Birds – Page 4 – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

Minsmere and a Friday off

We are off to The Eels Foot this weekend to meet up with Helen and Nik. The Eels Foot if you don;t follow the blog is a pub in a village called Eastbridge just on the edge of the RSPB reserve at Minsmere, it has a couple of features which attract us back, the beers is excellent (Adnams is my all time favourite), and it is a close as you can get to Minsmere for accomodation.

We set out after the rush hour and the plan was to meet up in the Lord Neslon in Southwold at about 13:00, we headed down the A41 but soon turned off when we heard that the M25 was closed both ways between the A42 and the M1, it turns out there was a 6 car pile up. We wasted a bit of time but ended up taking the shorter but slightly longer cross country route involving amongst other roads, A14, A12, A505.

At about 12 we got a call from N&H, they had been way laid by and antiques shop and would be late, so we went to Minsmere for a quick circuit of the reserve and an excellent lunch at the visitors centre. Then we met up at the pub at 14:00.

The pub was followed by a some shopping, I bought a paper. I also managed to get some pano shots of the main square, but the light was grey and overcast so the results might not be that good. It seems ever since I have been wanting to take panorama shots the weather has been not conducive.

After shopping we headed of to the pub, via the long spiral route, due to my navigation. We just had time to see if the owls were out, and get a shower before eating in the pub in good company. The menu did not have so many veggie options as usual but we made the most of it all the same.

Cley NWT

We area having a day off the rest of the party and heading to Cley NWT, the weather is fantastic sun shining just the odd cloud, an the air is still, even by the sea there is only a light breeze.
Before we set out we went to Morston to book Beans seal trip, but they were all booked up for this afternoon, but we have the option of trying again on Thursday evening or Friday morning 09:30 which would mean an early start.
We headed out along East Bank and saw probably 12 Bearded Tits, then over on the sea bank we had fleeting views of several Lapland Butings that have been resident for a couple of weeks now. After sitting on the sea defenses for 20 minutes, we saw an Artic Skua, but dipped on the Porpoises.
As we walked along the sea defence we sa a couple of Sandwich Terns and a Gannet.
We headed to the North hide and as usual the time we were there meant we were looking into the sun so good viewa were impossible. We saw plenty of waders that proved difficult to identify. On leaving the hide we kept our eyes out for the Hooded Crow on Eye Field, but it was not to be. A loo stop was in order so we headed straight back to the visitors center and had a well earned lunch, cheese sandwich for mw and Helen opted for the humous and roast vegetables toasted Sandwich.

Suitably refreshed we did a quick tour of the hides to the west of the visitors center. On the walk out we saw the hooded crow, which was a great surprise. After some time in the hides we headed back to the hut but not before, coffee and cakes at Byfords in Holt. We have not been to Holt for some time but it seems to be going up market, lots of shops for Helen to browse and spend money.
The service in Byfords was pretty slow we ordered hot chocolate, cappuccino, and a couple of cakes and it seemed to take an eon for it to turn up, how long can it take to steam some milk and slice a couple of cakes? Helen suggested the cow was playing hard to get!
When it turned up the apricot and almond tart was worth the wait, and the cappuccino was tasty. Helen reported that the huge hot chocolate (half a litre I estimated) was divine, the generous wedge lemon cake was tasty.
After some shop browsing, I purchased a flash card reader, then we drove on to the deli at Cley for some snacks for our tapas evening tomorrow. Finally we headed back to Blakeney via Cley Spey to get Helen a longer strap for her Knockers!

The Old Swan

Helen and I decided to take some time out of our preparations, to go on one of our favourite walks from The Old Swan at Swan Bottom. You take the gravel track from the left had side of the pub do a big circle then end up back on the other side of the road after passing along the outskirts of The Lee.

After the first woods we noticed in the field where the Yellow Hammers hang out that there were quite a few Beatles and Long legged spiders about. We usually do the walk in the Autumn/Winter/Spring time so it was a treat to see it in late summer mode. The blackberries are starting to become ripe, so you had to be careful to find a sweet ripe one if you did not want to end up with a real sour one.

Further round we came across a bare patch in a field that had more that it’s fair share of butterflies, quite a few browns, and a definite Holly Blue amongst the blues that were there. I made a mental note to learn a bit more about butterflies so that I could at least identify the common ones. I guess it is a bit like bird watching you need to start to identify them and after a while becomes second nature and you wander why it was so difficult.

We then crossed the horse field where you can often see Meadow Pipit, Red Wing, and Fieldfare in the winter and then took a wrong turning in the woods. I recognised we had stumbled across the edge of The Lee. Following our nose we eventually got back on track, I will remember that route in future it made a change to pass through some civilisation for once. Perhaps we could start the walk from Lee Common pub instead another time. I thought it is called the Cock and Rabbit but apparently is it called Graziemille . We also passed an old closed pub which looked a bit run down call The Bugle .

Back on track we headed through the farm and along the usually muddy bit, and it was muddy, then onto the final stretch along the arched hedgerow path up towards the big house, which is opposite the pub.

We decided to treat ourselves with a pub lunch, as usual we had veggie burger and chips accompanied by a pint of real ale. Helen had tribute and I had Chiltern Ale, both were great pints especially sweet after our longish walk.

Snipe

Bonus bird today from the office window. Snipe (1 YTD 47)

Three new birds for the 2009 list

Went out early this morning (10am!), to Ivinghoe. it was really cold -3 C. Spotted a Stonechat. Soon got fed up with temperature and went to Hillside for coffee and biscuits, where we got Greenfinch and Greater Spotted Woodpecker. (3 YTD 46)

Some more birds

Walk with Helens folks, along canal then up into the woods:

Song Thrush, Coal Tit, Wren, Moorhen, Mallard, Little Grebe, Goldcrest, Red-legged Partridge, Pheasant, Robin (10 YTD 21)

Arrived at Brighton

Weather gorgeous not many birds about other than Herring Gull, and Lesser Black Backed!

Birds seen in Norfolk in a week

Starling, Black Headed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Pheasant, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Swallow, Greater Black-backed Gull, Robin, Wren, Blue Tit, Goldcrest, Long Tailed Tit, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Bearded Tit, Collared Dove, Jackdaw, Canada Goose, Lapwing, Avocet, Ruff, Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Golden Plover, Egyptian Goose, Coot, Mute Swan, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Linnet, Spotted Redshank, Brent Goose, Sanderling, Knot, Eider, Golden Plover, Oyster catcher, Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Meadow PipitGuillemot, Gannet, Shag, Red Throated Diver, Wigeon., Siskin, Redwing, Pintail, Shoveler, Yellow Browed Warbler, Pink Footed Goose, Coal Tit, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swan, Reed Bunting, Stonechat, Field Fare, Green Finch, Jay, Red Necked Pharalope, Barred Warbler, Canada Goose, Bean Goose.

Another Yellow Browed Warbler

Got up early (06:00) for the Migration watch walk at Minsmere. Saw lots of birds flying in from the sea until the sun came up then they stopped. Down beyond the sluice we saw a Yellow Browwed Warbler, again, (as Forrest would say!)

Birds seen in Suffolk in a week

Magpie, Crow, Rook, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Starling, Black Headed Gull, Kestrel, Wheatear, Red Legged Partridge, Stonechat, Snow Bunting, Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Lapwing, Greylag Goose, Black Tailed Godwit, Bittern, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Canada Goose, Cormorant, Wigeon, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Pied Wagtail, Coot, Teal, Little Egret, Shoveller, Mallard, Gadwell, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Robin, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Marsh Harrier, Little Grebe, Dartford Warbler, Treecreeper, Grey Heron, Coal Tit, Green Woodpecker, Bittern, Little Ringed Plover, Snipe, Bar Tailed Godwit, Shelduck, Spotted Redshank, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Greater Black-backed Gull, Curlew, Mute Swan, Jackdaw, Greenshank, Blackbird, Long Tailed Tit, Wren, Reed Bunting, Goldcrest, Yellow Browed Warbler, Siskin, Golden Plover, Song Thrush, Linnet, Brambling, Red Wing, Avocet, Dunnock, House Martin, Sand Martin, Sparrow Hawk, Redstart, Grey Wagtail, Ruff, Common Buzzard, Swallow, Chiffchaff, Grey Plover, Oyster Catcher, Hort Eared Owl, Jay.