Welcome to the latest summary of what has been seen at Titchwell this week.
Visitor centre / car park / meadow trail / fen hide
With it still being mild for this time of year many of the woodland and garden birds are finding plenty of food within the scrubs, so are not using the bird feeders as much.
There is the odd brambling near the visitor centre and goldcrests are scattered amongst the trees. A small flock of goldfinches are feeding on top of the alder trees and the odd siskin and lesser redpoll will appear too. A great spotted woodpecker can regularly be heard and seen on the dead trees. A yellow browed warbler was reported on Wednesday morning and a blackcap was on the fen trail.
Reedbed
The winter harrier roost is building with a max count of 21 marsh harriers on the Friday 19 November and there appears to be around three ringtail hen harriers roosting in the surrounding area and can often be spotted across the saltmarsh.
As we progress through November a small number of pochard have returned to the reserve with four on the reedbed pool along with tufted duck, teal and gadwall. A great white egret, bittern and grey herons are regularly being seen along the west bank path.
Bearded tit activity has reduced but a couple of Cetti’s warblers remain vocal.
Freshmarsh
On the Freshmarsh golden plover numbers peaked at about 1200 on Thursday 18 November and about 100 dunlin continue to feed up close on the northwest compartment. The Jack snipe was still present on Friday 19 November and is viewable from the island hide along with two common snipe. Up to 10 avocet continue to be on the Freshmarsh or on tidal marsh and about 100 brent geese are regularly dropping onto the Freshmarsh.
Golden plover - Phill Gwilliam
Beach / Sea
There has been a lovely variety of birds on the sea this week including: Red throated diver, red-breasted mergansers, goldeneyes, great crested grebes and common scoter. On the 15 November a Black-necked grebe was on the sea and a merlin was observed coming in off the sea. The following day there was a Black throated diver and little auk on the sea whilst a woodcock was watched coming in off the sea.
On the beach a wonderful collection of wader species can be seen including Bar-tailed godwit, grey plover, sanderling, dunlin, knot, oystercatchers and curlews. On Friday 19 November a flock of 20+ snow bunting briefly appeared on the beach but soon disappeared again.
A lonely house sparrow remains at the top of the west bank path in the bramble bush and a pair of stonechats can often be seen amongst the sueda bushes.
Report your sightings
If you are visiting why not enter your sightings on to BirdTrack. Your records support species conservation at local, regional, national, and international scales. For more information follow the link https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/birdtrack
We look forward to seeing you soon
Lizzie Bruce
NW Norfolk Reserves Warden