Suffolk - August 2024

 Last week, Jayne and I had a family holiday down in Suffolk. It was a family holiday, so most of the time was spent on the beach enjoying the 20+ degree heat! We did, however, manage a trip to RSPB Minsmere, where we had fantastic views of Water Vole and Grass Snake.

The Water Vole, a juvenile, was seen feeding from the dipping pond, about 2m away. We watched it for a good 10 minutes, before it suddenly swam off into the vegetation, only for a hunting Grass Snake to appear!

Water Vole

Grass Snake

Whilst at Minsmere, we also saw, amongst others,  the following species: Ringed Plover, Ruff, Redshank, Lapwing, Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Black-headed, Herring and Little Gull, Little and Great White Egret, Stock Dove and Cetti's Warbler. Muntjac Deer were also seen.

One evening we went across to Aldeburgh. Whilst there, I checked to see if last year's ringed Herring Gull, FOMT, was back again. The good news was that it was, sat on exactly the same rooftop as last year! Click on the label for details of where and when, it was ringed.

FOMT

The place we were staying in, in Bramfield, had several ponds, which had Ruddy Darter, Migrant Hawker and a pair of Willow Emerald Damselflies on them. 

Suffolk Bits and Bobs

 Following our week in Suffolk there are a few more sightings to report.

First up is the Small Red-eyed Damselfly. We saw this species in both Aldeburgh and Southwold. In Aldeburgh, it was on the garden pond of the house where we were staying. In Southwold, it was found on the boating lake, by the pier.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Also by the pier was a new species for me, an Emperor Moth caterpillar. One I wasn't expecting to find!

Emperor Moth

The final record was a beautiful Mint Moth (Pyraustra aurata) that I found in the garden in Aldeburgh.

Mint Moth

Sutton Hoo - 8th August 2023

 Today, we visited Sutton Hoo. Whilst there, we walked around the site, and, despite dull, over cast conditions, we spotted a few interesting insects.

The first was a female Brown Argus butterfly (my first of the year).

Brown Argus

The next species was a Nursery Web Spider.

Nursery Web Spider

Red Banded Sand Wasp

 On Tuesday, I spotted a Red Banded Sand Wasp, Ammophila sp, nest digging in a sandy bank in Southwold, Suffolk.

Red Banded Sand Wasp

Herring Gull FOMT

 I spotted this Herring Gull, FOMT, on the beach at Aldeburgh, Suffolk on Friday (4th). I haven't been able to find a project yet, but will update as soon as I find one.

FOMT

UPDATE: This gull was ringed, by the Southern Colour Ringing Group (formally North Thames Gull Group) at Pitsea Landfill site, on 7th February 2015. At the time, it was aged as a BTO core 10, i.e. in its 5th calendar year, or older. It was first recorded in Aldeburgh on 22nd April 2017, and has been recorded there in virtually every month, ever since!!

A Week in Suffolk

I've just been down to Suffolk for a week's holiday, and in between visits to Southwold and Aldeburgh, and sitting on the beach in amazing 25 degree heat, I managed to see a few birds and increase the Year List, including a  new British Tick, in the form of a Collared Pratincole. Here's a terrible picture that I managed to get.

Collared Pratincole

 

Most of the birding, including the Pratincole,  took place at the superb RSPB Minsmere reserve, which was just 10 minutes drive from our cottage. I managed to see all of the year ticks except the Dartford Warbler and the Garden Warbler, at this site. Here's another poor shot, this time of the part breeding plumaged Curlew Sandpiper.

 

Curlew Sandpiper

 

Year List update:
153 – Red-legged Partridge

154 – Green Sandpiper
155- Curlew Sandpiper
156- Collared Pratincole
157 – Little Gull (20+ every day at Minsmere)
158 – Little Tern
159 – Sandwich Tern
160 – Arctic Tern (1)
161 – Dartford Warbler (Dunwich Heath)
162 – Garden Warbler (1 ringed at The Avenue, Chesterfield on 12th July)

As well as the birds I also managed to see a few butterflies and moths, so I'll add another post about those later.

Colour-ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull and possible Caspian Gull

Whilst in Suffolk last week I spent quite a few hours at RSPB Minsmere. One morning, whilst looking out over the scrapes I spotted a colour-ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull (see below).

Lesser Black-backed Gulls

 

I sent off the record to the BTO and am currently awaiting information to say where and when it was ringed. It could possibly be from nearby Orford Ness, where many birds have been ringed and tracked on their winter migration (see details here).

 

Also out on the scrapes was this large, immature gull, (left hand bird) that I think is a Caspian Gull.

 

Immature Caspian and Lesser Black-backed Gulls

 

I love looking at gulls, but I'm not great on identifying them in juvenile plumages, so if you can positively identify this bird for me, please let me know.

 

 

UPDATE: I received an email today (3rd June), telling me that my colour-ringed LBB Gull was ring as a pullus at Havergate Island, an RSPB site in Suffolk, in July 2010. This is the first sighting back in England, but it was reported 3 times in winter 2010 in Portugal and then moved south to Agadir in Morocco, where it spent the early part of 2011 and returned again in winter 2012. Interestingly, this is very similar movement to the birds from Orford Ness, in the BTO research shown above.

 

UPDATE 2: Just heard from Dominic that the above bird is definitely a Caspian Gull, so thanks for that Dominic and I'll update the Year List:

 

141 - Caspian Gull

Westleton Heath and Easton Bavents

Following on from the two posts at the weekend I thought I'd better update the blog with  some more pictures and info from my recent Suffolk visit.

First up  was an early morning visit to Westleton Heath, where, after a little searching I managed to locate a few Dartford Warblers.

Dartford Warbler

 

Also present on this site were Linnet, Chaffinch, Mistle Thrush and a singing Woodlark.

 

Later that day I "twitched" a beautiful Red-backed Shrike that was present in bushes at Easton Bavents near Southwold. Not the world's best photo, 'cause the bird was quite distant and there was a heat haze! Beautiful bird!

 

Red-backed Shrike

 

Minsmere Magic!

Just been down to Suffolk for a week's family holiday. I managed to get quite a lot of birding done, including 3 visits to RSPB Minsmere and a drive over to RSPB Lakenheath.  Over the course of the week I managed a respectable total of 101 species, including 15 "year ticks".

We stayed in a small village called Sweffling, which was about 20 minutes from Minsmere. I went across to this superb reserve on 3 ocassions, incluidng 2 early morning visits. Bitterns were heard booming on all visits and Jayne and I watched one feeding from the aptly named Bittern Hide for over 30 minutes one evening.

Bittern

Over the three visits we recorded a total of 69 species including Cuckoo, Bearded Tits, Nightingale, Marsh Harrier and Hobby, as well as a Great White Egret. This really is an amazing place, well worth a visit at any time of the year.

Hobby

Year List update:

126 – Hobby

127 – Cuckoo
128 – Nightingale
129 – Marsh Harrier
130 – Common Tern
131 – Cettis Warbler
132- Reed Warbler
133 – Bearded Tit
134 – Red-backed Shrike
135 – Dartford Warbler
136 – Woodlark
137 – Grasshopper Warbler
138 – Dunlin
139 – Great White Egret
140 – Barn Owl

More details of some of the above birds to follow.