Quiet day at Minsmere

Our second trip to Minsmere this year (first trip). It's a quiet time of year, not a lot of birds around, but those that are around tend to be interesting.

It's a two and a half hour drive and we had David with a bad back in the car, so it took a while to lever him out once we'd arrived. A quick look over the reserve from the nearest hide and then back for bacon buttie & coffee before continuing, Mrs L had scone & jam which she shared with the wasp.

The first birds of interest were feeding on the brambles, a whitethroat and a lesser whitethroat were good enough to be feeding close together to let us appreciate the differences. A hunt for bearded tits was unsuccessful, but we were able to find David his first Avocet (not terribly difficult at Minsmere). Then Hobby, Common Sandpiper, Sandwich Tern, Dunlin & Ringed Plover with excellent views of Black-tailed godwits.

The highlight of the day would have been a Bittern that flew over us, but although Mrs L saw it I didn't so the highlight will have to be the Marsh Harrier attempting to catch a duck. The duck dived, the harrier attempted to hover, the duck surfaced, the harrier swooped, the duck dived, this continued for a while before the harrier gave up and the duck escaped.

Another interesting battle was between a Grey Heron and a snake / eel, this eventually came to an end when a second Heron joined in and the snake / eel made good it's escape while the herons fought, although it'll certainly be nursing a few cuts and bruises if it survived.

So an interesting quiet day at Minsmere came to an end and with David still seriously struggling with his back we returned home. David & Clare are getting married in seven weeks so here's hoping he's okay for that, he's already had to withdraw from the three finals he reached in our tennis club competitions that were scheduled for next weekend and the surprise naked skydiving that's arranged for his stag do in three weeks time is looking dubious, so any suggestions for an alternative would be welcome - as David tends to read this blip he'll have to wonder whether the naked skydiving is a bluff or double bluff!