Yesterday I had a talk to give the other side of Ipswich for the Suffolk Bird Club and so left at lunchtime to bird my way south. It was cold but glorious and I began at Hen Reedbeds after a wiggle through the lanes.
The marsh has had some serious seasonal reed clearance and looked great but was
completely birdless with not a single duck, heron or even Moorhen in the
shallow cut areas. It was very odd. Marsh Harriers were quartering further back
and there were eight Buzzards and a Red Kite circling within the inland view
but I do not think the raptors were responsible for the lack of birds on the
deck.
I walked down and across the road and out along the river
wall. The tide was in and there was a
flock of Curlews up on the grassy hill with a few Rooks but I could not find
another wader roosting up anywhere and again not one duck. Some days you begin to wonder if the birds
are avoiding you. Two more Marsh
Harriers were over the big reedbed and a Kingfisher dashed back towards the
road as I retraced my steps.
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| Curlews |
Back at the car I could hear Siskins in the Alders and a
couple of Great Tits. Time to move
on. Track 42 on Westleton next and I had
it to myself with no heavy plant this time.
The heather here looks a lot healthier than that on the main area of the
heath towards Minsmere and I was pleased to find a pair of Stonechat, two Linnets
and three Dartford Warblers. The latter
were moving around together and occasionally popped up on top but were completely
silent. There were more Buzzards on the wing and the pig fields were full of
Rooks, Starlings and gulls.
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| Gorse in bloom but too cold for any coconut smell |
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| Stonechat |
I diverted down to Dunwich Beach for a quick look at the sea
and managed to pick up a flock of about 70 Common Scoter with a female
Long-tailed Duck bobbing amongst them and Red-throated Divers were scattered
across my scope scan. Closer in a bull
Grey Seal was pushing small fish to the surface and attracting a few gull who
were trying to pick up tit bits and the odd ‘flying’ fish!
Inland the marsh was simply devoid of any bird life at all
and a walk along the shingle produced one distant Wigeon! I seem to remember chuckling, shaking my head
and walking back to the car.
Thorpeness Mere next – no diving duck at all and just a few Gadwall and a pair of Egyptian Geese so I made my way down to North Warren. I soon found about 50 gleaming Barnacle Geese – not as many as I expected but despite a walk and diligent scanning I could not find one Russian White-fronted Goose. Not sure where they had snuck off too. As ever there was a distant Great White Egret and an 'Essence of' shot was required.
Barnacle Geese
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| Great White Egret and a vague Parliament of Rooks |
There was a fine flock of Wigeon grazing the meadows with
the odd Pintail amongst them but most of this most elegant of ducks were to the
south of the track on the deeper pools.
The Rooks were the most engaging species here with flocks coming and
going from the pastures where some concerted probing was underway. Groups would spiral up in to the blue and
engage in musical Rooky conversations before tumbling back down to earth
gleaming black and silver as they went.
Sometimes the commonest of birds can bring the most joy and salvage even
the most frustrating of days.
The talk on Costa Rica went very well and it felt like a
frosty day would be following it but alas when I got up early this morning it
was already grey and drizzly and our day out in the Broads followed on in this
theme. However, despite the appalling
light and persistent wet we did rather well.
St Benet’s Abbey was the first stop and I picked up four distant
Cranes coming in to the west before the crew arrived and I could even hear them
even though I suspect they were over a mile away. The Cattle Egrets were in the
same field with the bullocks and now numbered eight but only Andrea saw the
Short-eared Owl.
Cattle Egrets 
Cranes!
A scan around from the ruins soon gave us a fine red wing
tagged adult male Marsh Harrier and some distant Pink-feet coming in and I
suspect they were part of the huge flock that were leaving Breydon and
dispersing north as we passed by earlier.
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| Marsh Harrier |
Lizzie found a rather robust Stoat busily dragging a
deceased adult Moorhen across the track and down into the reed margins before a
passing Harrier or Carrion Crow could notice it. Cetti’s Warbler sung and a Stonechat was in
the sedgy patch. A Barn Owl surprised us
and came in high over the river before dropping like a stone back into the farm
barns. I suspect it had been caught out
by the earlier heavy rain and was making a dash back its day roost.
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| Lipara lucens - Cigar Gall Fly |
I failed to find any more Cranes and there were only Mutes
out on the marsh were Chinese Water Deer were liberally scattered as usual. A
glance behind gave us a gleaming adult male Hen Harrier. He wove his way towards us and then veered
closer, disappearing behind the closest riverside Willow. We waited in anticipation for the
reappearance, scopes at the ready but he never came back out and must have kept
super low behind the bank and continued east.
Regardless it was as ever a wonderful encounter.
The drizzle was reverting back to chilly rain again so we retreated
and went off to look for the Ingham Swans which of cause was completely absent
today with just hunch backed Mutes being seen so we opted for the sensible
option of a coffee at the Dunes café at Waxham Barns before popping up onto the
top of the dunes for a look at the sea (eight Cormorants) and inland where the
visibility had deteriorated badly. There
were Curlew, Oystercatchers and Turnstones in the closer fields and Green Dotpiper on a puddle a long way back.
Ten Whooper Swans head and necks appeared above the sedges on a pool we could
not see and I thankfully picked up two Cranes way over the back. I initially did not notice the other seven
drifting in and out of visibility in the field just behind them and by the time
we drove around towards Hickling it was pleasing to discover that we could see
that field easily from the road and watched these most stately of birds turning
over the ploughed surface for anything they thought may be edible. A flock of Pink-feet
were grazing in the field behind them.
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| Cranes with Pink-feet beyond |
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| Cranes |
Hickling for lunch with the feeders thronging with the usual
Tit suspects before we headed out on the walk to Stub Mill. A couple of Treecreepers gave close prolonged
views on the walk down and a pair of Muntjac were in the first sedgy meadow and
as usual were nonplussed by our presence. Brendan’s Marsh was full of the regular
dabblers and were joined by a good number of Lapwing and nine Curlews but not
one Snipe. A Green Sandpiper was close
enough to actually see some features this time.
Four Water Pipits were seen flying around but never on the deck and we added Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipits to the list along with a mobile flock of bimbling Linnets. Four Great White Egrets and our first Little Egret were seen and there were so many Marsh Harriers quartering the reedbeds in all directions.
Great White Egret
Common Buzzards were sat up looking rather
miffed at the weather and two Kestrels were studiously hovering. We had no intention in hanging around till
the very bitter end and with darkening rain laden skies behind us we ambled
back getting an escort from a party of over 30 Long-tailed Tits with a few Blue
Tits and two Goldcrests in tow.
We were all cold and damp and quite rightly decided that we
had a good day in trying conditions and should escape home while it was still
officially light.
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