Minsmere

 I found myself with a free day at last so arranged to take Jim to Minsmere for the day. 

The walk out gave good views of several Bearded Tit and a pair of Bullfinch along with the usual expected encounters. At East hide we plotted up and scanned all areas adding another 29 species to the growing day list. Lot's of Sandwich Terns and a few Kittiwake were good to see and we picked out a few waders but numbers were low. We picked out a black billed Common Tern but decided it was more likely not the reported Eastern bird but instead a Common that hasn't yet experienced full moult.

The dark billed Common Tern with a Sarnie

From the public platform we found the two reported Roseate Terns for a nice year tick and a second year tick when a Little Tern dropped in for a while with another two flying over high up in the clouds. A Great White Egret flew over and some Black-tailed Godwits dropped in. We encountered a couple of 2cy terns but couldn't be sure either was the reported Eastern candidate.

Roseate Terns with Sandwich, Common and Little Tern

Roseates amongst the Sarnies

Roseates

The walk round to Bittern Hide gave good views of at least three Bittern, six Hobby and a few pairs of Marsh Harrier to end a nice morning birding in Suffolk with a day list of 78 species.

Hobby

Hobby

Hobby

Year list now 214