Hunstanton and Titchwell

On Sunday July 12th David and I made two quick stops - at Ouse Washes and Hunstanton - before spending several hours at Titchwell. The Ouse Washes stop, out of season for the reserve's main purpose, was a poor one in part because of the weather, and the stop at Hunstanton was mainly to give us a break. After tea and cake we went to the cliffs for the Northern Fulmars before continuing on our way.

We had three excellent hours at Titchwell with a dozen waders - including Rudd, Greenshank and Spotted Redshank - on the main lagoon and Northern Gannets the beach. As we began to head back to the reserve David spotted a couple of sea ducks. Closer inspection showed that these consisted of a female Common Eider and a Common Scoter!

But the highlight of the day, and a life bird, was a Spotted Crake. We were told about the bird as soon as we arrived, and the bird had emerged from the reeds twice in the day. We finished our visit with a 45 minute stay in the hide before the bird came out and headed around the corner. A stampede of birders from the hide may have pushed the bird deeper into the reeds, but after a short while it emerged giving good views.

Eurasian Robin

Lapwing

We drove from Titchwell to our lodging at the hostel in Sheringham, getting lost as we did the previous year along the coastal road, but getting luck with a Grey Partridge as we did so. Coming around a corner in the road we saw several parked cars and a group of birders watching two Barn Owls hunting in good light.