Rising to the challenge

Guest blog by Sonya Miller-Smith, regular visitor

[This was written a week or so ago, so some of the species mentioned may since have moved on - ed]

When Ian asked our family to write about our sponsored birdwatch at Minsmere, I suspect he really had the children in mind, but they can barely lift their heads from their pillows after the excitement of the day. So, as mum, driver, chief binocular carrier and second adjudicator, the baton has fallen to me.

The premise was simple: a sponsored birdwatch at Minsmere to raise funds for the Waveney Bird Club's proposed access for all trail to East Hide. Each wild bird species could count, so long as it was seen by at least one child and one adjudicator/parent (let's just say that the youngest of us has a tendency towards stringing*). With a target of 60 birds, the children had already extorted sponsorship totalling no less than £3.50 per species from doting grandparents and strong-armed aunts and uncles.

[*stringing is a birdwatching term that refers to sometimes fanciful or optimistic identifications where the true identity of the bird is actually something different. - ed]

So, bright and early in the morning, Breya (age 10) and Oliver (8) jumped out of bed, ready to identify any feathered species they could find. Breakfast foregone in favour of an early start at Minsmere, we had spotted 12 species of bird by the time we left the car park at 8 am. As the morning was bright and warm, the path through the woods towards the crossroads brought a variety of passerines active in the summer light, together with repeated sightings of a noisy green woodpecker, keen to join the list. With endless options, "which way next" was the dilemma. The path to the sluice won out. Migrant, southern and brown hawkers together with a myriad of unidentified damselflies filled the air, temporarily distracting us from our quest.

Southern hawker by Ian Barthorpe

Wildlife Lookout was a delight, with a dazzling array of waders: godwits, plovers, sandpipers, turnstone were all resplendent in the frenzy of morning feeding, together with half a dozen little egrets, and various ducks and geese. We also witnessed the more unexpected sight of a summer and winter wader feeding side by side in a green sandpiper and common snipe - a fact wasted on the children in their enthusiasm. RSPB volunteer Peter, primed as to our endeavour, kindly ensured that neither child missed a shy greenshank, nor a couple of juvenile little ringed plovers - an exciting identification that we would have struggled to make unaided. 34, 35, 36...39. The list was growing faster than I could record the children's enthusiastic calls.

Greenshank by Jon Evans

Bearded tit, sedge warbler, marsh harrier and a heard but not seen Cetti's warbler ("OK, you can have it") were each admitted to the list on the way to South Hide, and we were soon at the sluice watching a family of yellow wagtails. A couple of common scoters not far offshore brought the count to a respectable 58 before breakfast. The need for a prompt retreat tot the cafe for sausage and bacon baps was now all too apparent.

North Bushes brought several more passerine species as well as an all fours inspection of the bee-wolves' antics by the younger members of the family. East Hide could never fail to delight nor enthral and provided a great opportunity to practice gull identification as Mediterranean, lesser black-backed, herring, black-headed and little gulls obligingly sat side by side in the sunshine. Oliver took some convincing that a rather comical white-headed, yellow-billed satellite male ruff was not half gull, half waders (see what i mean about stringing...?)

The bird count crept up through the afternoon, and with enthusiasm reinvigorated by large slices of cake at the cafe, we hit 70 species with a treecreeper right outside the visitor centre. The day was rounded off by a trip to watch young barn owls being ringed by friends whom we met through Minsmere.

Treecreeper by Jon Evans

We didn't spot any lesser whitethroats in the North Bushes - seen by everyone else - and Breya and Oliver both missed a close encounter with a hunting female sparrowhawk which almost collided with me in the woods, but the children loved their sponsored birdwatch. Including the barn owls, we saw a total of 79 adjudicated birds, nearly bankrupting the grandparents in doing so.

With gift aid, Breya and Oliver hope to contribute a little over £300 tot eh East Hide access for all path appeal. However, our family was the real beneficiary of the day. we spent an action-packed day together in the sunshine, sharing a common interest in a place that we love.

Thank you Minsmere

The Miller-Smith family birdwatching