A long awaited trip!

Dunwich Heath and Minsmere RSPB Leaders - Connor,Simeon, James, Matthew

The day started at 6:35am (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) when we left for Dunwich and Minsmere. We arrived at Dunwich at 8:30am. We walked down the path to the main heath where we heard Dartford Warbler calling already. We were expecting a long wait but one popped up onto the top of a heather bush briefly, then another, then a Stonechat (bottom left). Suddenly we heard a piercing "keeeeeeeoooo", we looked up to find a huge bird of prey, at first we thought it was a Marsh Harrier but the we saw a flash of red on the back of the bird (hint-hint), it was a Red Kite! The forked tail was also a big hint ! More Stonechats were annoyingly "Warblerish". One more Dartford Warbler allowed me to get this record shot (top left).

Minsmere started with superb views of a Bittern flying over the path very, very close. On the sea we had Common Tern, Little Tern and Sandwich Tern in large numbers. We wandered along the seafront further to find nesting Ringed Plover and two female Stonechat. The first hide gave us Spotted Redshank, 250+ Common Terns, 9 Mediterranean Gulls, 20+ Sandwich Terns, 5 Barnacle Geese. The second hide gave us 2 Ruff, another Spotted Redshank. We had a Bittern and Marsh Harrier in between the two hides. The third hide gave us Hobby, Bittern, Common Sandpiper,Black-Tailed Godwits, Whimberel, Little Egret and Ringed Plover. The Bittern Hide showed Grey Heron and Marsh Harrier. Overall we saw 76 species. A good day out.