Hot & Sultry Minsmere

Sunday 19th August the afternoon was hot and sultry and Jenny & I decided to go to Minsmere. Leaving Jenny on the beach, I visited the hides starting off with the public hide. Looking out over the South scrape area, 3 Spotted Redshanks were seen all in their grey winter plumage.A Greenshank was seen also here too. Looking north, walking along a spit a fine Wood Sandpiper walked east along a spit. Walking over the Dunes around 50 Grayling butterflies seen plus around 15 Common Blues, amazingly my fist of the year! Walking down, I heard the distinctive 7 note whistle of the Whimbrel, and a fantastic group of 8 Whimbrel flew right over our heads and south- east out to sea. A Starfish was seen on some grass near the beach. At the Lucky Pool, 3 Redshank seen plus further back and just south an immature Spoonbill stood and preened. 5 Little Egret stood together behind the Lucky Pool and another 8 were seen on the levels. By the Sluice bushes, 6 Swallow and 4 Sand Martins flew over. More Graylings seen on the walk back. Very little seen from the East Scrape hide. A quick visit to the Island Mere, walking along the ramp on the right hand side we were delighted to still see a few Round- leaved Winter Green flowers, we've never seen them before! They were still in flower with white petals and they did indeed have very round leaves. From the hide, I saw a lot of Gadwall, some 50 on the left side of the Mere, a Little Grebe at the back feeding a youngster. Amongst the ducks, opposite an immature stripy Great- crested Grebe stood the excellent eclipse female Ferruginous Duck, face on with brown bib on breast. She then settled in the water swimming left behind the bench with Cormorants on it. The peaked forehead seen and distinctive white undertail patch noted too. A quick trip to Dunwich was notable because exiting the car park we saw the BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson, in a white jacket and trousers cross the road with his young son and take the path towards the Greyfriars Wood! In the evening, at Southwold by the Pier, a group of 28 Kittiwakes flew south, a further 5, 8, 1, 3 and 2, 1 and 3 seen. Plus groups of 23, 14 and 8 Common Terns flew south over the sea. By the Beach Huts just north of the Pier and the defence rocks around 30 Pied Wagtails and 2 Turnstone seen.