Weekend highlights include an early morning ring ouzel in the picnic area, a hawfinch near to the fen hide and a couple of stonechats. Roosting marsh harrier numbers are beginning to increase so it is well worth spending an evening on the reserve where you will also witness pink-footed geese flying over, barn owls and short eared owls, if you are lucky possibly a hen harrier. 

The highlights over the past few days have been a single waxwing in the car park, a couple of yellow browed warblers and a brief ring ouzel. 

Today was the monthly WeBS count on the reserve in which we count all the waterbirds. There was an impressive number of teal, almost a reserve record! A couple of yellow browed warblers in the scrub. With rain and a NE wind blowing today and overnight there is every chance of some migrant passerines dropping in on Tuesday. 

This week the reserve team were able to make a start on clearing the vegetation from the freshmarsh islands to ensure they are in top condition for next years breeding season. The vegetation is much thicker than anticipated so it is going to take a couple more days this coming week to get it finished. The good news is that the birds aren't that bothered and the birds are closer to the west bank path for you to see!…

Arriving in the reserve car park this week and you will have been greeted with large numbers of blackbirds, redwings and song thrushes arriving from Scandinavia. Overheard flocks of bramblings, chaffinches and the odd grey wagtail, siskin and redpoll can also be picked out. In the bushes there has been a yellow browed warblers most days. In the evenings the marsh harrier roost is starting to build with 20 birds coming…

The NE winds brought with them the arrival of birds from the continent including a couple of elusive yellow browed warblers. The first woodcock of the winter was spotted in the car park first thing on Monday and a  hen harrier was seen arriving in off the sea. 

The reserve team will be carrying out essential habitat management work on the Freshmarsh this week. They will be out on Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th October. 

Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause 

A seawatch continues to be fruitful with Arctic, Great and Pomarine skua. Coming in off the sea was a rough legged buzzard and a short eared owl. Whilst on the freshmarsh the wildfowl numbers continue to build. 

In September we welcomed Scabz to the reserve team to finish his conservation internship, having spent the past 6 months at Frampton so do say Hi if you are visiting.

The team have continued with the vegetation clearance along the paths at both Titchwell and Snettisham. Hopefully this will be the last time this year as winter begins to roll in.

This time of year we also cut and rake off the vegetation on the fen area…

Weekend sightings include the first snow bunting, long tailed duck and brambling of the autumn. 

Another cracking week at Titchwell with the highlight being an American Golden Plover dropping into Freshmarsh on Thursday and a Purple sandpiper on the beach. On the sea highlights have been Sooty Shearwater and a Sabines gull. 

The 2019 Snettisham tide tables are now available on the website https://bit.ly/2OOkRVm

Alternatively pop into the RSPB Titchwell shop and purchase a paper copy for £1. We do still have paper copies of the 2018 tide tables available in the shop as well to purchase

Due to stock taking, the Titchwell shop will be closing at 1pm on Wednesday 26th September. The rest of the reserve including cafe, toilets, trails will remain open. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. 

As the summer draws to a close, here is a summary of the Titchwell breeding season.

Reedbed

It was a mixed story for birds that breed within the Titchwell reedbed. We were hit with the Beast from the East, followed by a mini Beast from the East. Much of the reedbed was frozen making it difficult for bearded tits and cetti’s warbler to feed. Cetti’s warblers are particularly susceptible to the cold weather, and sadly…

Over the past couple of weeks the reserve has been packed full of birdlife. The car park is full of warblers as they prepare to migrate south for winter. Up to 4 Turtle Doves are feeding on the supplementary seed we haev been putting out for them. Freshmarsh is hooching with a variety of waders including a brief appearance by a red necked phalarope. Over 100 Little Egrets are coming into roost in willow wood. As we head…

September 10^th – 14^th

Hi everyone,

Ben here,

We were carrying out some more repairs on the hides at Titchwell this week. We have reattached the handle to the inside of the door into Fen Hide, so this door is now usable again. We were also fixing up the doors on Island Hide. We had to sand the top of one of the doors, to stop it sticking against the top of the door frame. We also had to reattach both outside handles…

September 3^rd – 7^th

Hi everyone,

Ben here,

We took down the cordon on the beach this week. The upper part of the beach, up towards Titchwell creek, has been cordoned off over the spring to reduce disturbance on the nesting Ringed Plovers and Oystercatchers. Now we are at the end of the breeding season, the cordoned off area has now been re-opened.

We spread some more seed out for the Turtle Doves this week…

August 27^th – 31^st

Hi everyone,

Ben here,

We made some more repairs on the Island Hide walls and windows this week. We are replacing the old chipboard walls, which are starting to rot and effect the operation of the windows, with new ply board. We have started on the right hand side of the hide and will be working our way across the walls throughout the following weeks.

More brushcutting this…

August 20^th – 24^th

Hi everyone,

We carried out some more hide maintenance this week. The latch on one of the doors of Island Hide wasn’t working from the inside, so we have put a new latch on the door. You can now get in and out through both doors. We also gave the hides, their weekly clean.

A bit more vegetation management this week,  cutting the vegetation that was starting to encroach across the boardwalks…

August 13^th – 17^th

Hi everyone,

We were carrying out repairs on the hides this week. The company that designed the windows in the Parrinder hide repaired the broken windows and showed us how to repair and maintain them ourselves. They are much simpler than they look. We also made a start repairing some of the old rotten wall panels in Island Hide.

We carried out some more brushcutting this week, cutting in front…

Weekly Blog

August 6^th – 10^th

Hi everyone,

I’m Sam, from Essex and I’m here volunteering for the week.

At the reserve I accomplished numerous tasks such as; beach visits ( to monitor the seals), cleared roost bank at Snettisham, identifying moths and counting them, rip up exposed material along the paths, covered up the materials we teared up, collected litter, installed posts to track erosion levels…

After weeks of sunshine the rain has started to fall and will help rewet the Freshwater marsh. Evening visits are being very productive at the moment with a few gulls coming into roost and an impressive 79 Little Egrets roosting in Willow Woods. 

Turtle Doves have started to make regular appearances too over this past week. 

Weekly Blog

July 30^th – August 3^rd

Hi everyone,

 Ben Here

We’ve been busy cutting back vegetation all around the reserve this week. We have finished clearing the path edges around the Autumn Trail which, as of the 1^st August, is now open.

The avocet chicks have all hatched now and some have already fledged. The Little-Ringed Plover chick has also hatched on the island just in front of Parrinder Hide so…

Another waderful weekend including the long staying Lesser Yellowlegs, the return of Turtle Doves and a flyby Black Tern