Bar-tailed Godwit at Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk

Sanderling at Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk

Great Knot at Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk

Not a great photo, but the Great Knot can be made out if you look at the bird in the centre of the frame at the front of the main flock (and if you click on the image). This represents only the fifth record of this species in the U.K., a bird that breeds in North East Siberia and overwinters in Australia, so goodness knows what it is doing in Norfolk!

This bird has been present at Titchwell in North Norfolk for almost a week now and tonight was the third visit that I have paid to the site, with the previous two drawing blanks in the way of sightings. Tonight was different with the bird present on the fresh marsh with a large flock of Knot. Always distant and most of the time with its' bill firmly tucked under its' wing, but on the rare occasion it moved the assembled masses were treated to okay views of this rare wader from the East.

Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwit, a comparison

Two fairly common birds on the north Norfolk coast at this time of year are the Bar-tailed Godwit (photos above) and the Black-tailed Godwit (photos below). Superficially similar, in the fact that they both have long legs, long bills and are brown/grey, but are easily told apart, especially when seen together. The 'Barwit' is a smaller, more chunky looking bird, with shorter legs, an upturned bill and a distinct supercilium in its' winter plumage. The 'Blackwit' is a larger bird with an unfathomably long, straight bill, longer legs and a shorter, less distinct supercilium.

Richardson's Canada Goose

This post may cause a few cross words aimed at yours truly, indeed I have already had some words passed to me on other sites, but I will still go ahead and post it.

A small goose has been present on the Norfolk coast since November, a bird that courts controversy when it appears in this country, especially the south half. This bird is the Lesser Canada Goose, or to be more precise, the Richardson's sub-species of Lesser Canada Goose, Branta hutchinsii hutchinsii. This bird has recently been split from its larger cousin, the Greater Canada Goose (or just Canada Goose to you and me), something I was unaware of and so I hadn't bothered going to see the bird in Norfolk as I didn't think that it was a viable tick. After looking through a few websites and books I discovered the split and after a conversation with Chris Orders, decided to make the trip.

All seems fine, so far. The reason for the controversy is that the Lesser Canada Goose is a pretty rare wild bird in this country, most accepted records are in Scotland, although there has been one in Norfolk in 1999, but is a bird that is kept in wildfowl collections and sometimes escapes. We were worried that this bird wasn't wild, but Chris spoke to a friend who is 'up' on this sort of thing who said that the bird was showing good credentials, so we thought, what the hell.

We arrived at the birds preferred area, but no Richardson's/Lesser Canada Goose, great, another wild goose chase! After two hours of walking along some rather unforgiving shingle we decided to drive back towards Cley to see if we could see any 'little' geese. We stopped in a laybay and scanned a flock of Brent Geese, no Richardson's. A person we had met previously saw us looking and pulled over to tell us that there were several birders looking at a flock of Brents and Canada Geese on the East Bank, very kind of him, so we went there. On arrival several birders were on the little blighter and so we got our first view. A small goose, about two-thirds of the size of a Canada Goose, with a shorter bill, steep forehead and 'flat' appearance of the top of the head. The breast is also slightly darker. We walked along the bank to see if we could get any nearer for some shots, with the geese always moving that bit further away in front of us, they seemed pretty jumpy. Chris digiscoped, I took some with my camera at full zoom and tried a bit of digiscoping, but mine were all rubbish. The results are below.

 My efforts are above, which hopefully show the goose well. The smaller bird in the top two photos with the bottom photo showing the bird with its wings open.

Chris's digiscoped shot shows the bird far better.

copyright Chris Orders

Lots of birders were there looking at this bird, all happy in 'ticking' it as a wild bird. I think the debate will carry on as to whether it is a wild bird or not, with the final say going to the BOU. An interesting article about this bird and other Lesser Canada Geese can be found HERE, just scroll down to the section referring to this bird, you may find it interesting reading. Whatever the outcome, it was good to see the bird and until otherwise notified, it's on my list! (Sorry if this offends anyone) A short video (using my camera) of the bird swimming is below.

Whilst we were in Norfolk we visited Titchwell, although on a windy, cold day with squally showers, it wasn't the greatest place on earth. We saw a rather strange Golden Plover amongst the flock, almost completely white and an adult Yellow-legged Gull, but other than that, just the normal waders and Marsh Harriers.

copyright Chris Orders

We left whilst being treated to a lovely sunset.

copyright Chris Orders

A Godwit and a Redshank

A couple of obliging waders in their winter 'drabness' from my recent trip to the Norfolk coast. The birds seem a lot more 'confiding' at Titchwell than they do at other sites. Redshank normally fly off at the slightest hint of anything and Godwits tend to follow pretty quickly, but here they were quite happy feeding quite closely to the coast path.

Black-tailed Godwit (again)

Just a few more shots of an obliging Black-tailed Godwit at Titchwell RSPB that I have just got around to looking at. I like the last one with him having a scratch!

Get Knotted

If you visit North Norfolk at this time of year you are more than likely going to see some Knot, thousands of them. So, it was unusual to see this individual on the beach at Titchwell. It seemed unaware of my presence and just continued feeding all on his own!

This birds` full name is Red Knot as in its` breeding finery its` plumage is a lovely red colour. You do sometimes get to see these birds in their red dress just before they fly to their breeding grounds in May and when they first arrive back in August, but the more common appearance is this grey colouration.

Titchwell Turnstones

Turnstones seem to be extremely confiding birds. On my recent trip to Titchwell RSPB there were hundreds of these birds on the beach, picking their way through the flotsam and jetsam that had been washed up by the recent storms. Some were having a snooze as well! They allowed you to get extremely close and weren`t at all bothered by your presence.

Snow White

Black-tailed Godwit

Another set of `digiscoped` images from my recent trip to north Norfolk of which I am quite pleased.

I don`t know whether it is the large number of visitors that Titchwell has that makes the birds quite relaxed, but you are able to get quite close without seeming to disturb them. This lends itself to being able to get half-decent shots like the ones above.

Grey Plover

The Grey Plover is a bird that breeds in the Arctic with adults leaving here in July and August and migrating south. The birds start to arrive on our shores in July with juveniles arriving a month later. They spend the winter on the coasts of Europe, Africa, southern Asia, North and South America and Australia and are capable of flying 6,500 km non-stop.

The bird is known in America as the Black-bellied Plover due to having a stunning black belly in its breeding finery, the pictures below are of a bird in its winter plumage, so not quite as fine. These birds spend the winter months all around the coast of Britain, especially The Wash in East Anglia and will start to migrate north in May. Recently the winter population in Britain has increased with as many as 53,000 birds being present.

The bird below was present at Titchwell RSPB in Norfolk a few weeks back and was surprisingly approachable which lent itself to me being able to get these digiscoped images.