On Monday July 14th David and I spent the day at Minsmere and Dunwich Heath, an area which delivered many of the birds we had expected to see.
We arrived at Minsmere around 10am where we immediately enjoyed Sand Martins (Bank Swallows) at the famous sand bank just outside the visitor center. We then spent about 3 hours on the loop around the scrape, stopping to visit the hides on the way round. We saw a (Common) Greenshank at the first hide and at the main hide had Spotted Redshank, Ruff, Dunlin, Ringed Plover. Three tern species were also present - Common, Little and Sandwich Terns - but the bird of the day was my lifer Little Gull. There were a dozen of the birds, petite gulls with a tern-like flight. At the Public Vieweing Point we saw a Eurasian Spoonbill - a new UK bird for me - actively feeding and were then lucky enough to have a long look at a perching Bearded Reedling as we headed inshore past the sluice gate.
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| Sand Martin bank at Minsmere |
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| Eurasian Spoonbill |
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| Little Gull |
After tea we headed back to the beach, this time turning left and going up the hill to the lighthouse where we saw a raft of 70 Common Scoter offshore. The 3 hour loop through heath and woodland delivered the target Dartford Warbler but not the hoped for Adder.
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