Reserve work
The main thrust of our work on the reserve over winter has been planning for the Coastal Project next year. One of the main tasks is the improvements to the fresh marsh by re-engineering islands and removing all of the encroaching reed along the west bank path. This removal will be carried out by ALASKA Environmental from Dorset using their 30 tonne floating excavator. In preparation, all of the reed alongside the path and around the Island Hide has been cut to make the area unsuitable for nesting birds in the spring. This will allow us to start work in August without causing any disturbance to breeding birds. All of the elder and willow scrub has been cleared from the foot of the upgraded west bank, the hide window trial continues to provoke a wide range of comments from our visitors and Robert Coleman and I have given several talks on the project locally.

The final touches have been added to the new Island Hide and the task of adding 7 tonnes of topsoil, as part of the green roof, has now been completed and the winter reed cutting sections have been finished by the Fen Hide and in the main reedbed

As part of a project to improve an area of derelict reedbed, we secured the use of a Softrak machine from the local Natural England reserve at Dersingham. This fantastic machine is designed to work in areas that are very wet or sensitive to disturbance, thanks to its wide rubber tracks. The Softrak has a cutting head on the front, which can get through the toughest vegetation, and cuts and blows the material into the large hopper on the back. It can then transport the vegetation to a different part of the reserve.

Unfortunately, we tested it to and beyond its limits and got it stuck in a large wet hole. After 5 hours and the help of a 15 tonne excavator, we managed to pull it out!

Softrak machine working at Titchwell      

In an effort to attract new visitors to the reserve, Dave Hawkins has been busy increasing the promotion of the reserve. He is now contributing a regular article in the Eastern Daily Press and we also now have a half page advert on the reserve. The final push on the Birds of Prey campaign produced an impressive stat of ‘1 in 8 of every reserve-based signature received by the RSPB came from Titchwell’.

Despite the recent poor weather, people have still been visiting the reserve.  Recruitment continues to go well with 815 new members by the end of February. The RSPB’s “Letter to the Future” got off to a great start with 400 signatures supporting the campaign collected since the start of the year.

Bird highlights

November birds included a black throated diver and five Slavonian grebes offshore, seven whooper swans, a juvenile spoonbill for three days, four roosting hen harriers, three common cranes west (9th), two adult yellow-legged gull roosting daily, a 1st winter glaucous gull (30th), a grey phalarope on the fresh marsh (30th) and a short-eared owl.

December highlights included the ‘black throated’ diver still present, 3 Great Northern divers, 17 Bewick’s swan (22nd), 11 whooper swan, snow goose feeding just off the reserve with pink-footed geese throughout the month, 240 pintail (1st), a lingering red kite at the end of the month, jack snipe (29th), three yellow-legged gull, a long-eared owl (20th), woodlark (20th), hawfinch (9th) and up to 67 twite feeding on the brackish marsh.

The bird highlight of January, and the year, was the probable Pacific diver that was located offshore on the 2nd and seen again twice on the 4th before flying west. The bird was distant for its stay but all the   required features were seen when in flight.  The first British record was only in 2007 and if accepted, this would be the fourth.

Although no compensation for missing the diver, other highlights included a 1st winter glaucous gull (5th –11th), a purple sandpiper (23rd) and a mealy redpoll from the 19th. An impressive 14 roosting marsh harriers on the 18th was the highest count for the reserve.
With the cold weather, most of the wildfowl and waders left the reserve so the February highlights were limited to passerines. A waxwing on the 13th didn’t stay long but the mealy redpoll remained from January.  Good numbers of twite were recorded on the brackish marsh (peak of 50 birds) and a very mobile flock of up to 50 snow buntings were on the beach.
A second ‘first’ for the reserve was recorded in January when a small group of harlequin ladybirds were found sheltering in some willow scrub in the reedbed. Considering their recent range increase, it is a surprise that they hadn’t already been recorded.

Paul Eele - Warden