With Belinda away for a few days this is an opportunity for me to do some out and out dedicated birding!
There were some bits in coastal Suffolk I've been wanting to see so that was my direction of travel. I headed for Aldringham Walks just north of Thorpeness first. This is an area we know well from numerous walks there but completely unknown to me was a large irrigation 'reservoir' because it is completely invisible being surrounded by a high bank and barbed wire fences. That is unless you climb a tree to see a drake Ring-necked Duck which is what I did! I also availed myself of a large stepladder that another guy had brought and later found an area where the fence was flattened so I was able to sneak a bit closer! It was a smart bird amongst all the Tufted Duck, scattered Pochard and a couple of Little Grebes. A Dartford Warbler also burst into song when I was up the tree.
Ring-necked Duck
After that I headed north a bit to Walberswick where, despite a long muddy walk along the seawall from the carpark I was unable to find the Glossy Ibis. After almost giving up and wandering around the harbour area and finding nothing I went back up onto the seawall for one last scan and found the bloody thing right in front of me! Bearded Tit and Stonechat were also clocked up there together with my first Sweet Violets of the year.
My next bit of luck was at Hen Reedbeds where I walked out to the Blyth Estuary to find the 1w Glaucous Gull within seconds! I scoped it nicely and then decided to try and phonescope it - only to find it completely vanished while I was lining up my phone to my eyepiece. It was very strange - I never saw it fly it just disappeared almost ghost-like! I guess you make your own luck as I'd missed it when I looked a few weeks ago.
After a sausage bap and probably the worst 'flat white' I've ever had in the Wrentham cafe I finished my day in the churchyard at Henstead which is renowned for it's Snowdrops. Here I found a lovely variety including Greater Snowdrop and Green Snowdrop.
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