It’s come to that time of year again whereby I take a few
days off to travel down to Suffolk and attempt to pick up the regional
specialities. On the way into Suffolk I stopped off at Lackford lakes which is
particularly good for turtle dove, but failed to pick one up this year. Maybe
it’s because I travelled down 2 weeks earlier on a year where migrants have
been very slow coming in? Anyway, I did very quickly pick up on 4-5
Nightingales singing around the reserve and luckily was able to pick on out of
this dense thicket.
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| Nightingale |
Hundreds of Swifts darted about the reserve and a couple of
fantastic Hobby’s joined in too – Hobby’s are one of my favourite birds just
due to their immense power in the skies. A couple Great Crested Grebes,
whitethroats and a handful of Common Terns were the best of the rest. I moved
quickly onto Landguard whereby a migrant Serin had found itself staying over
the past few days. Despite my best attempts, all I could manage were Linnets,
and a dam lot of them!! I did however come across, this out-of-place Corn
Bunting, obviously passing through which was decent for the site.
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| Corn Bunting |
The following day brought me to Minsmere; the mother of all
RSPB reserves in a superb location. But it started slow, very slow in fact, I
managed to miss 2 Stone Curlews for starters, and getting a glimpse of a
Cetti’s Warbler or Bittern was taking some doing. Avocets showed well, with
some sitting on nests.
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| Avocet |
Sand Martins were in full swing and many seemed to be
feeding young.
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| Sand Martin |
The Terns were out in force to with Sandwich, Common and Little
all sharing the scrapes. Then my luck looked to be changing, I found a great
second summer plumaged Med Gull followed by a superb second summer plumaged
Little Gull at South Hide both on the lagoons. A couple of Ringed Plover,
Dunlin and Redshank also showed well.
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| Little Tern with Common Terns |
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| Superb 2nd Summer Little Gull |
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| Mediterannean Gull (2nd Summer) |
A return to Bittern hide, surprisingly revealed a brief
flight view of a... Bittern! Marsh Harriers circled high above the reedbed
whilst Bearded Tits darted low over the reedbed. A lone Hobby chased
dragonflies while Sedge, Reed and Cetti’s warblers sang deep inside the
reedbed. Finally, I managed to nail a great view of a Cetti’s Warbler calling
extremely close to the path I was following. I soon moved up to Dunich Heath,
whereby I quickly locked on to a superb male Dartford warbler, as quick as a
flash it was back down into the dense heather undergrowth.
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| Plenty of Orange Tip Butterflies about |
The next day brought a 5am start, I had great expectations
for the day as this was going to be the final day. I had 4 sites to cover and
12 hours to do it in including the driving time. The first stop was Lackford
lakes for a quick search for the turtle dove, again, still no sign so quickly
moved on to Lakenheath. It took a good hour (which is brilliant in Golden
Oriole standards) to finally get an excellent view of the single superb male
Golden Oriole singing tropically throughout the dense plantation. It is a
concern on how much longer Lakenheath will have this amazing birds here for as
breeding as been very limited during the last few years. Let’s hope that this
year will be a positive change for them. A Cuckoo, followed by a Garganey were the next birds for the
list with a stunning drake showing well on the lake.
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| Cuckoo |
The next target was Stone Curlew and this was quickly seen
at Weeting Heath SWT with 3 adult birds present. Two Spotted Flycatchers were
also present just outside the West hide.
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| Stone Curlew (one of three) |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
I later moved on to explore the surrounding area and managed to find my own Stone Curlew. This was followed by a singing Woodlark and then by two Tree Pipits! Job done! Yellowhammers were also calling along with a couple of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers.
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| Woodlark |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Willow Warbler |
Being well ahead of Schedule, I started to look further
afield for decent birds to ‘twitch’. Frampton Marsh was calling out with news
of a Black Winged Stilt. An hour and a half later, along with a tonne of slow
drivers along the way, I arrived in the hope of seeing the bird. Entered the
visitor centre, and an old bloke (volunteer) exclaimed the bird had flown off
and moved to the other side of the reserve. Okay, I thought, at least it’s
still there! A summer plumaged black Necked Grebe was also being reported on
the reserve so I went to see this and what a stunner it was with its contrast
of gold and red. Superb! Next, was a good mix of Avocets, Little Gulls, Common
Terns and wildfowl. A Little Stint took some finding amongst a flock of Black
Tailed Godwits while there was still no sign of this Black Winged Stilt.
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| Super stunning summer plumaged Black Necked Grebe |
After an extensive search, no Black Winged Stilt could be
found until a guy I spoke to was adamant that the star bird was showing in
front of the visitor centre and had been there since well before my arrival.
Finally reaching the centre, the bird was showing well. What a super bird to
see to top off a cracking few days!
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| Black Winged Stilt |
