7th April 2013 - Minsmere


So we didn't think to check the bird list Minsmere provides the day before, only reading it the next morning.  We then discovered that missing the Woodland Walk meant we had almost certainly missed out on seeing a Marsh Tit.  Doh.  We rarely see Marsh Tit, and even when we see something that could be one, we're not down with the Willow Tit/Marsh Tit IDing yet so it doesn't get recorded.  We popped along when they opened and walked out to the woodland walk.  A selection of Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Great Tit on the feeders were joined by a lovely Nuthatch and a Jay fly by prompted an embarrassing rendition of 'Happy Birth-jay to you' to Stuart, who turned old(er) that day.  A few metres on, I pointed at a lump under a tree and laughingly said 'It's a Woodcock!'.  Laughingly as I have never seen one and never expected to - my luck is rubbish.  Upon bringing my binoculars up to my eyes, I nearly fell over.  That bird was unmistakeable - a lifer!  Squee.  We saw two more that walk, which was amazing.

We hung around a bit until it flew off, then crossed the road to do a short walk in the forest where we saw a few deer and were confused by a loud chattering of many birds.  They turned out to be a huge flock of Redwing!  There were also a couple of Fieldfare hanging around and finally a small bird caught our eye - the Marsh Tit.  Yay!  

Trip list: 20
Year list: 126
Lifers of year list: 11

Worst photo ever, but yay!

Clearly isn't afraid of heights.  I was terrified.

View from the treehouse hide

Comfy and impossible to get out of.  Love it.

So gorgeous.

0 comments :

Post a Comment