Cold Case.

Titchwell was not the most comfortable place to be the other day. Bracing wind and squalls of rain kept us firmly ensconced in the Parrinder Hide for much of our visit. 

Despite the weather, there were a few things to see. Marsh harriers twirled above the reedbed, a Spoonbill flew past, and during a short scan from the beach, Eider, Goldeneye, Merganser, Slavonian Grebe were seen just beyond the surf.

A party of Brent Geese spent some time bathing on the Freshmarsh before moving out onto the sea lavender covered saltmarsh.

We watched two Water pipits and a few Rock Pipits exploring the muddy islands that were only just above water level, while a small scattering of waders probed in the channels.

Thornham was equally windy, though for a while we got fairly good views of the Twite as we took shelter below the sea wall. A Rock pipit offered a brief close up as it perched among the wooden jetties.

Perhaps the most intriguing bird of the day was a hybrid duck at Titchwell. It was seemingly paired with a female Shoveler, and was obviously full of shoveler DNA, but the rest of it's parentage took a bit of forensic detective work to ascertain......