Another Suffolk trip this morning, arriving at Landguard shortly after first light. A walk out towards the ranger's cottage in cold North-Easterly winds produced very little in the way of new arrivals. Just a few Chiffchaffs the only migrants seen. Linnets were present in good numbers along with six Ringed Plovers and several Shelduck.
A large container ship heading into port attracted large numbers of Gulls and Gannets and Brian picked out a real surprise in the form of a Pomarine Skua low across the water heading North.
A stop at Iken failed to produce any sightings of the long staying Cattle Egret despite checking all the favoured areas and surrounding fields.
Moving on to Minsmere and with time limited we dropped into Island Mere hide and watched several pairs of displaying Marsh Harriers over the reedbeds. At least seven Goosander were present on the water and Bearded Tits showed occasionally, but were more often heard than seen. On route to the Bittern hide, we had views of an Adder basking in the sun before it slipped away into deeper cover. Shortly after entering the Bittern hide a Bittern flew low over a section of reeds for a welcome year tick. A Water Rail and a Cetti's Warbler both showed well in front of the hide.
News of a Spoonbill came through, so we headed off to North Warren in search of it. A brief scan from one of the viewing platforms and we found the sleeping Spoonbill among a large flock of resting gulls.
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| Bittern (Taken on a previous visit) |
News of a Spoonbill came through, so we headed off to North Warren in search of it. A brief scan from one of the viewing platforms and we found the sleeping Spoonbill among a large flock of resting gulls.
Before heading for home we made another visit to Iken searching for the Cattle Egret but again it failed to appear.
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