British Garden Birds - RSPB Titchwell Marsh

RSPB Titchwell Marsh is on the north Norfolk coast and is one of the jewels in their crown because of the superb mix of habitat and the fact Norfolk juts out into the North Sea and so passage migrants often make landfall here. The habitats include farmland, hedgerows, fresh, brackish and salt marsh, reed beds, sandy shore and dunes and the sea.

A public footpath runs all the way from the car park to the beach with offshoot paths leading to hides that overlook the lagoons and reed beds. A visit to Titchwell will never disappoint - I've usually seen 60-70 species in a day and on one occasion I got 85 species in the day.

Waders are best seen at high tide when they are pushed up the shore and on to the reserve.

The best time for sea birds and passage migrants is during northerly winds that push the birds inshore. Be warned, these arctic winds blow straight down the North Sea and can be uncomfortable even on an otherwise mild day and downright unpleasant in winter - so be sure to wrap up in warm clothes! At other times, you can sit in the sunshine among the sand dunes and watch the birds and world go by...

The visitor centre has a shop, cafeteria and toilets. There are 3 hides and a sea watching platform.

Below is a list of species I have observed on different visits in the autumn and winter.

What You Might See
Arctic Redpoll Arctic Skua Arctic Tern Avocet Bar-headed Goose Bar-tailed Godwit Barn Owl Bearded Tit Black-headed Gull Black-tailed Godwit Black-throated Diver Black-winged Stilt Blackbird Blue Tit Brent Goose Canada Goose Carrion Crow Cetti's Warbler Chaffinch Chiffchaff Coal Tit Collared Dove Common Buzzard Common Eider Common Gull Common Scoter Common Snipe Common Tern Common Whitethroat Coot Cormorant Curlew Curlew Sandpiper Dunlin Dunnock Egyptian Goose Gadwall Gannet Goldcrest Golden Plover	Goldeneye Goldfinch Great Black-backed Gull Great Crested Grebe Great Skua Great Tit Green Sandpiper Greenfinch Greenshank Grey Heron Grey Phalarope Grey Plover Greylag Goose Guillemot Hen Harrier Herring Gull House Martin House Sparrow Kestrel Kingfisher Knot Lapwing Lesser Black-backed Gull Lesser Redpoll Lesser Whitethroat Linnet Little Egret Little Grebe Little Gull Little Stint Long-tailed Tit Magpie Mallard Marsh Harrier Meadow Pipit Mediterranean Gull Moorhen Mute Swan Nuthatch Oystercatcher	Pectoral Sandpiper Peregrine Pheasant Pied Wagtail Pink-footed Goose Pintail Red-breasted Merganser Redshank Reed Bunting Reed Warbler Ringed Plover Robin Ruff Sand Martin Sanderling Sandwich Tern Sedge Warbler Shelduck Shoveler Skylark Snow Goose Song Thrush Sparrowhawk Spoonbill Spotted Redshank Starling Stonechat Swallow Teal Turnstone Water Rail Wheatear Wigeon Willow Warbler Wood Pigeon Wood Sandpiper Woodcock Wren Yellow Wagtail