A brief visit out to Pugneys CP, just for a chill out time, take the camera out see what I could capture. Gates open at 9am, and it’s a pay and display car park, I’d forget, coins were at home, luckily I found £2 in the car, phew.
Out on the main lake, Great Crested Grebes, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mallard, plenty of Coot and Black headed Gull with a few Herring and Common Gulls.
Near the jetty were Mallards, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull and a few Pied Wagtails, a bunch of Sand and House Martins, there were Mute Swans and Canada Geese chilling on the main lake.
I grapped the camera and spent sometime taking photos of the Wagtails, spending about an hour, over 500 pics, here’s a few of my favourite ones.
Where to go on my journey back home, after much deliberation I chose Eyebrook Res, mainly due to the wader reports coming from there and its a place I hadn’t been to in numerous years, so Eyebrook it was.
I parked in the Eyebrook Smokers Corner Car Park from here you walk along the road that runs parallel with the reservoir, there’s a grass verge from which you can view the reservoir from in safety.
I made my way down to the inlet area where the mud was exposed, stopping at various places on the way down, seeing Gadwall, Great White Egret and Little Egret.
At the inlet various waders were seen, these being Common Snipe, Ruff, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Black tailed Godwit. Whilst here I had a brief look over the fields nearby and picked up on a pair of Yellowhammers along one of the hedgerows, also had Red kite and Raven.
Making my way back to the car I picked up on Great Spotted Woodpecker and a few House Martins which were passing thru and a Linnet in one of the bushes on the reservoirs edge.
Out on the reservoir were Cormorants and Black headed Gulls and a single Common Tern was on one of the rafts, nearly time for me to go but my last bird here would be a immature Little Gull giving me a great ending to my days away
Birds : Black headed Gull, Black tailed Godwit, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Common Tern, Coot, Cormorant, Dunlin, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great White Egret, Greylag Goose, House Martin, jackdaw, Lesser Black backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Gull, Long tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Pintail, Raven, Red Kite, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Shelduck, Shoveler, Snipe, Teal, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer (36)
Back to Titchwell, well I like the place, and I could so I did. The days weather looked good, the plan was then to head down to the beach first, come back for dinner then hopefully head out for Dragonflies.
I headed towards the beach, Golden Plover were still around in good numbers, still on the banking of the fresh marsh. I sat down again on one of the benches and set about scoping the marsh. A Sparrowhawk was picked up at the far side of the marsh, happily sitting on a fence, a Wheatear was nearby, but yesterdays Little Stint was nowhere to be seen, still plenty of Black tailed Godwits on the scene with Lapwings a few Pied Wagtails, Ruff, Redshanks, Dunlins, Avocet and a couple of Curlew Sandpipers with a Cetti’s Warbler calling nearby.
Down on the beach were Sanderling, Turnstone, Bar tailed Godwits, Oystercatchers, Curlew and a large flock of terns over the sea, not being good at terns at a distance, I presumed Arctic.
Back at the visitor centre, with the day warming up I came across a couple of damselflies and to my surprise I made them out to be Willow Emerald Damselflies, a few males, I wasn’t expecting that, I hung around taking photos with people asking what they were etc.
After dinner camera in hand, scope now put away, I was out hunting dragonflies around the meadow trial, it wasn’t long before I found Common Darters along the boardwalks, a favourite place for this species. Moving on I found a few more Willow Emeralds, and took a lot of photos, even finding a pair egg laying in one of the nearby trees, which is unique to this species, unlike many Damselflies which lay into submerged vegetation, there was also a few Migrant Hawkers about, these were the only dragonflies I saw, it was great however to get great views of Willow Emeralds this time.
At the far end of the reserve I managed to pick up on a few House Martins going thru, and on the nearby marsh area were Gadwall, Shoveler, Little Grebes, Mute Swans and Pochard.
To bring the day to a close I went back to the bench near the freshwater marsh to spend some last moments, scoping the marsh once again, I saw Marsh Harriers, Spoonbill, Little and Great White Egrets,Grey Herons in the fading light, an ending to a great day.
Birds List : Avocet, Bar tailed Godwit, Black headed Gull, Black tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Cetti’s Warbler, Collard Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Gadwall, Golden Plover, Great Black backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Great White Egret, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Martin, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Marsh Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied wagtail, Pochard, Redshank, Robin, Ruff, Sanderling, Shelduck, Shoveler, Sparrowhawk, Spoonbill, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Turnstone, Wheatear, Woodpigeon, Wren (54)
Dragonflies : Common Darter, Migrant Hawker, Willow Emerald Damselfly (3)
Today was going to be a day at Titchwell RSPB site on the North Norfolk Coast, about an hour from the Bed and Breakfast I was stopping at in Thetford, Acer Lodge (reviews can be seen on Trip Advisor HERE).
Arrived at Titchwell at about 9:30am, when I had got myself together I headed out to the reserve, saw a Common Darter at the visitor centre feeders. On the footpath down to the beach I found a Wall Butterfly, on the banking, enjoying the sun we were having at the moment. i found one of the footpath benches vacant so I settled in, giving me good views overlooking the marsh. Nearby was a good size flock of Golden Plover numbering hundreds of birds in various transition of plumage into their winter colours. Other birds seen from here were Little Stint, Avocets, Black tailed Godwits, Black headed Gulls, Dunlin, Ruff, and Redshank, also good numbers of noisy Greylag Geese with smaller numbers of Canada Geese.
On then to the Parinder Hide, stopping outside to the left hand side so I could over look the far side of the marsh, highlights were Grey Heron, Swallow, Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Pintail, and Pied Wagtail. From the inside of the back to where I was over looking from the path I managed to pick up the Little Stint again, it then started raining, which lasted about 15mins, after which I went for dinner.
After dinner I headed down to the beach, the tide was out, where I saw Oystercatchers, Bar tailed Godwits, Turnstones, Curlew, Little egret, Great White Egret, and Ringed Plovers, nothing on the sea after much scanning, but a Wheatear on the beach was a nice surprise.
Back at the Parinder Hide the Little Stint was still hanging around along with Snipe, Pintail, and also a fly thro flock of seven Bar tailed Godwits.
After a little break, toilet stop, I came back and plonked myself down on one of the many benches overlooking the marsh, mainly to watch the Golden Plovers but was fortunate to see a Spoonbill come in, but was soon off again heading east and out of sight, only to return, or a different one, flying over the freshwater marsh and heading out to Thornham, another highlight was a pair of Marsh Harriers.
News of a probable Redstart near the saltmarsh had me heading back towards the beach, whilst watching the area I did see a bird but didn’t get satisfactory views to say it was a redstart, however I did see a female Stonechat along with seven Grey Plovers.
I decided on having a last look down on the beach, since I was close, the tide was now in. Running up and down the tide line were Ringed Plovers, Knot, Dunlin and Sanderlings, I enjoyed the moment of watching these birds close by and also took a few photos.
Time had passed it was now 6:30pm, nine hours had flown by whilst I’d been on site, I had enjoyed every minute. On my way back to the car park I sat down near the Island hide and after a while caught up with Bearded Tit, I think now was the time to leave and find a meal.
Bird List : Bar tailed Godwit, Bearded Tit, Blackbird, Black headed Gull, Black tailed Godwit, Canada Goose, Cettis Warbler, Common Sandpiper, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew sandpiper, Dunlin. Gadwall, Golden Plover, Great Black backed Gull, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Grey Plover, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, Kestrel, Knot, lapwing, Little Stint, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Robin, Ruff, Sanderling, Shelduck, Shoveler, Spoonbill, Starling, Stonechat, Swallow, Turnstone, Wheatear, Woodpigeon (47)
A few days birding away in good old Norfolk, first port of call on the way down would be RSPB Frampton. Arriving at 8:30am to better weather than what I was getting on the way down. Cattle Egret was the first birds of the day, distant in and amongst the cattle.
Did a bit of watching around the visitor centre as I was making my way down to the Reedbed Hide, here I found Common Snipe, along with a few Curlew Sandpiper, a few Swallow and Sand Martin overhead, Avocet, Lapwing, Black tailed Godwit feeding on the mud banks.
Reedbed hide was empty of people, but the mud banks had plenty of waders on, I started to look thru. Lots of Curlew Sandpipers in small groups, I’ve never seen so many, Little Stints were numerous too, plenty of Black tailed Godwit, I picked out an eclipse Pintail, with Mallard , and Teal.
Moved on then to the 360 hide, hopefully pick up the Pectoral Sandpiper, much scanning revealed, Dunlin, Ringed Plover Ruff, Pied Wagtail but no Pectoral Sandpiper. I decided on making my way back for dinner stopping at the hump near the reedbed hide, all the birds went up, after scanning I found a female Peregrine playing havoc over the marsh, she left after about 5 mins.
After dinner back at the car I had another look around the visitor centre again, this time picking up Greenshank and a Green Sandpiper. I had a walk then down towards the sea bank and picked up a couple of Little Ringed Plover.
I made my back to the reedbed hide in the hope of the Pectoral Sandpiper, but despite the rising tide now, there was nothing new to be found. It was getting late by now, I still needed to hunt some tea and get to the bed and breakfast lodges, I’m decided on one last attempt at the 360 hide, scanned the waders, Ruff, Dunlin, Spotted Redshank, Redshank, Ringed Plover and a Common Sandpiper but no Pectoral Sandpiper. I was just about to leave when the warden came in asking if I’d seen the Pectoral Sandpiper, no I hadn’t, well he pointed it out to me where it was , down on the left side hiding behind the reeds, a couple of mins of waiting and it finally Pectoral Sandpiper was in the bag.
Bird List : Avocet, Black headed Gull, Black tailed Godwit, Canada Goose, Cattle Egret, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Dunlin, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Greylag Goose, Lapwing, Lesser black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Grebe, Little Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pectoral Sandpiper, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Redshank, reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Sand Martin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Snipe, Spotted Redshank, Starling, Swallow, Teal, Wigeon.
Huddsbirder 