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A lovely sunny day but quite cold for a trip to the Somerset Levels: we went first of all to Westhay Moor in the hope of bearded tits but no luck and not much else other than lots of shoveler and widgeon.

At Ham Wall we saw no marsh harriers (which I think is the first time ever) and really there was not much exciting about: only one brief view of a great white egret. The most attractive birds were shovelers, gadwall, lapwings and even mallards with their new coats. Right at the end I had my first view of a redwing this year.

I couldn’t resist!

Mallard

Lapwing

Gadwall

Shoveler

A distant cormorant

Gadwall in flight

Redwing

A quick walk around Stoke Park Estate late this afternoon (which isn’t very late now that the clocks have gone back) and a pleasing number of birds: a male and a female stonechat, a wren, a meadow pipit, 11 long-tailed tits, a greenfinch, and 8 goldfinch.

Long-tailed tit

Male stonechat

Female stonechat

Wren

Meadow pipit

Click below for gallery of photos taken this afternoon:

Wow – how many great white egrets (or little egrets) do you want to see? A very brief stop at Herons Green (you can see why it’s called that) and enough action to make many birders salivate. Unfortunately, I only had a few moments to take a few snaps and that’s what I did.

(Avon bird blog recorded a record 32 great white egrets roosting at Herriotts)

Another beautiful morning for a walk around the park (this time with a couple of young apprentices).

The leaves are falling fast

A brief glimpse of a kingfisher then a yellow wagtail were the best on the river; then three cormorants, 9 Canada geese, 2 mute swans, a grey heron and many black-headed gulls looked very attractive against the vivid autumnal colours reflected on the lake.

The more committed apprentice – see his list of birds spotted.

Click below for gallery of this morning’s photos

What a difference a day makes: yesterday we aborted our walk due to the persistent rain, today it was almost T-shirt weather and my local patch, Eastville Park, came up trumps.

All the local favourites: kingfisher, dipper, grey wagtail, grey heron (and 2 handsome juvenile cormorants).

Good to meet up again with some of the local residents but sad to see so many homeless people too.

Grey wagtail

Kingfisher

Dipper

One of two grey heron

One of two juvenile cormorant

Black-headed gull

On golden pond

The park looked beautiful too.

Click below for gallery of today’s photos.

I managed to get in an early walk on a gloriously sunny and warm day on our last full day in Suffolk.

I was really hoping to get a photo of a male bearded tit but the only small bird I could see in the reeds was a reed bunting (the first this week).

I then had quite good views of a kestrel which was often mobbed by small birds.

On the beach there were lots of ringed plover which were very difficult to pick out amongst the pebbles, but wonderful to see in flight.

There were redshank too.

On the pools, as well as the ringed plover, there were dunlin and the first grey plovers of the week.

And then right at the end a bearded tit (but not unfortunately a male).

Click below for gallery of this morning’s photos.

An early morning visit to RSPB Minsmere in the hope of bearded tits but unfortunately it was much too blowy and surprisingly fresh.

However, good views of a kestrel in the field just before Island Mere and a brief glimpse of a green woodpecker was compensation..

At Island Mere just a brief view of a bearded tit, then little grebes, mute swans, grey heron, and greylag geese but we saw no otters

At the Bittern Hide we saw a bittern in flight and a male and female marsh harrier but all too brief for photos. A flask of coffee and then a wonderful local Blythburgh bacon   bap made up for the disappointments.

Tried photographing late summer swallows but my attempts were pitiful.

At the East Hide the best was shelduck, teal, shoveler and gadwall. Avocets were too far back for decent photos.

Click below for gallery of today’s photos:

This morning’s walk around Walberswick National Nature Reserve was quite stunning.

At the beginning we saw a Red Admiral and at the end a Common Darter: in between a marsh harrier being harassed by a gull and lots of bearded tits (mainly heard, fleetingly seen but not photographed). The highlights were ringed plovers, dunlin, a pair of stonechats, goldcrest and even a morning murmuration of starlings.

Red Admiral

Common Darter

You can’t get away from the pheasants around here

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A morning murmuration of starlings

Ringed plover and a dunlin

Dunlin

Ringed plovers

Ringed plovers in flight

Pied Wagtail

Goldcrest

Greylag geese

Little egret

Redshank

Black-tailed godwit and possibly 2 dunlin

Great tit

Stonechat

Looks promising for tomorrow:

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning’s walk (also featuring the golf course we played in the afternoon!).

Not much different to see at RSPB Minsmere today from the previous days, but as it was very windy there were no signs of the bearded tits.

The additions of note were a hobby, a kestrel, a snipe and greylag geese.

As well as windy it was quite dull for most of the day except for a brief window of sunshine later in the afternoon – in other words I’m searching for excuses for the paucity of my photos.

Snipe

Stonechat on the beach

A distant kestrel

Muntjac deer

Curlew

Curlew meets black-tailed godwit

Male and female teal

Greylag geese

Lapwings

Grey heron

Mute swan

Click below for gallery of today’s photos:

We had a walk on Dunwich Heath in the hope of seeing Dartford warblers and stonechats but all we managed to see was a dunnock and skylarks, although we were told that that Dartford warblers were around (heard that one before?)

So full of disappointment we went to Minsmere.

Minsmere never disappoints.

At the Bittern Hide we had good views of marsh harriers, grey herons and cormorants.

At Island Mere we saw bearded tits, more marsh harriers and lots of swans.

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning:

What a joy to be back at RSPB Minsmere! With a  mild and still morning there was so much to see around the scrapes that we didn’t even venture to the Bittern Hide and Island Mere.

Early on we had a good view of a jay busy hiding acorns.

On the North Wall there were good sightings of bearded tit.

There was just one sighting of a meadow pipit near the beach.

On the scrapes the highlights were the little stints and, as always, the avocets.

The curlew were distant but quite distinctive.

The redshank and the black-tailed godwits too were at the back of the pools.

A juvenile gull looked majestic and stood out a mile’

A kingfisher was busy fishing undeterred by the presence of a nearby stonechat, robin and blue tit.

A starling looked quite stunning in the sunshine on a post.

There were loads of widgeon, teal and shelduck.

A little egret entertained as it tried to swallow the dragonfly it had caught.

There were pheasants everywhere …

… and even more lapwings.

Good to see a pied wagtail not in a car park.

Click to see the gallery of photos from this morning.

And a few extras:

My first walk around Eastville Park for some time. There have been many sightings of otters recently but all I spotted were all the walkers who have seen the otters.

I did get two decent views of kingfishers; one which flew down the river, did a roll (showing off its orange breast) and disappeared over a fence; the other which flew down river showing its bright blue dorsal colours.

There are now two swans back on the lake, hopefully a couple.

The mallards are looking more attractive post eclipse.

I saw the back of a buzzard which was then mobbed by crows.

Back of a buzzard

It was good to see butterflies still and plenty of bees (and other insects).

Red Admiral

My best photo opportunity was a grey wagtail which hung around for a while.

Click below for gallery of this mornings photos: