Gordon Hamlett
Titchwell is one of the UK’s most popular birding hotspots and it’s easy to see why...
heads to family favourite Titchwell Marsh RSPB, in Norfolk, and reveals why it should be on your 2020 must-visit list, too!
it was a simple plan. For our holiday, we would start off in north Norfolk and work our way round the East Anglian coast down into Suffolk, birding all the way. On day one, we found a nice bed and breakfast near Titchwell Marsh RSPB and I can still vividly remember our first visit, even though it was over 35 years ago.
I picked out a Barn Owl, hunting over the back of the reeds. Chris, my wife, had never seen one before and there then followed a horrible five minutes. No matter what directions I gave, she just couldn’t get onto the bird. Panic and frustration increased in equal amounts as my descriptions of where the bird was in relation to the church became ever more desperate. What chance have you got of finding a small bird, when you can’t even find the church? We’ve all been there.
But the birding gods favoured us and the owl stayed out in the open long enough for her to finally see it. We fell in love with the place, instantly. Our plans disintegrated, and we never moved from our B&B. Even to this day, there are large chunks of the coast between Great Yarmouth and Minsmere that remain unexplored. We have been returning ever since, and it remains our favourite Norfolk reserve.
But, whisper it quietly, there have been mutterings among the local birders that the place isn’t as good as it used be, and that it was beginning to feel a bit sad and tired. Is there any truth in the rumours, or are birders just looking at things through rose-tinted binoculars? I took the opportunity to pick the brains of Hayley Roan, the senior site manager for Titchwell and Snettisham, to see what lay in store for one of the RSPB’s flagship reserves.
how it all started...
Titchwell was bought by the RSPB back in 1973, originally to protect a pair of Montagu’s Harriers breeding in the reedbeds. The harriers promptly moved on, though they were replaced by their larger cousins. Marsh Harriers can be seen throughout the year, but, for a special treat, come in winter to witness the impressive harrier roost. Just before dusk, it is not unusual to see more than 30 of these magnificent raptors in the air at once, often accompanied by a Hen Harrier or two.
The reserve attracts about 80,000 visitors a year and there are times when you feel that if you turn round too quickly on the main path, your tripod legs will accidentally sweep three people into the freshmarsh. If you prefer something a bit quieter, just come early in the morning, or after 3pm when the visitors start heading home. As a bonus, the light’s much better then, too.
The reserve has a justifiable reputation for being one of the friendliest in England (I would put it joint first with Saltholme RSPB) and people are always happy to let you look through their telescopes, or try a different pair of binoculars. They are happy, too, to give their opinions on bird identification. Accuracy, though, seems to be inversely proportional to the number of juvenile Ruff and Dunlin on the scrape.
It really doesn’t matter, though, if you get it wrong. If you can name a bird, then great. If you can name it correctly, then even better, but the key thing is to enjoy what you are seeing. As Nobel Prizewinning physicist Richard Feynman said, “You can know the name of every single bird in the world, but it doesn’t mean that you know anything about birds”. Just count the number of “wows”, instead, as you show someone, young or old, their first Avocet or Spoonbill through a telescope.
Some people are horrified at the thought that reserves have to be managed at all. Surely, you just dig yourself a scrape and wait to see what drops in. If only it was that simple. When I lived in Peterborough,
I can remember the ranger in the local country park having a blazing row with one of the visitors. The latter considered it an act of considerable vandalism when some of the trees in the woods were earmarked for removal. Arguments about coppicing, removing dangerous trees in case they fell on the public and thinning
the canopy to allow light to reach the under-storey all fell on deaf ears.
If trees need to be managed in woodlands, then it won’t come as a great surprise to learn that managing water is the main concern when you run an area of wetland. Talking to one of the staff, he was explaining that they had drained a particular area so that they could get in and cut the reeds back. Several days of heavy rain had quickly put paid to that idea.
Add warblers to your list
At Titchwell, some of the drains and dykes leak, and are in urgent need of repair. The sluices are getting old and need replacing and there are plans to put in several new ones. But there is a double whammy. As well as the freshwater to worry about, there are problems from the sea encroaching, too. As with much of the north Norfolk coast, the sea defences have been breached a few times over the last few years, resulting in all sorts of devastation.
As you head out via Fen Trail towards Patsy’s Pool and East Trail, you should soon get eight or nine species of warbler on your list in spring; Garden Warbler is surprisingly scarce. The bushes on the tank road prove irresistible in autumn and you can often see family parties of Blackcaps and Lesser Whitethroats gorging themselves on the berries. This year, staff have been putting out seed on the path here to provide better views of Turtle Doves.
Patsy’s is sufficiently deep to attract diving ducks and this is the best place to look for Red-crested Pochards. Bitterns are seen regularly, though they haven’t bred since 2013. Again, water levels need to be improved and apparently, it all comes down to increasing the number of ditch to reed interfaces (no, me neither). Planning consent for this project has been given the green light.
The horse paddocks here attract passage Wheatears, flycatchers and Ring Ouzels, though they tend to move off fairly early in the morning. Barn Owls often hunt hereabouts. Increasing numbers of raptors float over Willow Wood, including Buzzards, Red Kites and the occasional Goshawk.
There are fewer funnier sights than young Spoonbills (‘teaspoonbills’ as one wag named them), bouncing along as they pester their parents to be fed. Counts can be spectacular and I really enjoyed watching 19 flushed by a Marsh Harrier the other day. They really look prehistoric when they fly, with their weird bills, kinked necks and long trailing legs.
One of the main development plans is to create a new scrape here with the intention of encouraging Spoonbills to stay and breed. There is already a large Little Egret roost. Great White Egrets breed a few miles down the road. With Cattle Egrets increasingly seen, and an adult and juvenile Purple Heron spending extended periods on the reserve, it is not beyond the realms of possibility to imagine a super, exotic heronry in the next few years.
The path to the sea
The main path from the visitor centre down to the sea is about half a mile long and adds another selection of habitats. Visitors are often surprised and upset to see shooting taking place on Thornham saltmarsh to left of the path, but that land isn’t owned by the RSPB and there is nothing that they can do about it. Good numbers of dark-bellied Brent Geese gather here from late autumn, with a few individuals lingering into May. This is the best place to check the tops of bushes for wintering Stonechats and passage Whinchats (in spring and autumn). Most of the interest though is off to your right. Bearded Tits ping from the reedbeds and often show right next to the path on still days. Look for a long line of smiling, grinning birders just before you reach Island Hide and you will soon know if they are showing well.
The scrape comes into its own in autumn, with a bewildering number of waders in an even more bewildering array of plumages. Recent trips have seen 750 Avocets and mid-hundred counts of Black-tailed Godwits and Dunlin, all offering excellent photographic opportunities. You can expect a few rarities, too. In the last couple of years, I’ve seen Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper and Purple Sandpiper, if not quite close enough to stroke, then not so far short.
One highlight this year was watching a group of half a dozen Ruff, in full breeding finery, start lekking right in front of the hide. A really good day (at the right time of year) could produce 26 or 27 species of wader.
Birding rewards
Check the edge of the reedbed, too. As the summer progresses, you should be rewarded with Reed Warblers, more Bearded Tits, especially juveniles which come on to the mud to pick for seeds, Snipe, Jack Snipe and Water Rail. If you are really lucky, this is best place to see a Spotted Crake, which turn up here every couple of years or so.
THERE ARE FEWER FUNNIER SIGHTS THAN WATCHING YOUNG SPOONBILLS BOUNCING ALONG AS THEY PESTER THEIR PARENTS TO BE FED...
Moving round to the Parrinder Hide, for a different angle on the freshwater marsh, look for lizards basking on the wall on the sea side of the path on the first warm days of spring. The edge of the lagoon here can be excellent for Water Pipit in winter.
A few years ago, an anti-predator fence was put in on the freshwater lagoon, ostensibly to protect the breeding Avocets. I think that it is fair to say that this fence is not among Titchwell’s most popular features. Black-headed Gulls moved in en masse, though ironically, they are now being outmuscled themselves by increasing numbers of Mediterranean Gulls (57 pairs this year). Help might be at hand, though. This year, a female Marsh Harrier discovered that gull chicks were an excellent source of food, and was even seen training one of her offspring how to hunt there.
Strange happenings...
Another complaint is that the water levels are far too high in spring, resulting in wader flocks coming in off the sea, circling the scrapes for a bit, not seeing anywhere to land, then flying off elsewhere. Research done by Warden Lizzie Bruce, suggests that the figures are pretty much the same as previous years, both in terms of numbers of birds and variety of species. In truth, spring migration anywhere along the north Norfolk coast can be pretty poor. If the weather is fine, the birds just keep heading north over the Wash.
Something strange is happening to Norfolk’s Sandwich Terns. The colony on Blakeney Point seems to have moved off, many heading to Scolt Head. However, for the last couple of years, several hundred have appeared right in front of the hide for a couple of weeks in spring. A few this year started displaying and staff are looking to see what could be done to encourage them to stay and breed. Common and Little Terns regularly appear on the scrape in summer and there is usually a Little Gull or two lingering for a few weeks.
Long term plans involve reprofiling the freshwater marsh, creating bunds to divide it into three main areas, one managed for breeding birds, the other two sections hopefully bringing in even more passage waders.
I’ve never seen anything exceptional on the Volunteer Marsh, with one exception. This is the best place by far to find Grey Plovers on the reserve, from early August through to late April. The birds, at either end of their stay on the reserve, are often found in their breeding plumage, one of the smartest waders you will ever see.
As you head down towards the sea, you never know what you might come across. One woman I was talking to didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I was just watching my first ever Snow Bunting” she said, “when it was taken by my first ever Merlin.”
Look for Sanderling and Bar-tailed Godwits among the many waders on the beach. One of the problems all around the north-west coast of Norfolk has been the recent decline of nesting Ringed Plovers. The RSPB has been liaising with other land owners such as the National Trust to come up with suitable plans to reverse this trend, hopefully encouraging the birds to nest on the reserve itself, rather than the beach.
Autumn can produce some decent seawatching. Arctic and Great Skuas are regular, with Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas noted occasionally. You should get a reasonable assortment of wildfowl, waders and seabirds passing with onshore winds and that big, dark oil slick offshore will eventually resolve itself into a couple of thousand Common Scoters.
European funding in doubt
There is, of course, one massive problem that still needs to be addressed: money. The management team know exactly what they want to do in terms of improving the habitat; it’s now a question of how they are actually going to pay for it. The good news is that, hopefully, the funding is in place.
The bad news is that the money is supposed to come from Europe and who
knows whether some, any or all of that money will ever materialise.
The plans may happen soon, or in several years time, or be put on an indefinite back burner. Or, the stars might just align and, the day after reading this article, your numbers will come up on the lottery at a time when you are feeling particularly philanthropic.
So, that’s Titchwell. Write it large, because it is a brilliant reserve, especially if you are a beginner or improver. Sure, some may find it a bit grey, or complain about the architectural design of Parrinder hide, or whatever. But there aren’t many reserves where you can turn up at any time of year and expect to see 60-70 species in a day; with more than 100 species on a good day. And what about those awful staff members who run the place so badly? Well, they only want to go and make it even better. If that’s the case, you can certainly book me in for the next 35 years. Providing of course that the Barn Owl is still there. Or the church hasn’t moved.