November break in Suffolk
Last week we had a couple of days down in Suffolk staying at the Ship Inn at Dunwich with a long walk around Minsmere and Dunwich in some sunshine and a second cloudy day around Dunwich heath and Walberswick my old stamping ground from UEA days in the early 70’s.
Blue hour just before sunrise from Dunwich beach
Dunwich on a dull morning - our base
A Herring Gull on Greyfriar’s monastery remains of - would Herring Gulls have been resident in the days when the Monastery was active?
Beats the normal seaside rooftop view
Part of the resident East Suffolk Barnacle Goose flock heading up the coast to the favoured fields at Southwold early morning
The woods at Minsmere were in glorious colour but are largely ignored by most visitors who head for the hides and wet birds!
The woods were pretty quiet though but managed a Marsh Tit and a few Green Woodpeckers
some cracking fungi were in evidence in the woodlands and I even started trying to take some low angle pics with the tilt screen on the R62
a late Red Admiral on the sunny day
Gorse in flower in late November with plenty of spiders webs. The heather seemed to be recovering from the dire state we saw it in in April with a lot of new growth that hopefully bodes well for the Dartford Warblers next year
Dunwich heath and the woodlands at Minsmere
Although we used to see wintering Stonechats on the Suffolk heaths in the early 70’s Dartford Warblers were never dreamt of being confined to the South coast heaths at that time
male Stonechat in the heather
The feeding association between Stonechats and Dartford warblers was often evident on the heaths
Even if the warbler had to climb up very high
There were a few Dartford Warblers in the heather like this immature but they were tricky to see and usually fairly quiet
A couple of male Dartfords were doing a bit of singing
This male was feeding well up in some birch trees gleaning insects from the trunks and remaining few leaves
Minsmere looking from Dunwich cliff to the Sizewell thing - probably best in black and white
Cormorants flying past the ugly dome Minsmere - Sizewell
My first ever Marsh Harriers were a female and two juveniles at Minsmere on June 30th 1972 so it seemed a ppropriate to take a couple of images of this juvenile one of at least eight birds we saw in the late afternoon
Walberswick Marsh with the remains of the iconic windmill. I have so many great memories related to this place from my years at UEA when winter birding jaunts were often directed to the Minsmere - Walberswick duo with raptors high on the list of hoped for species.
Little Egret at Walberswick - it is daunting to think that back in the early 70’s Little Egret was still a BB rarity and six records at Cley in 1972 was described as remarkable and Great White had amassed only 10 British records by 1974 - we saw many Little of course and at least four Great Whites.
Male Marsh Harrier Walberswick - we saw at least six birds including two adult males - in the early 70’s Marsh Harrier was still a rare bird in Britain and even rarer in winter but we did see the odd one - how times have changed
Female Marsh Harrier pre roosting in the Walberswick reedbed - in the early 70’s we used to watch the raptors from the vantage point by the Lodge but the views from there are now almost totally obscured by trees while East Hills is also more tree covered and far different from when I saw my first Red-backed Shrike juveniles there in August 24th 1971 when of course the species still bred there. I actually saw a Woodchat Shrike there before my first Red-backed as I was looking on East Hills and came across a birder looking at the vagrant adult Woodchat before I managed to find the Red-backed Shrikes.
Walberswick was also the site that yielded not only my fist ever Rough-legged Buzzards, three over East Hills on November 10th 1973 one of which I distinctly recall was straight over my head at one point and not very high up. The same day I made notes on a Common Buzzard that was with one of the Rough-legs such was the rarity of that species in eastern England at the time. A move to Minsmere the same day also produced my first adult male Hen Harrier. In the ensuing winter of 1974 - 75 Rough-legged Buzzards arrived in East Anglia in even greater numbers and Walberswick provided us with a run of sightings with the astounding sight of 11 in the air on November 10th 1974 as we scanned around the reserve and Dunwich forest. The same day a Great Grey Shrike was on East Hills, an almost guaranteed species in winter in those days, two Hooded Crows, a ringtail Hen Harrier, female Marsh Harrier, 6 Bewick’s Swans and 20 Velvet Scoters completed a good day out! We were back at the hallowed site on December 7th and 8th amassing more sightings of at least five Rough-legged Buzzards, a Red Kite then a major rarity in the East, a Goshawk even rarer, male and two ringtail Hen Harriers, two Great Grey Shrikes, 6 Hooded Crows, Waxwing, male and female Marsh Harrier and Merlin.
A different adult male Marsh Harrier Walberswick
The same adult male as above a real stunner even in very dull and dismal light
Male Hen Harrier Walberswick - this male caught me by sutprise as it flew past quite close but in terrible light and I didn’t see it until it was well past us - one of the species that we used to rely upon on winter visits in the early 70’s with three or four birds typically roosting
In something almost worthy of the X files we had just emerged from cake and coffee at the Walberswick tea rooms when I decided to have a look at Birdguides to see if anything major was in the area and the top message was Black Redstart Walberswick by the Green which is exactly where I was standing! I then noticed a guy sat at one of the benches with bins and asked him if he had seen the Black Red to which he replied its on that roof! Grabbed the bins and camera and my first Black Redstart of the year a sadly declining species that I used to see easily every year but now often miss.
