Up early to go to Minsmere to look for the Garganey, as we get near we take a quick look over Dunwich heath.As we walk over the heath we spook a Woodcock that flies up in front of us, Jimmy & myself needed one for a year tick so a good start to the day. Then Brian hears the call of a Dartford Warbler, we soon find the bush & see the first of three that give us a good display, another year tick for all three of us. A few Skylarks show well. We see a herd of Deer roaming the heath, always a nice sight to see. Off to Minsmere now, the first thing we do is to stand round the feeders to wait for a Marsh Tit, one is seen after a few minutes but I had been sent to get the coffee, so I missed it, but I get one before going home, that's another year tick for me. Off now down to Island mere hide for the target bird of the day, a pair of Garganey are seen as soon as we enter into the hide, they are not to mobile & although close to the hide they stay partly hidden behind a clump of reeds, so a good photo not possible for me, but Brian got a good photo & let me use it on this blog. With the target seen it's off to walk the whole way way round the reserve, in one of the hides we see 2 female & 1 male Smew, also 3 Whooper Swans very close to us, I love to watch these Swans, we have already ticked them this year, but a real treat for me.
 |
| Whooper Swan |
 |
| Whooper back view |
 |
| The Deer herd |
On the way home we stop off at Wivenhoe to look for the Long-eared Owl that Brian got last week,we don't have any luck,but a quick look over the estuary we see many Black-tailed Godwit, also some Oyster catchers, Redshank, as well. A nice little stop off we will come back here when the sun is out for some close up photos.
 |
| Garganey Brian's photo |
 |
| Oyster Catcher |
 |
| Black-tail Godwit |
No comments:
Post a Comment