Last Friday I finally got to spend a day at Minsmere, the first since last November. A beautiful day with clear skies and little wind and not too cold, great hopes for Dartford Warblers and Bearded Tits/Reedlings but not a sight of either. With the hides closed there were not many good views over lagoons and scrapes so I spent my time looking into the reeds for warblers. I was hearing Cetti's Warblers all along the paths and had occasional glimpses of them so I made getting a picture of at least one my target for the day. I found one that was coming to the same tangle of brambles to sing and it was conveniently by a seat, after more than an hour it had scrambled through the brambles to near the top 7 times and on the 6th I finally got an almost clear shot of him (I'm assuming male as he was singing). I had one more brief view of one near the Bittern Hide later. I'll let my photos show what else I encountered.
Mike B, note the number of shots that include unwanted twigs and leaves, at least it gives a reason for going back to try for totally clear shots.
Trevor
Pair of male Gadwalls.
Yellow Wagtail, the second photo confirms the ID but sadly I missed the head.
A pair of Linnets making passing food look like kissing.
This Sedge Warbler popped up while I was listening to a Cetti's nearby.
The result of waiting for over an hour for a brief chance, at least I caught him singing and he was really close, the pictures are hardly cropped.
The only other photo opportunity of a Cetti's.
Male Blackcap in full song
Fabulous photos Trevor, and Minsmere is on my retirement list to visit once time and Covid permit.
Clare, fingers crossed you and Limpy manage to get there soon.
Another day at Minsmere, Sunday at 4.00am this time, for the dawn chorus. A surreal time to be out with an alarm set for 2.40am. It was definitely worth it with all the bird song and the Bitterns booming despite the sub zero temperature. Six of us went and we were the only people there for some hours and we were rewarded with a bright sunrise and a sunny day. Not the best day for bird sightings but this is what we saw.
Trevor.
A couple more from yesterday that I meant to put in.
Michael B said:Clare, fingers crossed you and Limpy manage to get there soon.
We live within an hour's drive of Minsmere - we're waiting for the hides to open so that I can sit and watch all of the gulls and terns. The Scrape will be full of nesting black-headed and Mediterranean gulls and they are joyful to watch.
I'll get it right eventually, one more from yesterday, a distant view of a Wheatear (not a common sight in Suffolk for me), instead of repeating the pic of the Sedge Warbler.