Category: Blog

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Another pleasant walk around Minsmere this morning to end our stay in Suffolk,  although the wind was still a bit fresh.

The decommissioned nuclear power station at Sizewell which dominates the marshes.

The National Trust café and cottages on Dunwich Heath at the northern end of the reserve

It was interesting watching the terns from here returning from fishing trips in the North Sea

Common tern

The only new bird today was a linnet in the dunes but I also managed to get some shots of the little terns with chicks (although at some distance).

One of a pair of linnets in the dunes

Stonechat

Dunnock

Shelduck

Black-tailed godwits in front of the scrape

Little egret eating a frog

Little terns and chicksLittle tern

Common tern

Cormorant

 

 

 

Last year we had seen stonechats, dartford warblers and stone curlews on Westleton Heath but on our walk this morning we only saw crows and jackdaws. I only took two photos: one of the heather and the other of grasses!.

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A little later we went on to the RSPB nature reserve at Minsmere and just went to one hide where we saw male and female marsh harriers, a grey heron,  a fleeting sight of a bittern in flight (so fleeting I didn’t even get it in my viewfinder), a distant hobby,  black-headed gulls, kittiwakes, and common terns.

Male marsh harrier

Female marsh harrier

Grey heron

Common tern

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Back to our cottage for lunch and a short siesta and then in the late afternoon we called in at a  a nearby bird hide looking over marshes toward the River Blythe in Walberswick (where we saw mute swans, greylag geese, a couple of lapwings, lots of wood pigeons and heard a skylark) as we walked down to the estuary of the River Blythe and along the beach a little at Walberswick before calling in to The Bell Inn for some supper.

View from the hide (where ducklings were hiding).

Lapwing

Greylag geese

Ferry across the River Blythe to Southwold

The River Blythe

Gulls

Little egret

The beach at Walberswick

The cultural centre of Walberswick

The green in the centre of Walberswick

Herring gull

Crab supper

Rabbits

Oystercatcher

Our supper at The Bell Inn

 

 

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A wet and gloomy day, so not one for sunbathing on the beach. Luckily at RSPB Minsmere we were able to have a decent walk, shelter every now and again in a hide and see some lovely birds (and flowers).

The stars were stonechats, dunnocks and a whitethroat in the dunes; black-tailed godwits, mediterranean gulls, common and sandwich terns, spotted redshanks on the scrapes; and a reed buntings in the reeds. We even heard a cuckoo.

Whitethroat

Dunnock

Dunnock

Stonechat and dunnock

Female stonechat

Male stonechat

Female stonechat

Common redshank

Kittiwake

Common tern

Mediterranean gulls

Barnacle goose

Canada geese

Black-tailed godwit

Black-tailed godwit

Spotted redshank

Black-tailed godwit

Black-tailed godwit

Spotted redshank

Common tern

Reed bunting

Reed bunting

Viper’s bugloss

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed the company of friends from Norwich during the day but went for a walk in the early evening along the coast at Walberswick and back through Corporation Marshes.

Light rain was forecast but we thought the risk was worth taking.  It gradually got darker and darker and with ten minutes to go there was thunder and lightening; but we managed to reach the haven of our holiday accommodation before it tipped down.

Throughout the walk the light was poor and I have included photos only as a record; but it was amazing what we saw in the penumbra.

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When we reached the sea (North Sea) there was a pair of common eider which I had only ever seen before in the north of Scotland.

A little further on we saw an oystercatcher and then in the marshes a skylark, shelduck, an avocet, a cormorant, a pied wagtail, a grey heron, 3 little egret, four mute swans, a liitle grebe and some reed buntings and even heard the pinging of bearded tits. I also heard a kestrel calling and discovered it was right overhead, but by then the light was too poor for photographs. We didn’t see another person on our walk (probably all too sensible) but lots of wildlife. There are never many people here but always lots to see.

Seaside pea

A pair of common eider

Gull with crab supper

Shelduck and avocet

Oystercatcher

Little egret

Pied wagtail on the river

Cormorant

Grey heron

Reed bunting

Reed bunting

 

 

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Today we went to RSPB Strumpshaw Fen in Norfolk (about an hour up the coast from Walberswick). We were hoping to see (and photograph!) a Swallowtail butterfly for which the reserve is famous. Last year on a visit here I had seen one as soon as I got out of the car in the car park but never saw one again. Well this year we did the same trail (but in reverse) and struck lucky seeing one at close quarters.

We saw other butterflies and dragonflies and damselflies too. I shall have to get my charts out later to try and identify them but supper at the pub is now beckoning. (Now added but waiting, and hoping, to be corrected!)

Male swallowtail butterfly

Male swallowtail butterfly

Male swallowtail butterfly

Painted lady butterfly

Male brimstone butterfly

Painted lady butterfly

Male  banded demoiselle damselfly

Male black-tailed skimmer damselfly

Female four-spotted chaser damselfly

Male speckled wood butterfly

Male black-tailed skimmer damselfly

Male four-spotted chaser damselfly

Male red-eyed damselfly

Male large red damselfly

Male common blue damselfly

Male red-eyed damselfly

Marsh orchid

Ragged robin

Great crested grebe and offspring

Female blackbird

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We have had some very mixed weather at RSPB Minsmere today but once again this fantastic nature reserve has not disappointed.

The day started sunny and warm (enough to encourage us to venture out in shorts) but our visit to the reserve ended mid afternoon with a torrential downpour; luckily we were sheltered in a hide but we decided to quit and run (not literally though) and head back to our excellent holiday home in Walberswick (https://www.blythweb.co.uk/cranbourne).

Highlights were marsh harriers, spotted and common redshank, black-tailed godwits, mediterranean gulls (but no photos), sand martins, kittiwakes, common and sandwich terns (sadly no photo), stonechats (in the dunes) and, as always, avocets.

Godwits and avocet in the downpour

Stonechat

Female marsh harrier

Male marsh harrier

Barnacle goose

Greylag geese and goslings

Spotted redshank

Common redshank

Little egret

Black-tailed godwits

Sand martin

Common tern

Shelduck

Post-coital embrace for these avocets

Kittiwake

Deadly (nightshade) little egret

Damselfly

Marsh orchid

Tiger moth

All sorts of wild things at Minsmere

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a couple of hours touring around “Constable Country” on the Essex/Suffolk border visiting Dedham, East Bergholt and Stoke by Nayland on our way to Walberswick in Suffolk. The most interesting, from my point of view, was the visit to Flatford Mill near East Bergholt where John Constable painted the Hay Wain, one of his most famous landscapes.

Willy Lott’s house – the setting of John Constable’s The Hay Wain (2019)

A print of the The Hay Wain by  John Constable (1821)

Flatford Mill

Valley Farm

There were a couple of opportunities for nature photos here as there was a robin at the National trust café and a female broad-bodied chaser and some blue damselflies in a lovely little wildflower garden run by the RSPB.

Robin

Female broad-bodied chaser

Damselflies

 

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Our hosts at the B&B at which we are staying in Maldon, Essex suggested two really good activities for today: firstly, a walk along the tow paths of the Chelmer and Blackwater Canal to Heybridge Basin; secondly, a visit to the gardens at Beeleigh Abbey.

Interesting graffiti under one of the bridges of the Chelmer and Blackwater Canal linking sea with the land

There were a few opportunities for nature photographs especially as we made a diversion on the route to Heybridge Basin and followed the sea wall of the Blackwater River where we saw common terns, oystercatchers and little egrets, as well as thousands of black-headed gulls. We even heard a cuckoo singing.

On the canal as well as coots and moorhens we saw more common terns and a kestrel. There were dragonflies two.

The Chelmer and Blackwater Canal

Holly blue butterfly along the canal

Female four-spotted chaser on a metal railing alongside the canal

Great views from the sea wall back to our B&B 32 The Hythe with St Mary’s Church behind

Common tern

Oystercatcher

Little egret

The sea wall leading in to Heybridge Basin

Kestrel

Fortunately the weather has improved for some lucky couple

Beeleigh Abbey was a monastery constructed in 1180 for the White Canons, otherwise known as the Norbertines or Premonstratensians. It was purchased by William Foyle, the owner of Foyles Bookshop, in 1943 and Christopher and Catherine Foyle, the current owners, open the gardens on certain days in the summer.

The rose garden was particularly beautiful especially as there were some small tortoiseshell butterflies. The garden also has a riverside walk where we again saw the ubiquitous little egrets.

Beeleigh Abbey

Small tortoiseshell butterfly

The riverside walk

Little egret

A beer at The Queens Head Inn on the quayside back in Maldon was very welcome

 

 

 

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We are spending a few days in Essex en route to a week’s holiday in Suffolk Today we visited two nature reserves run by Essex Wildlife Trust.

Old barges on the Blackwater Estuary at Maldon where we are staying at the excellent B&B 32 The Hythe right on the harbour http://www.thehythemaldon.co.uk/

The first was the vast expanse of Abberton Reservoir. We didn’t spend very long here as it was very exposed and very windy but we did have very good views of birds we have not seen this year – swifts and common terns. There were plenty of other birds but they were quite distant and the light wasn’t great for photography.

Common tern at Abberton Reservoir

Tufted ducks at Abberton Reservoir

Egyptian geese at Abberton Reservoir

Greylag  geese at Abberton Reservoir

Pochard at Abberton Reservoir

Cormorant at Abberton Reservoir

Great crested grebe at Abberton Reservoir

The second reserve was Fingringhoe Wick which was more intimate and much more rewarding. As the light wasn’t good throughout the day the standout moment was not visual but aural – a nightingale singing in a bush right at the beginning of our walk.  It is the first time we have heard a nightingale in the UK.

There were lots of hides but the best was one which looked out on to the Colne Estuary, where we saw oystercatchers, black-headed gulls, shelduck, common tern and lots of little egrets.

The excellent Margaret hide looking out on to the Colne Estuary

Oystercatcher at Fingringhoe Wick

Common tern at Fingringhoe Wick

Black-headed gull and delicacy at Fingringhoe Wick

Little egret

On a small pool at the Kingfisher hide we saw a little grebe and a redshank.

Redshank

Little grebe

Shelduck orchestrating a mute swan

We didn’t see swifts here but there were swallows and house martins.

It’s not been the best of weather but we had a great day out.

 

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As I sit here writing this blog (and watching the ICC Cricket World Cup from sunny London) we are having a torrential downpour. Really I shouldn’t be surprised as when editing my photos from our visit this morning to Acton Court, a Tudor manor house near Latteridge in south Gloucestershire, I could see that the weather was quite threatening and the photos rather moody.

In fact we were very lucky to complete our visit to the garden (which was open to the public as part of the National Garden Scheme) in the dry. We really enjoyed the vegetable garden, the wild meadows, the wild flower garden and the old English roses as well as the butterflies and insects.

Meadow brown butterfly

As well as the lovely refreshments (coffee and home made cakes) there were stands from the Hawk and Owl Trust and Owl Occasions  although the few owls on display looked very nervous and, to me, sad.

Great grey owl

Barn owl

Acton Court’s website (https://www.actoncourt.com/) says the following of the history of the manor house:

“In 1535, one of England’s most colourful kings, Henry VIII, came to stay at Acton Court with his second wife, Anne Boleyn, while on his summer Progress around the West Country. The owner of Acton Court, Nicholas Poyntz, wanted to impress his sovereign, so for Henry’s pleasure, he built a magnificent new East Wing on to the existing moated manor house. The new wing was a splendid testament to Nicholas Poyntz’s loyalty to his King. He went to immense trouble and expense to impress Henry, decorating the state apartments lavishly and fashionably. He was well rewarded as it is thought he was knighted during the royal visit.

Today, the East Wing which was built in just nine months comprises most of what remains at Acton Court. It offers a rare example of 16th century royal state apartments and some decorations which are said to be the finest of their kind in England.”

Acton Court is open to the public for three National Garden Scheme Days in June, and three Heritage Open Days in September.

 

What do you do when it’s too wet for golf? – Go bird watching.

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I spent a couple of hours in the rain at Chew Valley Lake in North Somerset without taking a photo and was about to give up and go home when suddenly a Great White Egret flew right in front of me. Encouraged a stayed for a while longer and got some pleasing photographs. The rain stopped and the sun came out for a while. The GWE moved to the back of the lake and I experimented with a bit of digiscoping. I need to put some more effort in to this as I must say I get a better view through my telescope than I do looking through the camera lens.

Great white egret flying in

Bad hair day for the great white egret

Great white egret checking its hair

Great white egret fishing for his lunch

Close up of GWE

GWE and mute swan

Mute swans

Shelduck

Canada geese

Canada geese

These last two photos were my best efforts at digiscoping

 

 

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It was a gloomy evening but I needed to tear myself away from watching the Cricket World Cup on the television and so I strolled across the road to Stoke Park Estate for an hour of nature watching. There was lots to see and enjoy as I hope you can see from my photos.

Duchess Pond in Stoke Park Estate – only a couple of miles from Bristol city centre and less than 5 minutes on foot from home

The grey heron flew in as I arrived

A whitethroat made a lot of noise above the pond

Flowers of so many colours

Insects too

Canada geese

Moorhens young and old

Swallows

Mallards

And the grey heron kept moving around the pond in search of his supper

I even got back in time to see the end of the cricket match.