August is often a quiet month for birdwatchers, as they often divert to other wildlife watching, particularly butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies. However, the poor weather that dominated July continued into the beginning of August,which meant our visitors continued to focus on the birds,especially sea birds that the windy weather brought closer to shore. Many visitors were delighted in sightings of Spoonbills which we presume had mainly come from the breeding colony at Holkham, but some will be Dutch birds that fly across the North Sea, post-breeding. As the month progressed, we had some better weather, which brought us more visitors who delighted in sightings of our Bearded Tits, and meant that they also came into the Visitor Centre to tell us about what they had seen.
Car Park, Visitor Centre, Woodland and Picnic Area
A Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen around the Visitor Centre on 4th whilst a Cetti’s Warbler was seen here on 6th. Meanwhile Lesser Whitethroats which are often hard to see, were spotted in the car park on several dates between 6th and 22nd whilst a Treecreeper was reported here on 8th. Other sightings from the car park included a Green Woodpecker on 14th, a Pied Flycatcher on 20th (left, Tim Stowe) and a Bullfinch on 22nd. Bullfinches are often seen here but hardly ever get reported to us in the Visitor Centre.
Reedbed
Bearded Tits continued to be seen throughout the month and delighted many of our visitors with their feeding flights to their young, dashing through the tops of the reeds, ‘pinging’ as they went! A Swift was noted flying over the reedbed on 15th and a Kingfisher was noted here on 16th.
Freshmarsh
A few Mediterranean Gulls continued to be seen throughout the month. Spotted Redshanks are now harder to identify by some our visitors, as they lose their glorious summer plumage, but were seen by our staff and volunteers intermittently on the Freshmarsh and Volunteer Marsh throughout the month. A keen volunteer who often visits late in the day noted 10 Yellow-legged Gulls and a Caspian Gull one evening as well as 10 Spoonbills,Greenshank and a Whimbrel on 2nd.
Yellow Wagtails are a joy to see flitting around and could be seen on the reserve on 3rd, 4th,12th and 22nd (right, Phill Gwilliam), along with a Grey Wagtail on 4th.
A Common Sandpiper was visible for most of the month on the Freshmarsh and was joined on 6th by a Green Sandpiper and a Curlew Sandpiper on 16th. The Sandpiper theme was complemented by a Wood Sandpiper on 17th, 22nd and 26th.
A WeBS count was conducted on 7th which included 350 Golden Plover (dropping to 220+ on 13th and 100 by the 23rd) 13 Spoonbills and 300 Black-tailed Godwits falling to 200+ by the 12th. Other notable birds included a Great White Egret on 10th, a Little Ringed Plover on 12th and a Little Stint on 23rd. One of our keen early-morning members of staff counted over 1000 Starlings coming out of roost at 5.30am. It must have been quite a sight! He also counted 300 coming out of roost on 29th too!
The excitement for the very keen listers who enjoy seeing the rarer birds, was the arrival of an American Golden Plover. It had been reported several times by visitors to a member of staff working in the Welcome Hub but only as a possible flyover. A few days later another member of staff thought he had the bird flyover on 10th.However it was not confirmed until 21st when it settled on the Freshmarsh along with the flock of Golden Plovers, delighting many visiting birdwatchers and other visitors alike. It remained until the month’s end.
Curlew Sandpipers are always a good addition to the birdwatcher’s year list and 2 were reported on the Freshmarsh on 31st.
Marsh Harriers continued to be noted throughout the Month but are not seen so frequently once breeding has finished.
Below images, from top to bottom: Common Sandpiper (Tony Gray), Green Sandpiper (Phill Gwilliam), Curlew Sandpiper (Cliff Gilbert), Wood Sandpiper (Phill Gwilliam):
Volunteer Marsh
A Spotted Redshank was reported here on 30th.
Tidal Pool
Whimbrel were reported form the pool for most of the month with a maximum count of 15 on 23rd. Greenshank were also seen here on 14th,21st and 23rd along with a Green Sandpiper on 24th and a Wood Sandpiper on 27th. An unusual sighting here occurred on 23rd when a Kingfisher put in an appearance here with 2 being reported on 30th.
Beach and Sea
The windy weather brought 4 Manx Shearwater close to shore on 1st with another on 4th. Arctic Skuas were seen on 2nd, 3rd, 5th,6th, 22nd, 23rd, 30th and 31st, with a maximum count of 15. A count of 32 Kittiwakes took place on 4th which also noted a Great Crested Grebe, 2 Guillemots and several Gannets. A large movement of Little Tern took place on 3rd with more seen on 8th. A Hobby was noted over the beach on 8th. A large count of 50 Razorbills took place on 13th. A Whimbrel was seen on 14thdown on the beach as a Peregrine flew over. A Great White Egret was seen on 15th.A Greenshank was noted here on 16th. The 18th produced a Whinchat and a Turtle Dove in the dunes. A few Black Terns were seen along the coastline and Titchwell also had sightings on 20th and 23rd. A member of staff was showing a visitor an Arctic Skua chasing a gull when he noted that it looked a bit different to the usual gulls we expect to see here. He soon realised he was watching a juvenile Sabine’s Gull! A Great Skua was also seen on that day. On 31st a Red-throated Diver was seen on the sea along with a Kittiwake, 30 or more Gannets, Fulmar, Razorbill, Guillemot, Common Scoter and a Common Tern.
Other birds of interest included 6 Stonechat in the dunes on 23rd, 300 Linnet at the end of the West Bank Path and 23 Common Scoter out at sea on 27th.
Fen Trail
A Treecreeper was seen around the trail on 6th and a Kingfisher was seen from Fen Hide on two dates 14th and 21st respectively.
Meadow Trail
A volunteer was lucky enough to see a Spotted Flycatcher along the trail near the West Bank Path on 21st.
East Trail, Patsy’s Pool, Old Tank Road area
Turtle Dove sightings have been less this month with reports near the Old Tank Road only reported on 8th and 14th. Patsy’s Pool produced a Little Grebe sighting feeding a chick on 11th as well as 11 Pochard counted that day. There was a Bittern sighting on 14th. A volunteer and a member of staff noted a Caspian Gull on Patsy’s Pool on 24th.
Willow Wood
A Green Woodpecker which is unusual for Titchwell, was seen on 6thin the wood and, lucky for some, an Osprey was seen flying over the wood on 23rd.
Grazing Meadow
Short-eared Owls always evoke happy feelings when they are seen and one on 1st and another on 21st certainly made our visitors happy.A bit later in the year than expected, a Grasshopper Warbler was heard reeling on 3rd, 4th and 13th. The 4th also produced 4 Whimbrel here.
The Grazing Meadow gives the keener birders a chance to look for birds that might be sitting along hedgelines or on top of scrub and thistles at this time of year. It is always nice when the rewards come in the shape of a few Stonechats. They were noted on 8th, 9th,15th,17th and 19th. The 11th produced a Peregrine hunting over the area and a Turtle Dove was seen in flight here on 11th.
Thornham Marsh
A Spoonbill was seen on a pool on the marsh on 1st and a day later a Wood Sandpiper was on one of the pools on 2nd. By 4th there were 3 Green Sandpipers and 2 Greenshank there too which rose to 6 Greenshank on 31st. Another Greenshank was reported here on 30th. A Common Sandpiper was also noted on 6th.
Thornham Point
An Arctic Skua was seen at the point on 8th.
Paddock
A Green Woodpecker was seen in the horse paddock on 16th.
Flyovers
A good selection of birds were seen flying over the reserve this month, They included: 3 Ravens on 1st, a Greenshank on 3rd and 8th, a Hobby on 3rd, 6th and 31st. A magnificent 86 Whimbrel were seen by a visitor on 7th. There were 15 Spoonbills on 6th and another 12 on 8th. A Turtle Dove flew over on 6th and a Green Sandpiper on 8th. A Peregrine was seen flying over on 31st
Other Wildlife
A Wasp Spider (right, Cliff Gilbert) was seen on 1st and 12th but numbers rapidly increased when 36 specimens were seen on 17th along the Parrinder Bank and West Bank path by a couple of the volunteers. Another count on 31st produced 21 specimens along the West Bank Path. However, our warden surpassed this number when he counted 87 Wasp Spiders at Thornham Point on 18th.
Butterflies were noted on one of the sunny days on 12th that included: Red Admiral, Gatekeeper, Brimstone, Peacock, Small Skipper, Large White and Wall Brown. A Hummingbird Hawkmoth was seen on 14th along the Parrinder path.
by Sue Bryan.