Easter Saturday

On Easter Saturday 15th April, I travelled to Minsmere. 3 Wheatear were seen on the North field 2 males and 1 female. One of the males was quite close showing on the ridge. From the East Scrape, around 30 Black- Tailed Godwits seen, plus around 15 Dunlin. 3 Minsmere ticks today included A wonderful black Adder which was seen on the beach, a couple had seen a normal Adder here and I stuck around in the hope that I would see it. I didn't but I did find a wondeful Blackadder (no not Rowan Atkinson but a totally black snake (save for its face) initially initially looking like a piece of old tyre curled up on the path, especially when it flattened its body down to maximise the surface area of its skin to drink up the sun's rays. I managed to see this reptile for around 14X over the course of a couple of hours. Plus a Slow Worm also seen deep in the grass its head peering up was another first at Minsmere and 2 Common Lizards also sighted, perilously close to the Adder resting on a piece of warm wood. 4 Sandwich Terns flew overhead helpfully calling alerting me to their presence. 2 Stonechats , a pair also seen by the bushes on the beach by the sluice. The third Minsmere tick was a Male Mandarin on West Scrape with a female Mallard following him around everywhere. When I first saw him he swam over to an island scrambled up past 2 nesting Mediterranean Gulls, he then swam around the island closely followed by the female Mallard and then both birds flew right over the hide and over to the west.