Twite at Thornham Marsh

21st December 2018

A family visit to Norfolk, so time for a couple of hours at Thornham Marsh looking for the flock of Twite that have been wintering there for the last few years. It was a grey overcast day so not too surprisingly not many people about, just a few dog-walkers on the sea wall.

The nice thing about places like this is that the waders are used to people and are therefore fairly confiding like this Redshank.

Similarly the Curlew, which elsewhere can be very skittish, are equally confiding and allow you to approach to within just 15 yards.

But now on to the task in hand. There were two flocks of finches, a larger flock of some 40 birds comprising Linnets and one or two Goldfinches. These were feeding almost exclusively on Shrubby Seablite Suaeda vera, but not particularly approachable.

The Twite, however, were in a smaller flock of about 20 birds which seemed to prefer the seed of another plant which was too far gone for me to recognise. They too were not very approachable.

In fact, the best shots I got were as I drove in towards the end of the track and saw a half a dozen finches sitting on a handrail of one of the moorings. I therefore just stopped the car, wound the window down, hung the camera out of the window and started clicking away. These are probably the best shots of Twite that I shall ever get, although a bit of sun instead of the gloom would not have gone amiss.

What a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours!!!