A final day and the routine was much the same as there was nothing to go dashing around for.
I started with a walk to Warham Greens again along Stiffkey marshes. Today's camera drama was that my camera strap broke. Finally, the buckle has corroded through, luckily the camera was on the car seat when I picked up the strap so no damage, but slightly annoying.
Anyway the birds were fairly active first thing with a Greenshank on the marsh with the Brent Geese, Whimbrel and a single Spoonbill. I counted 12 singing Whitethroat territories on the mile or so down to Garden Drove also 4 Leseer Whitethroat, 2 WillowWarbler, 2 Blackcap , 1 Whinchat and 1 Garden Warbler. A Ring Ouzel shot past calling away and a commotion in the trees where a Tawny Owl was flushed a few times from the onslaught of Great Tits and Blackbirds. A pair of Grey Partridge were flushed from the path and plenty of the more numerous Red-legged cousins were around.
After breakfast I went back to Titchwell, if nothing else it did seem to hold the most quantity of birds of all the marshes on the coast. At least 8 Red-crested Pochard were on the Fen pool and there was a Turtle Dove purring away near the Fen hide. The Black-headed Gull colony was very, with the 2 or 3 pairs of Mediterranean Gulls visible. The freshmarsh had a couple of Little Terns with the Common Terns 3 Common Sandpiper, a single Ruff and a Whimbrel. The sea had the large flock of Common Scoter, but I couldn't find any Velvets, a couple of Kittiwake flew past with the Sandwich Terns offshore and a small number of Sanderling were on the beach.
I drove around the lanes near Choseley, checking the fields but only found Corn Bunting and more Red-legged Partridge.
I headed to Cley Spy after lunch to see if there was a solution to my Camera strap problem. They very kindly let me have an old single strap, not a long term fix but good enough for a temporary over-the-shoulder one.
I finished up at Coastguards near Cley, walking along the beach. A few Wheatear were on the shingle and the herd of cows in the Eye-field were being followed by a few Yellow Wagtails. I put the scope up and found a male Blue-headed Wagtail in with them. After a short-while they took flight and headed towards Blakeney there were 10 birds.
A final pub meal and then back home.
A very good trip, with slightly mixed weather, expected this time of year, with a good number of birds, probably 140 species. The waders were a bit thin on the ground although I did see Black-winged Stilt and Dotterel but there was a good selection overall.
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| Whinchat |
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Gardne Drove - Warham Greens
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slightly overgrown
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Avocets
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| Every small piece of water seems to hold a pair. |
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