Titchwell

With nothing much to go for over the weekend we decided that a trip to Norfolk would be worthwhile to kick the year off.
We set off in dull and gloomy conditions with a lot of mist on the way up the A10. It was not until we were well past Ely before the sun started to break through. A detour around the Wolferton Triangle for Golden Pheasant was pointless judging by the number of birders cars encountered so we carried on up to the coast.
Did the usual thing and drove through Ringstead and on the Chosely stopping off at various points. Large numbers of red Legged Partridges were found, and the Pink Footed Geese were very noisy with skeins flying west almost continuously. Apart from a few YellowHammer and Corn Buntings, Chosely Barns were fairly quiet.
Titchwell was not all that busy when we arrived. Nice to see a few Brambling on the feeders.

The Fen Trail did not deliver Woodcock as in previous January visits but the screens overlooking the new pool provided the resident female red Crested Pochard.

 The Fresh Marsh was covered in Golden Plover and Lapwing, though with some scanning a few other waders could be picked out including about twenty Avocet. We were directed to a Hen Harrier perched on a small bush over on Thornham Point. It was so far away that it was not easy to be sure that it was actually a Harrier. Much easier was the Chinese Water Deer.

 The sea was pretty dead at first. There were two small flocks of Goldeneye and a few Eider, but there were a lot of Great Crested Grebes. A walk up to Thornham Point provided a nice sized flock of Twite, with a few Linnet and Goldfinches. There were a lot more waders out here, and the sea was much more interesting. Found at least ten Red Throated Divers, a single Black Throated, a few Guillemot and Razorbill close in on the sea and a few flocks of sea duck flying through. Unfortunately, by about noon, the sea mist came in and we lost everything. This did enable us to get a bit closer to the Twite and I got a few decent images.

 
 With the coast largely covered in fog we headed inland with the intention of driving around Welney but the mist had evidently not really lifted since we had come up so we carried on home with a quick detour to Fowlmere where the flock of twenty Waxwings were located in a roadside tree.