Wednesday 3rd October 2018
Day at Minsmere
WEATHER
15’C in car when we arrived. Sunny intervals and warm enough without coats. It turned cloudy by Lunchtime and stayed cloudy for the rest of the day.
The Hawthorn Bushes near the Car Park are all covered with Red Berries.
Hawthorn by Car Park
Most of the Hawthorn round Minsmere are covered with Red Berries.
As we were going down the slope towards the pond there was a Female Common Darter Dragonfly on one of the wooden rails.
Female Common Darter Dragonfly
The North Wall was quiet of birdlife, there were some Rabbits being chased by a Magpie. The walk from the North Walk to the Beach was not as windy as it was last week so no sailing to the beech along the path. The view toward Southwold this morning was not as clear as it was last week; the Sea was crashing on the Beach today.
Walking down the North Hide Path was sheltered and it felt warmer. Inside the hide, I did try to take a Photo of a Hornet that was on the inside of the window but it just would not stay in one place long enough. So I gave-up and not long after it went out an opened window. On the way back for Lunch along the path, I noticed A Parasol Mushroom; I did not see it when we were walking to the North hide because it was hidden.
Parasol Mushroom North Hide Path
Same Parasol Mushroom taken last Week Wednesday 26th September
I think I saw this Parasol Mushroom last week but it was not out properly.
We thought that we would have a check behind the Pond to see what we could find. There were some Fly Agaric hiding under the fallen Leaves.
Fly Agaric
This one was here last week. looks like its been someone Breakfast?
It was nice enough to sit out again for Lunch, I just cannot believe that a couple of day it was the start of October the days might be nice but it gets chilly in the Evening though.
Afternoon half of Minsmere we made our way down to the Sluice and we do the two Hides on the return walk from the Sluice, as this time of the year it gets chilly quick in the afternoons so we find it best to do the sluice first.
As we got started through the Woodland Walk, I noticed two large Fungus growing on the side of one of a tree on the right at start of the Woodland Walk. When I checked to see what kind, it is I think it is one of the Porcelain Fungus.
Porcelain Fungus
If these are not Porcelain Fungus type? Please someone put me right :)
The South Belt Crossroad path has dried out and go sandy, we have to pick our way through so we do not get stuck with my wheelchair. We have found if you keep to the left hand side, it is firmer, and it is only the centre of the path that is sandy in the dry weather. The rest of the path all the way to the Sluice is firm. There was still a good number of Dragonflies Darting about, most of them were below the tops of the Reeds sheltered from the wind and we had a quick visit from a Butterfly I was not quick enough to see what it was, but I did noticed that it was smaller than a Red Admiral. There was not much to see at the Sluice but we got a very clear view of the Bittern Hide the sun was shining right on it. We were standing by the bench and when we looked down the bank toward the water there was a large number of Dragonflies darting from one side of the bank to the other, they looked like they were having fun away from the wind.
The Glasswort was still all out the front of the South Hide.
There was a good number of different wader birds on the South Scrape, but they were just too far for me to get a good photo. We did get a visit from a young Mute Swan that came out up to the front of the Hide.
Young Mute Swan South Hide
Nice pics Nick, glad you had better weather this time.