RSPB Titchwell, Norfolk, 02/05/2009

Weather: bright, sunny, warm, faint breeze, some clouds. From 11am.

A very special visit for a number of reasons to a favourite location.
First off though, earlier that morning from the hotel I heard my first Cuckoo of the year; singing for quite some time, its voice seemed to be heading off towards Holme.

On arriving at the reserve, no sooner had I parked the car than Kim & I spotted a Marsh Harrier floating over nearby fields. Other species around the car-park were Long-Tailed Tit, singing Reed Bunting (initially only heard but plenty seen later on), Chaffinch, Blackcap singing from thick vegetation, Willow Warbler & Woodpigeon.

After passing the visitors' centre on the first part of the beach path it's not unusual to hear Cetti's Warbler which we did & later when we visited the Fen Hide, in a failed attempt to see bittern, we saw one through the thick bushes.

Further along & either side of the path: Cormorant, Robin, Blackbird, Kestrel, Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Black-Headed Gull, Sedge Warbler: the first of many in full song; Grey Heron, Shoveler; Brent Goose overflying; Greylag Goose, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Gadwall, Avocet, Oystercatcher, Common Tern, Canada Goose, Shelduck.

Whilst watching the brent geese grazing on the marshes, which are some of the last winter visitors to leave for the north, which allows for their breeding grounds to unfreeze, I was called over by some other birders to look across the freshwater marsh where they had picked up a male Garganey on the far side of the marshes but out on the open water. Although distant I could pick out the stunning white eyestripe & it made a sought after life list tick for me. Also as we watched we heard a booming Bittern from near the Fen hide. Continuing to scan the nearer freshwater marsh also revealed several Little Gull, some with blacker heads than others & a site tick. Reluctantly we left these excellent species & continued to head towards the beach & along the way Curlew & Swallow over, & singing Skylark.

Reaching the tidal marshes another birder pointed out a lone Greenshank, there were also a few Redshank & a lone Turnstone swept past heading to the freshwater marshes. Meadow Pipit were also numerous, many singing heartily. A nice surprise were several Little Tern diving into the waters not far from the path. Later I spoke to a warden who said that they have begun to return regularly & that they had attempted to nest, however their favoured sand bank has become too overgrown, but the RSPB are not able to reduce the weeds on that bank because English Nature argue that it would interfer with a natural process, so the rare little terns lose out to the weeds!

On the final stretch of path to the beach, either over or amongst the bushes: Herring Gull, Wren,
Little Egret, Linnet.

Once on the beach Kim & I decided to walk the length of it towards Thornham over a lovely large stretch of mainly deserted beach, & with the weather being so lovely we had great views across to Thornham Harbour & Holme NOA. Along the way several Sandwich Tern & a lone Fulmar skimmed the waves heading towards Brancaster. On the final 'corner' of the beach, which looks across to Thornham, a couple of Ringed Plover on the sand & also a Great-Crested Grebe at sea, then a surprising couple of Sanderling who were coming into their richer breeding plumage prior to heading north.

On the way back I spotted a few Eider on the placid sea: a male & three females. We finally made our way back to the dunes near the reserve & had our lunch, during which amazingly, a Grey Seal popped its head up for a few seconds! It soon submerged & though we watched for a while we didn't see where it came back up. Surely some sort of omen on such an unusually still day?

After lunch I scanned the sea again & was pleased to pick out a close-in female Common Scoter on its own. Just after that I roused Kim & found a bottle with a message buried in the sand. It was a bottle I had planted there though because as Kim opened it up to reveal our earliest correspondence, I asked her to marry me, to which she said yes after overcoming her initial surprise! It was a special moment at a place we both consider to be our favourite spot, with the seal & the still, sunny day making it all the more special, & a day I will never forget.

Heading back, we stopped at the Parrinder Hide & soon picked out a pair of Teal, Lapwing (1), a lone Grey Plover amongst several Dunlin (>10) & a three to four Knot. Also a nearby but brief Bearded Tit, then three male Pochard came out of the reeds on the far side of the scrape (near to where the garganey had initially been). The garganey seen earlier had however moved much closer in allowing excellent views of its intricate & subtle plumage, including a marvellous striped panel on its underside which was really clear in the sunlight as it dabbled about 20 metres away.

Reluctantly leaving the garganey we headed back down the path to the car & saw a Pied Wagtail & a couple of Magpie. We also lingered in the picnic area, taking snaps of a Great Tit feeding on put-out grain on a tree stump & a very tame male Pheasant. I also heard Chiffchaff & a Dunnock also sang from the nearby trees. Finally in a field adjacent to the carpark, a Crow & a couple of Jackdaw were busy foraging.

An amazing day with an equally amazing 64 species seen, with one new species - I think this is a site record.

03/05/2009
Weather: bright, sun but cloudier & windy than yesterday. From 12pm.

After the lovely day we had on the Saturday we felt compelled to go back to the reserve after we checked out of the hotel. We only walked to the Parrinder Hide but saw the following in addition to the those seen the day before: Ruddy Duck on the marsh ponds to the left of the beach path; Starling over; single Ruff foraging on the freshwater marshes; Common Gull & Lesser Black-Backed Gull from the left-hand side of Parrinder as were a few Wigeon & a Bar-Tailed Godwit. Finally a Swift over on the way back to the visitors' centre.

These additonal 9 species brought the 24 hour total up to a fantastic 73!