Norfolk Coast Birding Trip - Part Two Titchwell to Holkham and Brancaster Staithe to Cley

Titchwell to Holkham and Brancaster Staithe to Cley

Tuesday 12 September I left Diglea Campsite at 8am and drove 12 miles North East along the coast to RSPB Titchwell.  Although there are no allocated spaces for Motorhomes, thankfully there's no height barrier and my Campervan is only 6m long, so I managed to park easily in one of the car parking spaces.

The weather was fine and the car park quickly filled up, people were obviously keen to get back outside after a showery and blustery day on Monday.  The first thing that struck me was the amount of dog walkers.  As the week progressed I soon realised the attraction of RSPB Titchwell to dog walkers - much of the Norfolk coastline is muddy or marshy.  At Titchwell the main path through the reserve is hard surfaced and leads straight from the car park to the white sandy beach.  There are nice views of the lagoons and benches well positioned along the way, there's even a nice cafe at the visitor centre to grab a coffee and cake after your walk, or picnic benches for those wishing to bring their own.   It's actually a very attractive and easy place to take a walk.  The parking is free to members displaying a membership card in the window and £5 to non-members. 

All that aside, the birding there is great.  Initially I chose to take the quieter 'Meadow' path South which leads to a large lagoon where a few Pochards, Gadwall, Little Grebes, Tufted Ducks, Shelduck and Mallards could be seen quite close to the viewing screen.  Swallows, Martins and Terns swooped over the lagoon and as I looked to the skies a Hobby flew from the South across the lagoon, had a quick fruitless tussle with a Martin and flew away almost as quickly as it appeared.  I missed the 'action' shot, but I managed a quick photo before it disappeared out of site.

Hobby

I was a little disappointed that this path just stopped after a short way at the side of the lagoon.  The sign talked about the habitat being suited to Bearded Tits and encouraged the walker to explore the lagoon side path - but the path didn't go very far.  So I returned to join the hoards along the single main path through the reserve.  The path gives great views of the surrounding marshes and it wasn't long before I saw 3 distant Marsh Harriers, one of which was a stunning male - a first for me.

Male Marsh Harrier

A short way along the path is the Island hide, which was buzzing with birders and looks out onto a shallow lagoon, which is mostly wet muds - perfect for waders and they clearly loved it!  A number of Ruff were ridiculously close to the hide.  

Ruff

Further out in the waters were Avocets, Godwits, Dunlin and Redshank.  A couple of Golden Plover were roosting on a spit in the middle of the lagoon with some Bar-tailed Godwits.  But the big excitement were 2 Little Stint which flew in just as I arrived.  They remained quite distant and very mobile but I managed a few distant photographs

Little Stint

Further out on the beach there were a number of birders with scopes sea-watching and I felt tempted to join them, but the wind was still very strong and I had left my scope in the van, so I only managed about 10 minutes before feeling the urge to move on.  In that time I managed a couple of Great Crested Grebes on the sea and a small flock of Common Scoters flying past.  Oh and the ever-present Sandwich Terns were screaching over-head.  On the return walk a couple of Bearded Tits flew right across my path from one reed bed to another and they disappeared deep into the reeds out of sight.  I lingered here for another 15 minutes or so, I heard one single 'Ping' but that was it, no evidence of a Bearded Tit again, much to my disappointment.

By early afternoon I was on my way along the coast again, to Holkham Estate. I had read that the deciduous trees on the sheltered side of Holkham Pines can be good for migrants in September.  Well the winds weren't in my favour for this, being Westerly and the only migrant I saw was a Chiffchaff!  

The path to the North leads to a couple of hides and takes you eventually out to the sand dunes and onto the wide sandy beach.  I met a couple of birders in the first hide who pointed out to me through the scope, the first Pink Footed Geese of the year which they'd recorded feeding in one of the fields near the coast road, some distance from the hide - a nice sighting for me too.  The rest of my walk around the area and out onto the beach was a quiet one.  Plenty of dog walkers and dogs running loose all over the place, horse riders too, but apart from a flock of Linnets and the odd Skylark, the only other bird worthy of mention was this delightful Wheatear, in moult. 

Northern Wheatear

The parking at Holkham is a bit pricey and I'd only paid for 2 hours, so I never made it to the furthest hide where I'm told Spoonbills breed. Holkham is quite nice but I think it was the wrong time of year for birds, either that or too many loose dogs maybe.

My campsite for the night was to be my home for the next 3 nights as it was just so perfect in every way  Deepdale Backpackers Hostel and Campsite.  Open only to backpackers, tents and motorhomes (no caravans) this is a very quiet place used mainly by those walking the coast path and enjoying the amazing wildlife and nature in the vicinity. The facilities are superb and the new shower block offers huge fully equipped wetrooms.  The adjacent foodstore and row of pop-up shops had a kind of up-market Farmshop feel about it and the two local pubs offered both a superb restaurant over-looking the salt marshes and coast; and a more relaxed pizza-style pub, both within walking distance.  The customer service and attention from the staff in the campsite reception is superb and not once did I feel alone or insecure at this campsite, I will definitely stay here again and it is now my favourite campsite in the UK.

From the campsite it is a short walk across the road to the Norfolk coast path and a mile to the North is the National Trust fishing port of Brancaster Staithe, which is an interesting site, but is also where Curlews, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Turnstone and Gulls enjoy the extensive and very slippery(!!!) muds.  All of these can be seen at fairly close quarters. Marsh Harriers were also common here and I witnessed the odd Spoonbill flyover.  I spent each evening walking this part of the coast path and coming back covered in sticky mud as a result of my attempts to photograph some of these birds.  Luckily the campsite is well equipped with outside showers for muddy walkers!

Curlew in the sunset

Spoonbill flyover

Common Gull

Another attraction of staying at Deepdale is its' fairly close proximity to Norfolk Wildlife Trust Cley Marshes.  On the morning of 13 September the Westerly winds were blowing at around 70 mph but I had my heart set on visiting Cley and hopefully seeing the Pectoral Sandpiper which had been there for a few days.  I arrived at the reserve car park at 8.30am and was the only vehicle in the visitors' car park!  The visitor centre doesn't open until 10am and it's a ticket-only reserve but I met a member of staff - 'Gary' who at first told me I was a bit mad to go out in these winds, but also told me to go ahead and pay when I got back.

I walked (or battled against the wind would be a better description as it was really difficult to remain standing up!) down to the very exposed East Bank where the sandpiper had previously been sighted and after scanning the first pool on my right I was delighted to glimpse the delightful bird feeding in the muds among the Ruff.  The sun was against me and the winds made it almost impossible to hold the camera still, even the binoculars became challenging.  So the only option was to sit down on the ground, raise my knees and hold the camera firmly against them to try and get a few shots.  Having taken sufficient photos to have a good record of the sighting I moved on further down the East Bank to the first hide which looked out onto a larger pool full of Grey Lag Geese, Teal and common waders.  At this point I decided to give in to the wind and return to one of the hides nearer the Visitor Centre. Again, there was a variety of common waders but they were quite a long way from the hide and a couple of birders said the birding at the other hides weren't very good today as a digger was doing some landscaping works nearby.  After paying my £5 at the Visitor Centre I returned to the campervan content that I'd seen the Pectoral Sandpiper and knowing that Cley is without doubt somewhere I will return to explore further one day.

Pectoral Sandpiper