Drizzly Start

As it was raining when we left home I didn’t bring my camera this week.

Drizzly start to our day at Minsmere> when we got |to Minsmere the temperature in the car was 11C and it was mild when we got out of the car.

We walked along the path toward to Visitors Centre, there was Pheasants around the trees and two were at the Bird feeder outside the Visitor Centre. When we got closer we noticed there a number of other birds, Chaffinches, Blue Tits Great Tit and of course the Grey Squirrel too.

The Bird Feeder outside the Café was not as busy as normal but still kept us entertained. The Blue Tits, Great tits, Robin, Chaffinches all kept coming back ‘n’ forwards to the feeder. The family of Pheasants kept looking up to see when the next seed was going to be dropped by mistake but they had to be quick the Black birds and Dunnocks were waiting close by. There were a couple of time they got the seed before the gathering of Pheasants and when they did get luck they got a quick peck from one of the female Pheasants. By this time the birds were joined by a Rabbit and two Grey Squirrels after the falling seeds. The Pheasant did know who to watch out for the Black birds, Dunnocks or the new comers, the Rabbit, Squirrels? With all the excitement I nearly missed a quick visit by a Long-tiled Tit. At was about 10:30 and the Drizzle had stopped and the clouds were starting to crack and showing a bit of blue sky.

We made our down to the Beach. It was lucky walking down to the Pond and took a few minutes to stop to see what was about. After standing the Pond for 5 minutes we were not lucky to see anything but you never know? We continued our walk to the Beach and North Bush had a couple of big puddles that I had to be pushed through them I my wheelchair (I didn’t mind my feet kept dry).

Our next stop was at the North Wall and again this week it was quiet, apart from two Oystercatchers flying in and landing at the far end of the North Wall. After a few more minutes checking that we hadn’t missed anything we made our way along the North Marsh Path.

As we got half way there was a single Mute Swam swimming in the Dike on the left. We stopped to watch for a minute to see if the other one was close by? We could see it so we continued along the North Marsh Path, you could hear different bird in the reeds both sides of the path. We got to the end of the path to a view of the grey North Sea, I just happened to look down to the path near my front wheel of my chair and the that one of the Deer had left something of the path. When I looked closer it was a Common Toad just sitting there (I have no Camera). After standing just looking the Toad we made our way back along the path. We stopped again to look at the single Mute Swam. As we were standing we could hear another Swam calling and as we turned to look behind us there was the other Mute Swam swimming along the Dike on the left. It walked up the bank and stood right in front of me, what a great photo opportunity. Once they greeted each other I just couldn’t believe when they put their heads together there was the perfect heart shape. There was steam coming out of my ears why didn’t I bring my camera.

When we got in the North Hide I noticed that the reeds had all been cut down and WOW! What a view. While we were in the North Hide Shelduck, Wigeon, Mallard, Avocet, Lapwing and Black-headed Gull. The Gulls at Minsmere were really noisy. When we left the North Hide we had a Robin follow us along the path nearly to the pond.

Back at the café for lunch, the bird feeder was as busy like always, we were not lucky this lunch time to sit at the window and watch the feeder. After we had lunch we made our was to the Wildlife Hide and South Hide.

We walk through the Woodland Walk and the tree tops were full of Birds going from branch to and tree to tree. At the end of the path there was a gathering of bird watcher at the South Belt Crossroads. When we got to then, they told that they were watching a Nuthatcher and a Treecreeper. I was not luck enough to spot them, I saw a Treecreeper last week just along the path. It was a little bit hard going through the muddy, once we pushed through we ground hardened. The path to the Wildlife Hide had some big puddles and there was a couple of times I thought I was going for a swim.

The Wildlife was quite busy out on the Scrape. The Greylag Geese were trying to complete with the Gulls who could make more noise? With the noise going on there was Teal, Shoveler, Mallard and some noise Gulls too. We stayed sometime then we made our way the muddy path to the South Hide, as we were getting closer to The South Hide the volume of noise got louder. Before we went into The South Hide we had a look over the North Levels, I had a nice view now the reeds have died back and been cut down too.

When we looked over the Levels we saw Tufted Duck, Smew, Coot, Moorhen and Magpie. The South Scrape was full of the noise Gulls you just could hear yourself think, we kept the windows shut too to dampen the noise down a bit. We decided not to attempt to go to The Sluice as the mud looked a little thick and will be too hard to push me through. So we made our way back to the Visitors Centre and café.

Once back at the Visitors Centre we had a look round the shop and I had a quick look at the bird food to see if I needed anymore. When we were just leaving I saw two Reed Buntings and a Muntjac Deer at the Birdfeeder outside The Visitors Centre, a great end to another great day, hope to see you all next week with my camera this time.