Minsmere

The RSPB's reserve at Minsmere is undoubtedly our best local reserve - even if local means a two and a half hour drive. We've not been there for a few years and a nice new development is that when you arrive they give you a list of what's about. Looking at this now we did pretty well, seeing most of what we were supposed to see.

I get a lot of pleasure watching relatively common birds, but if you've travelled that far it's nice to see something a bit more exotic or even something you've not seen before. I was fortunate enough to see a couple that were new to me, a Bearded Tit and a Hobby, unfortunately Mrs L missed out on the Beardie, but the Hobby had taken up residence on a branch about 100m from one of the hides and was probably the most photographed bird of the day.

Even though I got some good shots of the Hobby today's blip has to be of the Avocet. When we first started bird watching this was a very rare bird, but its numbers have increased in the uk and according to the RSPB site there are now 877 breeding pairs on the east and south coasts of England. Such a beautiful bird would make the two and a half hour journey worthwhile in its own right.

Other sightings of note were - Little egret, Ringed plover, Dunlin, Knot, Sandwich tern, Common tern, Great crested grebe, Marsh harrier & Long-tailed tit (Mrs L only).

A grand day out.

Even better in LARGE.