Sunday 9 March 2014

Sunny Suffolk

Friday - Spent a cultural, beer drinking (sampling as many Adnams brews as possible) type of a weekend based at Wangford in sunny Suffolk visiting old friends, and crow-barring in a spot of birding too. En-route we stopped off at North Warren RSPB reserve near Aldeburgh (having first paid homage to the site of the 1999 Ivory Gull, and a nearby ice cream parlour) where the lagoons and water meadows were packed full of common wildfowl and Lapwings, several Little Egrets, Marsh Harrier and several hundred gulls, including two Mediterranean Gulls.


                                North Warren, Aldeburgh

Saturday - An early morning walk in Henham Park, Wangford proved beneficial with two close Woodcocks flushed from cover, 10 Crossbills overhead and a flock of 200 Fieldfares. This parkland site close to the river Wang also delivered, Siskin, Linnet, Long-tailed Tit and Coal Tits, Jay, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Buzzard, Green and Greater peckers and Grey Wagtail along the river.
After breakie we visited the impossibly posh town of Southwold on the coast, or rather Mrs PT and her mate did, while we checked out the nearby Town Marsh where several Med Gulls were noted in amongst hundreds of commoners, along with more wildfowl and Lapwings, plus singing Mipits, Skylarks, Reed Buntings and two Stonechats.
Next stop Hen reedbeds, a Suffolk Wildlife Trust site with hides and viewpoints and not a soul about apart from one very helpful local birder. A flyover Bittern was seen here along with Buzzard, an active heronry and all the expected waders on the Blyth estuary.
We spent the afternoon at Minsmere which was full of people, gulls, wildfowl, a few Avocets and to be honest, not much else besides.

                                Town Marshes, Southwold

                                Hen Reedbeds, Blythburgh

Sunday - Spent a couple of hours wandering around another Wildlife Trust site, Reydon Wood where all the usual common woodland birds where noted, plus a Marsh Tit which was a pleasant surprise as they have become something of a rarity back home. An interesting fungi was also noted which I`m pretty sure was Birch Polypore, Pipoporus, betulinus, a common bracket on birch.
All in all, a very a pleasant weekend and change of scene in glorious spring weather.

                                Reydon Wood, Wangford

                                Birch Polypore, Reydon Wood

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