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When I checked the weather last night it seemed we were going to be blessed with sunshine but… it appears that the Met Office have changed their mind and it will now be light cloud cover for most of the day. But, of course, at least it’s not going to rain. Hopefully.

 
So, along the North coast today and to another RSPB reserve – this time at Titchwell. It is not nearly as big a reserve as the one at Minsmere and only has three hides but there is a small visitor centre and a nice little food service.

We noticed some small brown birds amongst the trees and although they proved rather elusive, flitting here and there amongst the leaves, we eventually managed to get a couple of photos. Studying our books later we found that our bird was a Willow Warbler – a first for us.

Onwards to the hides which lay nearer to the beach and along the way got good views of the various lagoons on which we spotted the usual Mallards, including young, Lapwings, loads of Black Headed Gulls and, of course, Avocets. I say of course because this really does seem to be Avocet country. Suddenly a huge flock of birds appeared above the main lagoon ahead of us and we wondered what on earth they could be. The answer was – Black-headed Gulls, hundreds of them!

They were all heading for what apparently has become known as Avocet Island, quite close to the largest of the hides. Sharing their island were quite a few Oyster Catchers as well.

Also seen were some young Spotted Redshanks and what looked like a Water Pipit on the marshland. On checking later, however, we have decided that it was probably a Meadow Pipit. There are many varieties in the Pipit family which makes it extremely difficult to be accurate in identification.

As we walked back the way we had come Peter spotted a rather irate Shelduck putting the frighteners on an innocent Mallard and managed to get some excellent photos.

The café at the Visitor Centre was excellent and, although small, offered some very yummy hot sausage and onion baguettes at a modest price.

We decided to go out to the Farm Shop on the roundabout on the way to King’s Lynn and, lo and behold, there was a good 3G connection there so managed to upload the latest blogs.
Canasta back at the campsite saw me doing a spectacular job of beating Peter!