No visit to Suffolk would be complete without a visit to Minsmere. It was an opportunity to allow Lyn the advantage of birding in a motorised wheelchair and also for me to show our two birding companions, Mal & Sue, how much fun birding can be. Also of course it was a chance to take some photographs from hides.
Mal & Sue were diligently keeping a list, and they needed almost everything, so even Avocets were a novelty. The first "good" bird I was able to show them was a Hobby which, after flying around over the reedbed, perched obligingly on a post.
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| Possibly a first-summer bird |
The early afternoon gave us the chance to go to Bittern hide, where the Bitterns unexpectedly obliged.
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| Bittern at rest |
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| Bittern stretching skywards |
A Marsh Harrier also showed well until it perched on a sapling in the middle of the reedbed. I could hear a Bearded Tit, and briefly saw it fly across a gap in the reeds.
All this time it had been apparent that most of the waders were visible from east hide. Unfortunately there was no wheelchair access to that hide and I ended up going there alone.
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| Spotted Redshank |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Sitting Avocet |
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| Juvenile Black-headed Gull |
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| Common Tern |
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| Ringed Plover |
There were apparently eight Spotted Redshanks on the reserve. I saw four of them, plus the adult Kittiwake. More distant were about 30 Black-tailed Godwits, an adult Ruff moulting out of its breeding plumes, Little Egrets and several broods of Shelduck with a host of other wildfowl and Gulls.
I suddenly realised time was against me and so left the hide and headed back. A flock of about 60 Common Scoters on the sea also contained a drake Tufted Duck. I then joined a small group of birders scoping two extremely distant Stone Curlews. Never afraid to go for a dot shot, here is my best effort.
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| The Stone Curlew is hiding behind a plant |
Also present in the field was a Fallow Deer, and what appeared to be two Red Deer.
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| Red Deer |
I eventually reached the reserve centre, which had closed, and found my companions waiting for me in the car-park.
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