenile Gannet was distant, and 2 Ringed Plovers were on the beach. We then went back, and got great views of Spotted Redshank and other common species, including the Red-crested Pochard.

Black-tailed Godwit

Golden Plover

Avocets

Grey Plover

Oystercatchers

Ringed Plover

Redshank

Knot

Snipe

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank and Avocet

Turnstone

Pink-footed Geese

Red-crested Pochard

Brent Geese

Shoveler

Teal

A Chinese Water Deer also put in an appearance, as did some lovely snowdrops.

We then went back and had sandwiches, then headed back out to the beach. When we got out there the tide was out, so we walked down to the shoreline. As soon as we got down there at put the scope down, we could pick out a Velvet Scoter among 3 Common Scoters due to the white wing patch. Then, we saw 6 Long-tailed Ducks, 4 Drakes!!!!! Not much else of note, so we headed back. We saw 2 Water Rails on the way back, one on Thornham Grazing Marsh, then one in the ditch behind the feeders.

Happy Birding