Where was I?

Mark 10 Comments

Yesterday I saw 75 species of birds at an RSPB nature reserve.

But the species which will stick in my mind for longer were the harbour porpoises, adder and weasel.

Q Where was I?

A Yes, well done Doug, Bob, Stella and I guess Filbert! I’ve never seen harbour porpoise there before and there were at least three of them.  The adder was by the wall of ‘The Sluice’ and was the first I have seen for years.  A bittern stood on a post in the reedbed and two spotted redshank looked gorgeous.  Hobbies were catching dragonflies (I guess) and a nightingale was singing. The weasel escorted me off the reserve on the road towards Westleton.

 

 

 

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10 Replies to “Where was I?”

  3. So it is a reserve with a good lot of birds, near the sea and with heathland. 2 spring to mind but I am going to go with Minsmere. I am wondering if the mention of weasel is relevant to the question. If it is, the relevance has passed me by.

  7. Lucky you! I used to live near Minsmere and was a regular vistor. I loved it, and the surrounding countryside and all the amazing birds. Now I live in west Berks and the sea is a long way away. I enjoy the corn buntings though and got really lucky yesterday and saw lesser spotted woodpecker, a UK first for me, after much effort. It was sharing a bit of dead wood suitable for drumming with a greater – they seemed to be taking it in turns!

  8. Mark: unless East Anglia is far advanced, there aren’t many (if any) damselflies let alone dragonflies on the wing yet I suspect – so the hobbies you saw at Minsmere were probably catching much smaller insects. I was on the Somerset Levels on the first two days of May but didn’t see a single airborne dragonfly or damselfly while watching some 17 hobbies over Shapwick NNR. They were all rather high but definitely catching small insects. (2-3 years ago I and others counted over 80 in the air together there…..a quite wonderful sight).
    In terms of RSPB reserves, Lakenheath is the (hobby) heaven as you probably know – with up to 50 recorded there at this time of year in most years (65 the maximum ever I think).
    It’s a real joy to spend time watching these falcons as a brief respite from all the depressing wildlife news that’s around.
    Nick

    1. Nick – thanks for that. I was at Lakenheath on Saturday afternoon and although it provided crane, bittern and bearded tit, there was only one hobby on the wing.

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