This week at Titchwell the avocet chick explosion continues, black headed gull chicks appear and an escaped Harris Hawk has taken up residence around the visitor centre.
Reedbed / east trail
Three great white egrets are a daily occurrence unlike the bitterns which remain scarce though one was seen regularly on Wednesday 1 June.
Bearded tits are fledging their first broods of the year but continue to be not that easy to see. Harder to see but easier to hear are the rhythmic singing reed warblers and the blast of the cetti’s warbler. Another elusive warbler is the grasshopper warbler that continues to reel on the East trail and on Thornham marsh.
Birds over the reedbed include hobby, red kite, and cuckoos. A turtle dove was seen briefly on the 29 May.
Bearded tit, Phill Gwilliams
Freshmarsh
Avocets are dominating the Freshmarsh with a bonanza of chicks hatching. The parents are quite aggressive attacking anything that comes close from linnets to marsh harriers.
Four little gulls were present throughout the weekend. Little terns and sandwich terns regularly drop in and there are three pairs of common tern nesting on the new islands.
Other waders of note include dunlin, turnstone, redshank, black-tailed godwit, lapwing, little ringed plover and ringed plover.
During the past week there has been large numbers of swift darting low across the reserve with the odd sand martin, swallow and house martin mixed amongst them.
Avocet chick, Phill Gwilliam
Beach and sea
On the sea this week there has been common scoters, little terns, common terns and sandwich terns. A Sunday bonus was a sooty shearwater flying west.
On the beach we have seen a few more oystercatchers nesting, and another ringed plover has a nest.
Along the tideline there has been grey plover, sanderling, dunlin and bar-tailed godwits. On the low tides, spoonbills have been observed feeding on the mussel beds.
In the dunes there are lots of skylarks, linnets and meadow pipits and across the saltmarsh a peregrine is a regular feature.
Swift, Phill Gwilliam