A Monthly Publication

By Dave Hawkins

Visitor officer, Titchwell Marsh RSPB

 Winter is a great time to do a spot of beachcombing along our beaches.

On muddy or sandy sections beach, you should easily be able to find several different species of birds including bar tailed godwits, grey plovers, sanderling, knot, turnstones, oystercatchers, and a plethora of gulls. Higher up the beach in the strand line you may well find snow buntings which flutter round like snowflakes in the breeze as they search for seeds and small invertebrates.

During the recent spell of bad weather, there was a huge wreck of starfish involving hundreds of thousands of the creatures washed up along our beaches all the way from Holkham to Heacham. Starfish (more correctly called sea stars) feed on shellfish and so our local mussel beds offer rich pickings for them. The wreck involved several different species including brittlestars and sunstars and provided rich feeding for tens of thousands of gulls particularly along the Hunstanton and Titchwell beaches.

Even more unusual has been the finding of around twenty dead Ray’s bream along the coast. These fish are normally found in warmer southerly waters and were probably tempted north during the warm weather of 2009.

If you do go beachcombing spare a thought for the birdlife on the beach, which tread the fine line of survival in harsh winters. When daylight is short and temperatures cold, they need every opportunity they can get to feed or rest so try to avoid any unnecessary disturbance especially in high tide roosts.