Sep 22nd Titchwell

Robin

This morning, Mum and I went out to the North Norfolk coastline for a visit to Titchwell. It didn't started very well as I noticed that I had some how lost my RSPB membership card. Where did that disappear to? At least Mum had her card to claim the free car park perk that comes with it.

Pink-footed Geese

There was a bit of a chill in the air during our visit today. Mum was wrapped up like it was winter and was still feeling cold. My mind, however, was more on the birds than the chilly conditions. Pink-footed geese have now started arriving from Greenland forming V-shaped skeins in the sky. A few individuals could be seen out on the freshwater pool, which was dried up to just mud. Teal, wigeon, shelducks, ruff, dunlin, a snipe and a few avocets were busy sifting through the wettest sections of the mud for invertebrates hiding within it. Meanwhile, marsh harriers and a kestrel were seen patrolling and hunting over parts of the reserve away from the pools.

Pink-footed Goose

Teal

Shelduck

Ruff

Dunlin

Mallard hybrid

Snipe

Avocets

Kestrel

Black Slug (with parasite?)

Waders galore feeding along the tideline

The beach was were it was at for most visitors this morning. Many scopes lined the dunes manned by their owners scanning the waves. The tide was a long way away from the dunes, but they claim to see skuas and other seabirds. I didn't bring my scope today and Mum was feeling even colder to hang around for too long, so we just made our way down to the sea where many oystercatchers, redshanks, bar-tailed godwits, turnstones, curlews, herring and black-headed gulls and a little egret were foraging the seaweed along the tideline. It was a bit of a feeding frenzy as the gulls chase the waders to rob them of the molluscs gripped within their bills.

Oystercatcher

Bar-tailed Godwit

Curlew

Little Egret

Herring Gull

Bloody-nosed Beetle

On the way back, I had the briefest of views of a flock of bearded tits teasing onlookers as the occasionally pop out from the reeds and continuously calling out their pinging calls. However, I was more pleased in finding this beetle just moments later. It was crossing the main path and I almost stepped on it. I picked it up so that no one else makes the same mistake. When I picked it up off the ground, I noticed small drops of blood staining my hand. The blood was not coming from me, but from the beetle. I had just found a bloody-nosed beetle. The 'blood' is released from the beetle's mouth as part of a ruse to fool and deter predators from eating it. It doesn't fool me. In fact, it makes me marvel at it more!

You can see a drop of 'blood' on my hand