Weather - grey, place - Titchwell

The worst weather day of our week away was the Monday, and we opted to go to RSPB Titchwell so we could take refuge in the hides if necessary. By the time we arrived, though, it had stopped raining, though it remained gloomy and windy the rest of the day.

We started off in the Fen hide, looking out over a small pool and miles of reedbed beyond. From here we could hear a tantalisingly close Cuckoo, and see at least three different Marsh Harriers getting whipped around by the wind. None really came close enough for photos. Then another big brown thing lifted off miles away and I do include a photo of it because it's the one and only Bittern we saw this week.

And onwards, towards the Island hide which overlooks the fresh marsh. Out on the water were plenty of Avocets, including good numbers of part-grown chicks, plus Shelducks and other wildfowl. Numerous Swifts were hawking low over the water, accompanied by a few hirundines.

We'd forgotten to check the sightings board on the way through. If we had, I guess we'd have known there was a Spoonbill around, and wouldn't have been so surprised when it flew quite low overhead while we were on the trail watching House Martins over the fresh marsh.

Rob and I spent a while standing here, trying to get shots of the House Martins. They were being relatively predictable here, flying low over the water into the wind in the direction of the sea, then flipping around and getting blown back landwards before turning and repeating the process. So getting the camera on them as they battled into the wind wasn't all that difficult, but persuading the lens to focus on the small bird rather than the water was more of a challenge.

On the salt lagoon, another unexpected treat, a rather scruffy first-summer Little Gull which was being pushed around by the Black-headed Gulls, not allowed to rest very long in any one spot.

We reached the wonderful beach, where it was low tide, and walked towards the shore, carefully choosing a path that didn't take us anywhere near the groups of feeding waders.

I was busy explaining to Rob why we had to give the waders a very wide berth when four of them flew over and landed almost at our feet - three Turnstones (two in fantastic summer plumage) and a Sanderling. They started pottering about nearby - here's one of the Turnstones...

 ... and here's the Sanderling.

We stayed well back from the other waders but had a couple of flybys, including this Bar-tailed Godwit and a few small groups of Knots.

It was really dark and grey by now. We walked back, noting the Little Gull again, Shovelers and Tufties on the fresh marsh, and the odd Reed Warbler. Rob also saw a Weasel skitter across the path - I missed it, and it didn't respond to my mouse impressions.

At the feeding station by the visitor centre, we witnessed a fierce battle between two Woodpigeons - my attempts to capture this on camera consist of a series of frantic grey blurs (shutter speeds were down to 1/30th sec because of no light). I did manage to steady the lens enough for a sort-of clear photo of this Jay on a feeder.