This morning I just didn’t know what to expect. My first job was to open a sluice and let a little flush of water into the fresh marsh. The wind was pushing what little water there was up to the eastern end of the lagoon, concentrating birds at the furthest point from viewing. The little ‘flush’ worked and later in the afternoon new birds were arriving and coming closer to the path and hides making use of the re-wetted mud.
Whilst out and about, the first highlight of the day appeared distantly over the new seawall. It had a peculiar yet familiar undulating flight pattern of flap, flap, flap, dip. As it came closer the familiar call of great spotted woodpecker could be heard and it obligingly flew over my head. Woodpeckers are notoriously sedentary and I was surprised to hear of another bird seen in similar circumstances at Burnham Overy at about the same time. Where had these birds come from? Were they migrants from the near continent? What next? And we haven’t even got to the eruption, unicorn or Siberian arrival.
The eruption was first with large numbers of bearded tits flocking together in the reedbed. At one point I had two separate groups of about 80 birds in total and the ‘pinging’ calls were a pizzicato of sound as they buzzed from pool to pool. No one knows exactly why these post breeding flocks behave in this way but it’s great to watch and reassuring to see good numbers after a poor start to the breeding season, following the harsh winter.
Next came the Siberian arrivals as the first brent geese of the year made landfall at Titchwell. These birds are the dark bellied race which spend their summers on the Siberian tundra. As numbers build we will count the flocks to access the family group sizes and breeding success. If it’s been a good year for lemmings then the arctic foxes will have left the geese alone but if small mammals have been hard to come by...young geese become a favoured food.
Finally the unicorn or to be more precise convolvulus hawk moth. This species used to be called unicorn moth due to its caterpillar having a single projection at the head end. Now it is called convolvulus due to its food plant of members of the convolvulaceae or bindweed family. This species is an immigrant and the grandparents of this individual were probably residents of Africa.
So, I turn up for work on a normal Sunday in September and what can I expect? The unexpected, I love my job!