Marsh harrier

Back blipping on 30th Jun

We've had a busy couple of days, so I'm rather behind on blipping.

On Sunday, we decided at short notice that we would like to go down to Minsmere on Monday.  I checked - there was no need to book tickets in advance.  Then W asked if I had looked at the events, and did I fancy the dusk walk to see/hear nightjars, which was happening that evening?  So I looked, and I booked.  It would mean a late night drive back, but that was OK.

I then looked further at the advertised events, and discovered that there was a moth event happening at 8am on the Tuesday.  We rather fancied this as well, so I then checked to see if there was local hotel accommodation - there was - and booked the hotel and the moth event.

On Monday, we had a leisurely start, packed our binoculars and a change of clothes, and drove down to Minsmere.  We had a coffee on arrival, and a lovely leisurely wander around.  At Bittern hide, we did (briefly) see a bittern flying across and settling somewhere in the reeds (and later probably the same one flying away again) - but absolutely no chance of any photos.  But the marsh harriers put on a great show for us.  In extras is a lovely (thought rather distant) view of one with his undercarriage down.

Then we had lunch, before walking to a couple of the hides overlooking the scrapes, where we saw lots of water birds, including handsome avocets, fluffy shelduck babies, and the one which is my second extra, which I believe is a black tailed godwit.

Then we retired to our hotel in nearby Leiston, where I had booked an evening meal at a local Indian restaurant.  The meal was tasty, but if we come out of this jaunt with Covid, it will have been caught at the restaurant, where the proprietor had little clue about social distancing.  His mask was frequently below his nose, he hugged and touched unnecessarily, and insisted on shaking hands as we left.

Our dusk walk fulfilled its promise, with many opportunities to hear the "churring" of the nightjars, and a couple of very brief glimpses of one flying.

Afterwards, we returned to our hotel for a short night's sleep.

More later .......