Hey guys, recently bought a 2009 1.6 TDCi Titanium, its my first diesel and i've noticed that on a cold start when it idles the engine is quite noisy and shaky until it gets warm.

Is this normal for a diesel?

It is normal up to a point.

When cold diesel engines knock and sound quite clattery for a few minutes.

You may be due a new set of glow plugs though.  While they're not needed to start a modern diesel until the temp is well below freezing, they do make for smoother running after a cold start.

Ok thanks ill look into changing those, car is on 50k miles so probably on its original set.

I noticed that compared to any petrol car ive had the car doesnt hold a higher idle when cold, my other cars used to idle at around 1000rpm then slowly drop down, but this just seems to go straight to 750rpm 'ish

Do you know which brand of glow plug is OEM?

I had a 2007 1.6tdci which I bought in 2007 with 1,600 miles on it. The idle on a cold start was dead steady until it had done over 100,000 miles and then I noticed it was a little uneven. I assumed it was probably a glowplug problem but never investigated it further. My brother has the car now with over 160k on and it has not got worse. 

Glowplugs sometimes snap when you try to remove them. I would be a bit reluctant to interfere with them unless you really need to (eg. it gets to the point where it affects the ability to use the car)