In lieu of today’s breakfast we’d opted last night for a packed lunch, which was delivered to our door in a cool box. Consequently, we were at Minsmere at 8am. We saw Red Deer from the Bittern hide, plus the usual Marsh Harriers and so on. We did the route to the Island Mere hide …
We did a good walk. Blustery north winds, very occasional light rain, sunny spells. We followed an overgrown path alongside a drainage channel, lots of nettles and sedge and reed warblers all the way. Then across Westleton Heath. Good lunch in the Ship Inn at Dunwich, a ploughman’s sharing platter that would have served …
Kippers for breakfast, then spent the day at Minsmere. Lots of birds: Cuckoo, Bitterns, Bearded Tits, Marsh Harriers, Garden Warblers, Hobbys, etc. Checked into the Eel’s Foot Inn. After dinner we walked down the lane. Bitterns booming, midges, bats.
We bought some food for lunch in Aldeburgh and then drove to Orford Quay and caught the 10am ferry, which we’d pre-booked, to Orford Ness. Orford Ness is an approximately 7-mile by 1-mile shingle spit, one of the largest in the world. It’s now owned by the National Trust, but for many years was used …
We went back to Weeting Heath nature reserve first thing and watched the Stone Curlews and chicks again. Lapwings, normal Curlews, lots of Rabbits and Hares. A couple came into the hide with a telescope (“Birdwatching for 50 years, been coming here every year since before they built the hide, there’s a Cuckoo likes to …
We set off at 1pm and drove for 4 hours to Weeting Heath nature reserve in Norfolk, near the Suffolk border. We watched a distant pair of Stone Curlews with two chicks. We walked through the woods for a bit, then checked in to the Crown and Mundford, a few miles down the road. Nice …