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With no let up in the northerly winds, new spring migrants have been thin on the ground this week although there has a few bright moments. The highlight was a spotted flycatcher feeding for much of the day in the shelter of the picnic area. They are getting much rarer these days so it always nice to...

A spoonbill that has been kicking around the reserve for the last couple of weeks was finally seen well feeding on the saltmarsh over our Wings over Titchwell event last weekend and it turns out to be our old favourite FJ9. Originally ringed as a chick on 2007 in Spain, the bird has favoured the North...

With a decent weather forecast, bird watchers were out in force along the Norfolk coast this weekend and they turned up a nice selection of birds. With the wind in the south there was a nice arrival of migrants including a wood sandpiper photographed on Patsy’s reedbed, male whinchats on the grazing...

After what seems like such a long winter it has been great this last week to see a real arrival of summer migrants. At this time of year the most obvious are the warblers and the hirundines (swallows and martins) As soon at the wind moved into the south there were large numbers of swallows, house and...

A couple of days ago we received this photo of a colour ringed avocet that Andy Thompson took on the reserve. He sent off the photo and got back the following, and quite surprising, information. The bird was originally ringed as a chick on the...

Black throated diver - a scarce winter bird at Titchwell. 1 offshore on 2nd Slavonian grebe - 2 offshore early in the week during the calm conditions Long tailed duck - the female is still commuting between the saltmarsh and fresh marsh and spends a lot of time rooting on the islands. 5 offshore...

I can't believe how things have changed in a couple of weeks while I have been away. Before I went on leave it wasn't getting light until 7am and by 5pm it was pretty much pitch black. Fast forward two weeks and its changed so much. Its now light enough to go birding by 6:30am and I can drive...

Eighteen new species in February, I didn't think it was possible! Being fair, I did find a couple, but couldn't name them. Identification was all due to very patient experts who were trying to teach this old dog new tricks. So an alga, 2 fungi, 2 liverworts, a gall and 12 mosses have been added...

A fine sunny start to the week has been followed by a relatively bright, grey and cold, sometimes snowy, finish. Not the kind of weather you'd expect to see spoonbills in... Long tailed duck - this beautiful female duck has been visible on the Fresh Marsh every day this week. She occasionally...

Some big tides on Friday and Saturday (15th/16th) have piled up the razor shells again. Early on Saturday morning a large number of knot and other feeding waders (dunlin, sanderling, turnstone, redshank and oystercatcher) came close to me, while I was stood with my scope, next to the beach board walk...

The mixed weather has continued this week, with some especially windy days washing in large numbers of razor clam shells onto the beach. As a consequence there have been counts of up to 10,000 gulls on the beach, mostly a mix of black headed, common and herring. But some hardy souls have braved the wind...

January has been brilliantly unpredictable - there's been rain, hail, sleet, snow, hard frosts, fog and sun, the wind has blown from all points of the compass and we've even had that Titchwell rarity, three completely calm days! Birdlife has been equally varied, ranging from sightings of species...

With so many people spending time last weekend watching their gardens for Big Garden Birdwatch, I am sure there were a few new species added to garden lists. With the recent cold snap, scarcer species such as fieldfare, redwing, bullfinch, redpoll and even waxwings have been moving into gardens but here...

Following the mild conditions over the festive period, we have now had the reminder that is it still mid-winter!! Snow has been on the ground here for the last two weeks and with temperatures as low as minus 11 o c, much of the fresh water remains frozen solid. Despite the harsh conditions, it has...

Slavonian grebe – 2 offshore on 6 th Bewick’s swan – 5 adults south over the reserve on 7 th Long tailed duck – 2 drakes offshore on 7 th Gadwall – 90 feeding on Patsy’s reedbed on the 8th was the highest count of the winter Spotted redshank – 4 wintering...

Here's the latest from Ray: By trawling through some old Titchwell records I have been able to put a name to a leafy grey lichen seen growing on many of our trees, it is parmelia sulcata and made my list total 1132 at the end of 2012. Our reserve is now forty years old and I've been lucky...

Most birdwatchers keep a list of some kind, it may be for their garden, local patch or county; it may just be a yearlist. For the yearlisters, it is important to get off to a good start so, with up to 80 species possible, Jnauary 1st is a busy day at Titchwell. This year we were lucky to have a waxwing...

Sadly I didn't manage to catch Santa as he passed over so I missed out on my Ross's gull on the fresh marsh for another year!! He did drop this off outside the visitor centre though...! Red necked grebe - immature on Patsy's reedbed again on...

If you have ever been to Asia, you will have probably been past or even birded a local rubbish dump (I kid you not!) and seen large numbers of gulls, storks and raptors feeding on leftovers. It is an amazing sight watching hundreds of black kites circling in the air together. Well we have something...

As you will know from recent posts, we have seen a massive shellfish wreck at Titchwell that has attracted large numbers of gull to the reserve. Well, it is not only the gulls that have been enjoying this food bonanza but we have been getting large numbers of oystercatcher, turnstone and sanderling along...

I had more or less decided that after two-and-a-half years it was the right time to wind up Ray's Rambles and that this was going to be my final report. I really thought that for the first time I was not going to be able to write about something new that I'd seen, I had also run out of ideas...

This week has seen the first proper wintery weather of the season. Cold easterly winds have not only brought low temperatures and crisp days, but we have had our first arrival of 'wild swans'. With cold conditions in Eastern Europe, Russia and Scandinavia we have started to see small groups of...

Now I have got your attention, let’s talk about gulls!! Not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea but they are a fascinating group of birds especially the larger species. Despite being a common sight they can be a nightmare to identify in all their different plumages, ages and races and a...

There is still lots to see at Titchwell in early winter, during the last fortnight I've seen 8 mammals, over 30 wild flowers, several insects, many sea creatures washed up onto the beach, and 113 species of birds. The chinese water deer has been showing well on Thornham Marsh and there have been...

The stretch of coast between Hunstanton and Holkham is well known in the winter for its large numbers of sea-ducks, divers and grebes. The sea in this area is comparatively shallow with a sandy bed that is excellent for shellfish making it ideal feeding grounds. Numbers are beginning to build up but...