Part 5, Walberswick to Blythe Estuary and open access land.

Walberswick (continued), We carried on with our exploration , after seeing a tempting little layby near some woods on our way to Walberswick, we checked the map,found the layby  parked up and went and had a nose, turned out it was open access land, one path did have a closed gate accross it but a notice explained this was due to ground nesting birds, so we took the other path. This led off to a  gentle sloping path further into the woods,it was so peaceful, birds singing in the pine trees, cones littered the ground, lots had been nibbled, probably by squirrels, we heard shuffling in the trees looked up and caught a glimpse of one now and again, we were probably disturbing their peace, as there was no other person there.Further up the path we had a choice once again, one path led off to our left amongst Bracken and sparser trees, the other led downwards into thicker trees to our right, we guessed this would eventually lead to the estuary(we hoped), so we turned right, lo and behold infront of us was an expanse of reeds ,we could just see them through the trees, the path went on for quite a way, large trees to our left and reeds to the right, then it opened out a bit more and we could see the Blythe Estuary, and then just infront of us we saw a small muddy path leading out onto a narrow spit of land out onto the estuary, our luck was in, slowly and carefully, and keeping low as we got nearer to the end ,so as not to scare the birds, we crept out onto the narrow embankment, hunkered down near the end and sat with our binoculars and scopes and waited, luckily the tide was coming in very slowly, we had the sun on our backs, it was lovely and warm, and there was a lovely golden light, perfect!
A little group of Dunlin were poking about in the mud, alongside were Ringed Plover, we had perfect views, and even better the tide was bringing them closer and closer to us, we also saw Curlew and Godwit, Oyster Catcher, we didnt want to leave, it was so warm and comfy sitting there looking over the estuary, to our left looking over the reeds it looked like a new hide had been built, but we werent sure if the other path led there and as it was getting late, we had to leave.We crept back along the path didnt disturb the birds at all, wandered back through the woods, and just as we were about toturn back onto the sloping path, a very large grey bird flew out from scrub to our left,it was very large, my partner in crime had a better view then I did, it shot off towards trees on the other side of the reeds, it was very large and grey and extremely agile and fast in its flight, so what we believed we had seen was a Goshawk, they have been seen at Henham a couple of miles up the road, so its not beyond possibilities.What a perfect day that was and what a perfect ending to it.

Part 4, Wonderful Walberswick,Blythe Estuary, 3 cheers for open access land!!

Friday, not a bad day, sunny but brisk wind once again.so wrapping up in layers we departed,heading for wonderful Walberswick, id never been there before so i was looking forward to our day out.Walberswick is just after Southwold and just before Dunwich(extortionate prices in shops but lovely places all the same)
What a pretty place, just what youd expect from a seaside village, the cottages were picture book pretty, some houses off the main street were a bit contemporary for my taste,we wound our way down to the car park near the beach, £3 for all day, Got kitted up for a long walk took all our food and drink with us, and prepared to brace ourselves for the wind whipping across the beach, but the first leg was sheltered , we headed towards Dunwich, our way was blocked after a little while by notices warning us of ground nesting birds and posts with electric fencing.So up onto the beach quite a lot of shingle and large stones bit tiring to walk on so being a keen beachcomber i suggested walking on the hard wet sand, not so tiring.Trouble is with me i go into beach mode and my eyes stay firmly on the sand incase something interesting catches my eye,such as Amber, or Sea glass,or pretty quartz stones, but not too  much of that now, I am still on wader ID, off to the first pool, there we saw 6 Knot, one in summer plumage and the others were still in winter plumage, but looking very lovely all the same, we just caught a quick glimpse of a Grey Plover before it flew off, we carried on and walked down into the reed beds, we found a nice quiet corner out of the wind and had our picnic, then the plan was to carry on up to the woods where we could look down at the top of the hill over a scrape, the woods were sheltered and quiet with Bluebells everywhere, we passed by a lovely little cottage nestling in pretty gardens, an idyllic place to live, At the top of the hill we looked down over the marshes and the scrape (pond), there was a Wood Sandpiper in the distance, and quartering over the reeds was a beautiful Marsh Harrier, we watched it for a while, then realised to our horror that it was about to swoop onto baby ducks who were blissfully unaware of the threat overhead, it dived at a solitary baby duck, and luckily it missed,it flew back over the reeds, and the baby ducks just carried on swimming about on their own as if nothing happened.A Ruff joined the Wood Sandpiper, we had a tiny glimpse before they disappeared from view.
On our map was a tempting little pool amongst reeds, so we decided to go search for it, very difficult as we could barely see above the reeds,  once we had gone back down from our woody hill, we had little glimpses of water and Gulls swooping and diving but there was no view point, then suddenly we heard a very strange noise ,it sounded like a baby or young child crying in the distance and as it came closer, it became a kind of mewing, then we realised it was the sound of Med Gulls, a truly weird noise, id never heard it before. Earlier along theses criss crossing paths we heard a Bittern booming, so we hoped we would get a glimps, a few minutes later we were not disappointed although it wass only a matter of seconds a Bittern flew up out of the reed bed and then dropped back in.Great stuff.By this time we were getting a bit weary, and decided to make our way back to the village(Walberswick), on the way coming across acouple of little pools where there was a glimpse of a spotted Redshank.We wandered through the village found a shop and got ice creams then went back to the car, our next litttle exploration would be a little way back up the road where we had seen a small layby beside some open access land where we were hoping to walk through and come out on the far side of the Blythe Estuary(lots of Waders hopefully) to be continued.

Part 3, Breydon.

Thursday, a steely grey atmospheric day across Breydon, in other words it was flippin cold, with the wind whipping across the marshes behind us from the Acle straight. We started from Asda car park, not too bad the sun was trying to get out, but big black ominous clouds lurked.Our plan was to walk along the embankment just before the tide was about to come in, and when the tide came in it would slowly force all the little waders poking about in the centre muddy bit, towards us seemed like a good plan, a simple plan,so out we walked to where the second hide ued to be , not the first hide, which used to be inhabited by goodness knows what.then we hunkered down out of the wind, our coats wrapped up near our ears and waited.Slowly and surely the tide came in, but guess what no waders , they decided to stay way over the other side, near the muddy bits near the new bridge. We did see a couple of waders in the distance using scopes, there was a beautiful lwhite Little Egret, they always look like some exotic beautiful bird which should be seen on the African Plains, not on steely grey Breydon.we saw Oyster Catcher, Terns, the tide came rippling in, and the big black clouds also came in and the heavens opened, we got a bit wet, so decided to walk back as fast as we could.We risked a little peek from the first hide which is quite high up on stilts and was also a bit disconcerting for me as there is no solid floor just metal grilling and you could see through to the ground below, and I hate  heights, couldnt wait to get out of there.back to the nice warm car!

Part 2, Minsmere.

Part 2 of our little jolly starts on Wednesday at Minsmere ,after a slight detour after missing our turning, we sat in a layby near the woods and had a little bit of our picnic,then off we set for lovely Minsy!Our walk here started off through the woodland area, I can never seem to work out the directions or the hides we end up in and where they are, but having a seasoned Minsy explorer with me comes in handy!but as  we wandered along the paths, it was a sunny day but the wind was sharp, which had been  a usual thing this week, Swallows wheeled and whistled overhead, Damselflies were darting out of the reeds then back in after succumbing to the wind, we heard Warblers everywhere , there were a few people in the hides but not many, we walked up to the sluice and onto the embankment at the sluice there were photographers with huge lensed cameras hoping to get good shots of the Swallows which were darting and dipping accross the water, we came to the first hide near the beach embankment and extreme wader ID continued , here we saw a gorgeous pintail duck its elegantly long neck shining in the sun after splashing into the water, (not a wader though) so to continue Med Gulls with  their lovely red legs and bills,(not a wader), but there you go nice to have a wader break! we saw Red Knot Red Shank, Godwit, We carried on along the path and turned back in towards the visitor centre, the next leg of our walk passed by some lovely Yellow wagtails, a variation which we saw there was a Blue headed wagtail,we later heard a lovely Nightingale so stopped for a brief moment to listen as it was so kind enough as to sing for us!The next exciting event was a lovely view of a Bittern swooping accross the reed bed from the aptly named Bittern hide, we waited a while to see if it re appeared but decidied to carry on our way, luckily stopping on the stairs and glancing across the reeds, it briefly appeared again, lucky us.so another perfec day!!

Cley, Morston, Mannington, Minsmere,Walberswick and Breydon!!

Well, what a week that was, lots of lovely days out to beautiful places, lots of bird spotting, bluebell woods, estuaries, sea, beaches marshes sunsets, and not to mention extreme wader I.D.
Our first port of call, Tuesday, lovely Mannington and Wooltrerton, majestic woodland, and swathes of bluebells, watching Buzzards displaying overhead, walking along woodland paths without another soul in sight,echoes of Cuckoos calling in the woods exploring little paths turning off into clearings of Orchids,Mannington, hard to find but one of my top ten places to visit. Then next stop Cley and on to Morston, we d worked out when the tide would be low so then we were able to wak out onto the mudflats, past all the quaint little boats with seal trip notices everywhere, and up onto the sandy embankment and way out onto the marsh until we were opposite the big blue lifeboat shed on Blakeney point, we felt as if we could just walk accross the mud to the point, but without knowledge of the area, best to wait until we meet up with a friend who knows the area and also take waders.Out came the bins and extreme wader ID began, I started off easy with the main ones I could recognise, Oyster Catcher, and Avocet, we walked further and came right to the very end of our path, our way was crossed by a large inlet, so we set up scopes on the shingly edge and looked accross to the seals who were moaning gently and basking on the sand opposite, some more Wader ID ensued with, Turnstone, Redshank, then bit more tricky for me as have to get my eye in for Whimbrel and Curlew,
We walked back as it was getting late  and stopped near the anchored boats and saw Greenshank, then  a little way along, Common Sandpiper, I think i was all Wadered out for the day after that so we went to Cley and had lovely Ronaldos yummy icecreams from  the lovely little foodshop there.A perfec day as said in The Darling Buds of May!!
Part two tomorrow!!

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The Royal Wedding, Babes in the Wood, Pingos and Orchids.

Another Bank holiday weekend and once again glorious weather, Friday i sat like most people I expect and watched the Royal Wedding on the tele,my main interest like most girlies I suspect was The Dress, which was very lovely, Kate looked gorgeous and Will looked so handsome, the bridesmaids were so cute, after all the pomp and ceremony and the "do" at Buckingham Palace, what a great idea of having them drive off in Charlies Aston Martin, with balloons and cans and stuff attached and just wed on the back number plates!!
Sunday was a lovely day out, we went to Wayland Woods, where apparently the Babes in the wood story originates from, and it is also listed in the Domesday Book.it is an Ancient Wood and you ll find Bird Cherry there, expanses of Bluebells, and early Purple Orchid, there are lots of lovely secluded little paths dottedwith the beautifull pink nodding heads of Water Avens, and the lovely Yellow Archangel, there were Butterflies everywhere, and we also kept a look out for Golden pheasant but were unlucky this time.Although it was very windy again we managed to find a sheltered spot and sat and had a picnic sitting amongst the wild flowers.

Nearby to Wayland wood a little way up the road is the famous Great Eastern Pingo Trail, no its not that funny little animated penguin, Pingu, although he is lovely, this is Pingo, or shallow circular pools formed about 9,ooo years ago during semi frozen conditions at the end of the last Ice Age, this reserve is called Thompson Common, there about 300 of these pools and they contain a huge variety of wildlife from Beetles to Dragonflies to Water plants, we came upon one Pingo which was a sea of lilac pink flowers it was full of Water violet. There is a waymarked walk which takes you along the Pingo trail it is an 8 mile circular walk, and leads you along lovely lanes and behind Thompson Water onto the Peddars way for a little way and back along a disused railway track, we are saving that walk for another time, looking forward to it.