Dates & Prices

Date: Sunday 10th August 2025

Price: £60 places available

Price Includes: Services of the guide for the day 09:00 – 17:00, trip report

Not included: Lunch, drinks & snacks, entry into RSPB reserve (allow £7 for non-members RSPB members free)

Meeting place: By the Toilet Block, Titchwell Marsh RSPB, Titchwell, Main Rd, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE31 8BB. The Lat/Long location is 52.962592, 0.605981. The What Three Words Location is ///merge.scrap.activism

Leader: Carl Chapman

Group Size: Minimum of 4 and a maximum of 12 guests plus 1 leader

Conservation donation: Norfolk Wildlife Trust

Holiday Highlights

Enjoy an autumn day out on the beautiful North Norfolk coast for a leisurely day of birdwatching
Led by local naturalist & guide Carl Chapman, who knows & loves the area & its wildlife intimately
We will visit key locations to look for migrant waders arriving for the winter and passing through the area to winter further South
Relaxed pace to full appreciate watching the birds & to allow time for photography

We invite you to join us for a day of birdwatching on the North Norfolk coast this autumn, led by local guide Carl Chapman, who has lived in the area and loved it for 40+ years!

Your Guide

It’s not often a Yorkshireman praises another county above his birthplace but I’ve now lived in Norfolk for almost 40 years and I wouldn’t change a moment of my time here.

Birds first drew me to Norfolk. It is without doubt the centre of bird watching within the whole of the UK. Indeed, I qualified at the UEA (University of East Anglia) with a certificate in Ornithology. Although it must be said I have a penchant for a variety of wildlife, not just birds, and am currently the county’s Marine Mammal Recorder assimilating and checking records of pinnipeds and cetaceans. In addition, every bird watcher knows that there’s a period in mid-summer when it perhaps goes ‘a little quiet’ it’s from those quiet periods I developed an interest in Dragonflies and Butterflies.

So, in summary if it has wings or flippers … I’m your man.

It was this interest for all things wild which led me down the tour leading route which has been my mainstay since 2008. When I started tour leading someone in the business gave me some good advice. He said, ‘it’s not about the wildlife … it’s about the people!’ There’s nothing I like better than showing someone something for the first time. The kick I get equates to the ‘buzz’ of seeing it for the first time myself.

Join us for a day out on the North Norfolk coast searching for and watching returning wading birds

North Norfolk is a fabulous location for bird watching. We will meet at and visit the RSPB reserve at Titchwell. The reserve is one of the showcase reserves of the RSPB with fresh and saltmarsh areas with hides. The beach has an area of petrified forest covered in mussels that wading birds feed upon. The weather before our visit plays an important part in what birds we will see but we hope there may be such birds from as far afield as the USA and the Arctic Circle. The number of this species we will see is unpredictable, but we will see some good birds.

We will move on in the afternoon to the harbour at Brancaster nearby. Guests will use their own vehicles and car parking here is free.

Waders using the area will be Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Grey and Golden Plover, Lapwing, Turnstone, Dunlin, Avocet, Oystercatcher, Bar and Black tailed Godwits, Curlew, Whimbrel, Snipe, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Knot and Wood Sandpiper. There may also be Redshank as well as Spotted Redshank and Greenshank. Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper and Ruff are also possible, and we may be lucky enough to see a White Rumped or Pectoral Sandpiper too! As always at migration times anything is possible.

Paths are good, but walking boots are recommended as the ground can be uneven in places. There are no hills and no steep slopes.

Although we will walk the whole of the reserve at Titchwell. There are plenty of places to rest, watch and photograph the birds.

It is a short road journey of 5 minutes to Brancaster where the harbour can hold various waders. We will look out across the harbour and wait for the birds to come to us.

Although this is a day designed to see waders we of course wont ignore any other birds we see which will be many.

We will then walk back to our vehicles to finish our day.