Titchwell 25/02/11

Working hard on the patch (or east coast come migration) heralds obvious rewards, but sometimes it is good to see a lot of birds. Plus, I had not yet visited Titchwell's newest hide, a behemoth, a blockbuster amongst hides I would say.

It did not take long to catch up with the Northern Harrier, hunting low and easy to miss, over the marsh in the direction of Thornham. Looked very dark on top, orange below, but at some distance. Just to confuse things, a Hen Harrier hunted roughly the same area a little later on that morning; due to lack of communication the two did not hunt side by side.

From the new hide, I watched 43 Twite feeding with a few Skylark. My notes read: one with pink ring, one with 2 orange rings. Not sure what that means, yet. I also saw a Spotted Redshank from here.

Right place right time on the beach; 2 Snow Bunting zipped over my head. Out at sea, a very flighty Scoter flock allowed me to lock onto a single Velvet Scoter. As you would, I called this to the small group next to me, they grunted. As you do. Also at sea were a pair of Red Breasted Merganser and a smattering of Goldeneye. A Sanderling was brave, scuttling towards the assembled sea watchers before veering away on seeing my new camera unveiled.

Cracking views of ducks on the way back to the centre: Pintail, Goldeneye, Shovelor, Gadwall and a female Smew, asleep.

Finished the day at Thornham, hoping for a better look at the Harrier, but I was not able to stay too long, since I had another 30 minute meal to concoct, which unsuprisingly took more than 30 minutes.

Last night, I had been on the ale, but I'm fairly sure I heard 2+ Whooper Swan calling over the house in Norwich. Proving there is something in this, Debs informs me she saw 3 Swans flying over the city this morning around 8.30am, which looked a little small for Mute Swans. Interesting, and a good excuse to head to the pub of an evening.

Making use of the new camera, some shots from today:

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Grey Phalarope- a new patch bird

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Notes from the valley

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