31st March - 2nd April Birding in Suffolk

As part of a 4-day family break, I took a couple of trips to RSPB Minsmere, a truly outstanding site.

The weather was wet and windy, which largely restricted sightings to waders, herons and ducks. The smaller birds were, wisely, keeping themselves out of the wind. It was great to have my Dad along. Minsmere is perfect for wheelchair/scooter bound birders like Dad, with plenty of hides accessible via flat and firm pathways. Great job RSPB!!

Sightings included, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Avocet, Shelduck, Little Egret, Coot, Teal, Great-crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Greylag Goose, Black-headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull and numerous other gulls i found it difficult to identify.

The birds of the week for me were the Marsh Harrier (at least 5 present) with some fantastic aerial displays and Green Woodpecker, which appeared to be fighting over territories. I also spotted my first Adder for good measure.

Minsmere will definitely be receiving further visits in the future.

Biddestone Yellowhammer and Nesting Garden Birds

With a femoral hernia problem seemingly on the mend, I managed a short, local birding trip today, albeit, in the car. I headed for Biddestone and then onto Ford, West Yatton and back to Biddestone. I spotted 1 Kestrel and 5 Buzzard along the way, however, the highlight was spotting a flock of Yellowhammer feeding in a freshly ploughed field, just outside Biddestone.

The Yellowhammer is a declining species in Britain, with populations more than halving in the past years due to loss of habitat and changes in farming practices. So, it was fantastic to see a flock of around 20 birds, slowly moving towards my car as they fed on remnants of seed from last year's cereal crop. I managed to take a few average photographs.

Returning home, I notice some promising nesting activity in the garden. A Robin has decided to rear a family in some honeysuckle just outside the backdoor. This has been attempted numerous times during the past 10 years, only for the exquisitely crafted nest to be abandoned for a more private location. We’ll do all we can to make this a successful year, starting by encouraging the family to use an alternative route to the garden for the next few weeks.

In addition to the Robin, we also have two pairs of Blue Tit occupying nesting boxes this year.

Could be a bumper year for fledglings!

Bowling Green Marsh/Darts Farm RSPV reserves

This was our first full day in Devon and part of a 3-day mini break with Tarnia (my wife), Laura, Charlie, Fin (3 of my children) and Amelia (my granddaughter).

We decided to visit Bowling Green Marsh and Darts Farm RSPB nature reserves for the first time, on this cloudy day. Both reserves are located near Topsham in Devon, and close to the estuary of the River Exe.

We began the trip at Bowling Green Marsh. Parking was restricted, but we managed to find a spot at the top of Bowling Green Road and then walked down to the hide. The hide looked new and well equipped, with a classroom attached. We had an excellent view of wildfowl and waders, including Redshank (1), Lapwing (30), Wigeon (2), Teal (20), Mallard (6), Heron (4) and Kingfisher (1).

I’m sure the species count would have been higher, if we had stuck around ‘til high-tide, when the birds tend to be pushed off the mudflats of the estuary and onto the River Clyst in front of the hide.

The children were keen to move to visit Darts Farm, which has a good play area, toilets and cafe for a warming drink, so we duly obliged.

Darts Farm is located on farmland, which is surrounded by wetlands. The farmland is home to a large variety of birds and the wetlands attract hundreds of duck, geese and other waders in the winter.

In recent weeks, several Penduline Tits have been regular visitors to the farm, but not today unfortunately.

After taking onboard some hot food and drink, and before heading off, we did see Grey Wagtail (1), Fieldfare(1), Mistle Thrush (1) and Pied Wagtails (6) from the large viewing screen at the farm.

On the way back to our holiday cottage (Lyme Regis), we stopped off to catch-up with the Readmans (my niece Marianne, her husband Mark, their two boys, James and Ollie, and Buster, their springer spaniel). The rugby was on the TV, which was a real bonus, and we also caught sight of a female Bullfinch in their garden.