A Trip to Suffolk

It was off to Suffolk on Monday 2nd June for a few days away to visit my Mum and Dad and neither of us were looking forward to the drive there as the roads are increasingly a nightmare to travel on and especially the M25. The journey was as heavy going as always with the usual sightings of Red Kites soaring overhead brightening things up along the way, not so nice was seeing so many accidents and breakdowns too plus the usual large volume of roadkill by the side of the road including Badger, Pheasant, Woodpigeon and Muntjac Deer.

The weather really wasn't that great during our time away and with yet more ongoing dental problems I was in quite a bit of pain and didn't feel that well which resulted in a trip to an emergency dentist and this did put a bit of a crimp on things but never mind.

I didn't have any real plans for our time away but as I hadn't visited RSPB Minsmere for almost 2 years I decided to catch the train to Darsham on Wednesday 4th June and then a community minibus from the train station to the reserve, the minibus service being a similar council-run scheme as The Robin that I used to get to Slimbridge back in February this year. The first available time slot with the community minibus wasn't until 10:25am and so I had to catch the 09:16am train from Ipswich to Darsham, much later than I had planned, and I ended up losing quite a bit of birding time at Minsmere but never mind, at least it only cost me £3.50 for the minibus instead of the £30+ for a taxi.

It was cool, breezy and mostly overcast when I finally arrived at the reserve and I started off my Minsmere visit by looking for Stone Curlews in the usual field but I was out of luck so I continued on to the Island Mere Hide where a Purple Heron has been seen regularly. I could here Cetti's Warblers, Reed Buntings and Reed Warblers singing away as I walked along the boardwalk towards the hide and as I opened the door and entered I could hear the guide pointing out the Purple Heron flying over the reedbed but it dropped down out of sight before I even got my binoculars up to my eyes!

I scanned around and had some nice views of a Kingfisher, 2 Hobby, Marsh Harriers, a Common Tern and a Mediterranean Gull before the cry went up that the Purple Heron was in flight again. This time I got onto it quickly and watched it land at the waters edge where it had a good preen before slinking off into the reeds and out of sight, some very nice views unlike last years distant flight views of one at Exminster Marshes.

Purple Heron (the blob in the reeds just left of the wooden post!) and Gadwalls

I carried on towards the South Hide and along the way heard a distant Cuckoo calling while Four-spotted Chasers, Norfolk Hawkers and "Blue" Damselflys buzzed around. I had hoped to see Bearded Tits at the Island Mere Hide but was out of luck so I was pleased to hear some "pinging" in the reeds by the South Hide just as I was about to enter and I managed to get a very brief flight view of one too.

Four-spotted Chaser

Norfolk Hawker

Southern Marsh Orchid

I had also hoped to see Little Terns amongst the Common and Sandwich Terns out on the South Scrape but again was out of luck. A Common Tern with an all dark bill had been seen here recently, possibly a bird of the eastern race or an immature bird, but I didnt find it amongst the large number of Gulls and Terns present here. A very nice consolation though was finding a Roseate Tern instead, a lovely looking bird with an all black bill but a noticeable rosy wash across the chest and looking smaller, paler, daintier and shorter legged than the nearby Common Terns. It was ringed but it was too distant to get any real detail even with my scope and sadly it eventually took to the air and headed off towards the sea when it looked very white and very elegant in flight.

It was good to see the Tern and Gull colony thriving though after the ravages of Avian Flu had reduced bird numbers here on my previous visits but I did notice 3 long dead Gull corpses out on the mud. A summer plumaged Dunlin was also noted feeding out on the scrape and amongst the Gulls and Terns and Avocets a few Kittiwakes were also seen before it was time to continue my walk.

Avocets

I headed towards the East Hide and along the way a loud and showy Sedge Warbler and a female Stonechat were noted. There were Yellow-horned Poppies, Sea Bindweed and Sea Kale in flower along the beach and an interesting sight was the tower that had been erected offshore for the Kittiwakes to nest on. 

Kittiwake Tower

Yellow-horned Poppy

Sea Bindweed

From the East Hide a Lapwing, a Redshank, 2 Oystercatcher and Black-tailed Godwits were found to add to the days wader list with family parties of Barnacle Geese and Egyptian Geese present and Shovelers and Gadwall also seen.

All too soon it was time to head towards the visitors centre for my rendezvous with Mum and David but along the way I watched a Red Kite overhead being hassled by a Carrion Crow and found a large Drinker Moth Caterpillar on the boardwalk which I moved to safety.

Red Kite and Carrion Crow

Drinker Moth Caterpillar 

After some lunch in the Minsmere cafe we drove to nearby Snape Maltings, Mum and I had a cup of tea in the River View Cafe where I watched 2 Avocet, a Marsh Harrier, a Kestrel, a Bearded Tit, Reed Warblers, 2 Reed Buntings, a Little Egret and 2 Oystercatcher with my binoculars from the cafe window while David busied himself perusing around the antiques shop.

The view from The River View Cafe

Art at Snape Maltings (the top sculpture by Henry Moore, 1961/69, titled Reclining Figure : Bunched)

Our trip to Suffolk was too early in the season for the usual Essex Skipper, White Admiral and Purple Emperor sightings of July and the poor weather meant the only butterflies I saw on my visit were a single Painted Lady (in Mums garden) and a Speckled Wood (at Minsmere). The only other sightings of note were a Red Kite flying overhead on a windy and cloudy visit to Battlesbridge in Essex and a Whitethroat singing away at Landguard Fort despite the wind and rain.

The journey home was busy but OK, the usual Red Kites and Buzzards were seen soaring overhead and due to a repeat visit to Battlesfield along the way we ended up going over the Dartford Bridge on the M25 for a nice change.

We very much enjoyed our short time away despite the weather being more like April than June and my wildlife watching opportunities limited. The best day of weather was fortunately on my visit to Minsmere and I did get to see 2 cracking birds there, a Purple Heron and a Roseate Tern, both lucky sightings and firsts for Suffolk for me and so I can't

complain although I really wish my teeth would start behaving themselves.