The Young Birder

The north Norfolk coast in winter is a very special place - huge open skies, vast expanses of saltmarsh and large numbers of wintering bird species. I've been lucky enough to visit a few times now and  I went up there again for a week in early January this year - although most days being clear and sunny, though the force 7 north-easterly wind did make it rather chilly to say the least! My first location of the trip was RSPB Titchwell Marsh, where 5 years ago I saw my first ever Bearded Tit and Bittern. The scrapes and reedbeds were very   quiet, with just a few Shoveler , Teal and Wigeon to be seen. Down on the beach there were a few more bits around, including a flock of 200+ Bar-tailed Godwit and a group of 6 Sanderling .  Titchwell is a very reliable site to see Sanderling in winter -   as the species is site-faithful, they will often return to the same site year on year. Sanderling have a rather sweet feeding habit, where they run along the tide line, probi...