Minsmere and Westleton

As its half term, I have been able to do lots of birding. On Monday, Dad and I went to Minsmere. We started off at North Hide. We got the usual ducks, but no Pintails. We also got Dunlin, Cetti's Warbler, Oystercatcher, Marsh Harriers and common passerines. We then spotted one of the Redhead Smews. It wasn't distant, but the light was poor, as a result of this poor picture.

We then went out to look onto the sea, and got around 30 Red-throated Divers, and a Guillemot which was a welcome fly-past. Public Hide produced another Redhead Smew and a Goldeneye showing well, but this pic was taken with my little camera, so it looks distant in the photo, but it was only about 60 yards away....

We then went back to the visitor center to have lunch, and I had Prawn Mayonnaise Jacket. Absolutely gorgeous. We then headed out to Bittern Hide. Not much in there, apart from a distant Kingfisher and another Marsh Harrier. We then went on to Island Mere, and got Snipe, Otter and a flypast Bittern.

Final stop was at Westleton Heath, where we got a brief Dartford Warbler on the top of the heather before it flew off. Not a bad day. Better than going to school hey!

Happy Birding!

Minsmere Dawn Chorus

Dad and I had a ridiculously early start yesterday morning, having to get up at 2:30am to get to Minsmere for 4am for the Dawn Chorus guided walk. We were only there for the morning, because we had to do jobs in the afternoon. My luck wasn't with me though, because my camera had a card error, so I couldn't take any pictures for the first part of the morning. We started off with Nightingale, Bittern, Cuckoo and Tawny Owl before collecting all the other warblers and passerines. In Bittern Hide we saw a distant Barn Owl with a Hobby, and in Island Mere, booming Bitterns, squealing Water Rail and jolting Reed and Sedge Warblers. We got back and I tried to get my camera to work. The SD card had got wet because of the rain, so it just needed a dry and it was working well. Here's our fantastic breakfast....

We then went out on our own to see the pair of Stone-curlew that had newly arrived, and we had a look at North Scrape before moving onto Westleton Heath. We got the cracking Stone-curlews, with an unexpected Whinchat, and then a weasel which had caught a rabbit.

North Scrape produced a cracking drake Garganey which was soon put up by a Marsh Harrier, and 3 Arctic Terns. We then went to Westleton Heath, to try and get Woodlark and Dartford Warbler on the year list. We got at least 2 of each specie, with a very nice Willow Warbler.

Dartford Warblers - 2 birds

Willow Warbler

Woodlark

When I got rare bird alert up back at home, it said that a Cattle Egret was briefly on South Levels with a Spoonbill. We had already seen 3 Spoonbill from Island Mere, so I wasn't really bothered about seeing them, but I have never seen a Cattle Egret in the UK before. Also, today, a Savi's Warbler was present on the reserve. Maybe that was there yesterday too?

Happy Birding!