One Snipe, one Ruff and one thousand Golden Plovers…

This is our last full day of our latest adventure with Bessie and, spoilt for choice in this wonderful area, we have decided to pay the RSPB reserve at Titchwell Marsh a return visit.  We last visited in July 2012 and it will be interesting to see how we get on in another season.

We started off with a walk along to Patsy’s Reedbed, an area which was new to us.  There was an open hide and several people poised with their scopes and binoculars all pointing towards the nearby bank.  We soon found out what everyone was looking at – two birds that we haven’t seen before – a Ruff and a Snipe:

Ruff

Snipe

Other birds in the area were a male Gadwall

and a female Gadwall with the Ruff in the foreground, which gives an excellent idea of the size differential.

One of our personal favourites – a Shoveler and his mate:

The Ruff again, this time in front of a couple of Teal:

This Little Grebe is very cute:

Walking along to the next hides, we were constantly seeing large flocks of birds skimming over the grassland.  Difficult to photograph but I did manage to get this one.  They are, I believe, Redwings.  Apparently, they often fly with Fieldfares – all in search of autumn berries.

Elsewhere, on the water clouds of Golden Plover rise as one and then descend again on the spits of land.  These pictures reflect only a small proportion of the birds that were present.

Our afternoon concluded with these views of, firstly, a Bar-tailed Godwit and then aBlack-tailed Godwit:

As we made our way back to Bessie, we reached the conclusion that this autumn break had been so worthwhile.  Our knowledge of birds has grown and we have loved being in the area around the Wash – Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk are great places to visit.

We left our orchard campsite in the morning, with our carrier bags full of apples, courtesy of our hostess, and have no doubt that we will return as soon as we can.