A walk from Dunwich along Dingle Marshes with sights and wildlife aplenty.

Last Monday was forecast to be be the best day of the week weather wise and so it was, bright and sunny all day with little wind but quite cold. Suffolk didn't suffer too much from Storm Arwen, but one of the results of the Storm was a heavy swell pushing down the North Sea and quite a heavy surf running, for Suffolk anyway.

I hope anyone still without power gets all the help they need and all their services restored as soon as possible.

We headed for the coast again, Dunwich this time, and planned a walk north towards RSPB Dingle Marshes. It's a mile and a half walk with a good chance of seeing Snow Buntings at the end of it. The first thing that greeted us was the scene below looking north towards Walberswick.

Then a BHG with an itch.

That's got it.

Then a female Red Deer with offspring.

More of the herd dozing in the sun, the one on the left doing it's best donkey impression.

A couple of Great Egrets flew over the marshes.

There is a wide bank of shingle here with quite a bit of vegetation and lots of birds were foraging for seeds amongst it. There were Linnets, Skylarks and Greenfinches all feeding together in the same area.

What are you looking at?

A couple of Dunlin feeding in the shore pool by the reeds.

A Marsh Harrier on patrol.

You still looking at me?

A Redshank appearing to be distracted by it's own reflection.

The Greenfinches were finding plenty to eat. We were told later that they appear to have come across from the Continent.

A small group of Starlings.

Once you get past the shore pools the going gets quite hard work on the shingle so with the tide low we made good progress on the firm sand on the shore line by the waves.

Looking north towards Southwold.

Further along, more reeds and another Redshank

Then a Little Egret.

Followed by a Reed Bunting.

Finally the Snow Buntings, I'd gone past these ones and had the sun behind them.

A few minutes later and a small flock of 20 or so birds landed quite close to us, they were a mixture of Snow Buntings and Linnets.

The occasional territorial dispute.

Then more birds drop in.

Peace again, they would feed for a few minutes fly off down the beach for a little while then return.

It was then time to head back to Dunwich for lunch at the Ship. When we arrived we were quite hungry but were greeted by a "Closed for Renovation" sign. Plan B was the National Trust Tea Room at Dunwich Heath. No luck, it now only opens at the weekend at this time of year. Minsmere saved the day with an excellent Cheese Scone and a Curried Cauliflower Pasty.

A quick walk into the Reserve late afternoon. a Wren in the late sunshine.

Plus a Stonechat posing beautifully.

Even the waves looked better in the setting sun.

In the last of the light from East Hide some Teal.

A great day out that exceeded expectations.

Hope you are all keeping safe and well.

Trevor

  • What a beautiful set of photos and fabulous variety of species you saw on your day out Trevor, nice to see the buntings at christmastime ! especially the snow type :) and lovely close up of the Stonechat too along with MH, Skylark Egrets, etc.. really enjoyed this post so many thanks for your efforts. 

  • Lovely photos and nice commentary. Thanks for sharing them. The winter light is something special.
  • Thank you.
    If I ignore how cold my hands get sometimes it's favourite time of year for photography.
    Trevor
  • Hi Hazel,
    Really glad you liked this post, especially when after trying to post the finished thing the first time something went wrong (a lost connection to my login) and I lost it all and had to do it again
    Trevor
  • TJS said:
    I lost it all and had to do it again

    I think we've all been there and done that Trevor, it's hardly the most friendly of UI's, nor, seemingly, the most technically stable software!

    On the plus side, what a bleedin' fabulous looking day out!! Beautiful birds in beautiful light, well captured, and the waves doing their best to convey their natural power!

    Not possible to pic a favourite from these, all sooo good! 

    Thanks for your patience and perseverance in sharing them with us

  • Thanks PB,
    That's probably one of my best days out for a long time. Dingle Marshes are quite a reliable place to go, especially this time of year. The Red Deer and Greenfinches were a bonus I've not had there before though and I normally get Stonechats there, they were seen but no photos this time until I got Minsmere.
    Trevor
  • TJS said:
    Really glad you liked this post, especially when after trying to post the finished thing the first time something went wrong (a lost connection to my login) and I lost it all and had to do it again

    It's really frustrating when that happens Trevor and well done you for your endurance re-entering everything again;     similar thing has happened to me in the past whilst composing the post so now I copy as I go along just in case it happens again so I can just paste it back in  !      

  • Beautiful post to see Trevor, fantastic close up of all the birds, loved the GWE, what a fantastic flight shot, and the Stonechat of course is always so photogenic. You have given us a taste of winter but also shown us that the birds are out and about if we just look around, thanks for posting again after losing it the first time, I only put up six or so these days just in case they disappear!!!
  • You have my sympathies regarding lost connections, I had the same on Wednesday last, an unplanned power outage, that lasted for almost 18 hours, with short bursts of power in between.

    Anyway, I needlessly digress from what is yet another fabulous set of photos, and what looked a windy day going by those waves.

    As for cold hands, I use one of two pairs of gloves, (not both together I hasten to add), trying not to name brands isn't easy, so here goes

    RAB Powerstretch gloves for most days, thin enough to operate camera controls along with lens focus rings and switches but not so good on touch screens, but they keep most of the chill away, and Extremities Sticky Power Liner Gloves, just a little warmer and seem to hold out the chill better.

    There are many good eTip gloves for operating touchscreens like mobile phones, but I've not had the need to try them yet.

    Finally, a tip for saving the text of a long post, I regularly copy from the forum post and paste into Word saving after each update, other suitable word processors are available, so if all goes pear shaped, when I open word back up after a power outage, it offers me the last version saved as a temporary file.

    Sadly, I still have to go through the process of reloading the photos, but it takes some of the sting away from a start all over again, but the prompts are there from the text which photo(s) go where.

  • Hi Mike,
    Thanks for the comments and posting tips, I'll try them next time.
    The waves in the pictures are quite deceptive, there was little wind, it was just a very heavy swell from Storm Arwen funneling down the North Sea and producing unusually large breakers as they hit the beach.
    As for gloves I have a pair of photography/shooting gloves where the tip of the index finger and thumb peel back which I use when it's really cold but I still prefer to use my right hand bare if I can stand it.
    Trevor