Minsmere

Tuesday was ear-marked for a visit to Minsmere. Well you've got to go haven't you.

Part of the attraction for us is that several of the hides are wheelchair accessible for Lyn. Unfortunately these were not necessarily the best ones for birds. One thing I approved of was that the reeds had been cut back in several places along the path allowing good views of the local dragonflies, which included this little beast.

Red-eyed Damselfly sp

Unfortunately the one shot I got doesn't show the key identification feature very well so I was left to look at supporting features to decide whether it was Small Red-eyed Damselfly or Red-eyed Damselfly. Pale blueish legs and yellow antehumeral stripes (if its not light reflection) point to it being the former.

Post-script added July 19. The more I look at this photo the more unsafe my identification looks to me. It could be just a Red-eyed Damselfly. So it is now Red-eyed Damselfly sp.

Beyond the little pools one or two Hobbies flew about, and eventually a Bittern flew over. At Bittern hide another two were seen briefly, but it was otherwise a bit disappointing. Eventually I made my way to the East hide, which as happened last year, produced far more birds. About 80 Avocets vied for attention with a good selection of terns and plenty of photo opportunities.

Sandwich Tern and Kittiwake disputing occupation of a wooden bar

Little Tern

The Little Tern was my first for several years (birding Morton Bagot all the time has its drawbacks), and was certainly the star bird. Once pretty common here, the recent population decline is now affecting even the Suffolk coast.

The mid June malaise affected the wader population, and apart from the Avocets and a few Oystercatchers, I only saw a handful of Black-tailed Godwits. The field which last year produced distant Stone Curlews contained only a forest of Ragwort, and the cold northerly blowing down the beach added to a slight feeling of disappointment about the visit.