My Birdwatcher's Guide: A trip to RSPB Minsmere

It was a bit overcast when we set off about 8.20am to the Suffolk to the RSPB Reserve at Minsmere on Sunday morning, Simon and myself drove off towards Suffolk but soon encountered a detour as the A505 to Royston was closed for roadworks, so we went round the detour which took us through Baldock and around the countryside until we got to the route we were supposed to be on.

We arrived just before 10.30am, it was a nice drive, Suffolk is a very nice county and has lots of small villages which are quite pretty but the roads have lots of windy roads. The worst part is when you actually enter the reserve you have another 1.5 miles until you reach the car park.

We set out cameras up and then met Sharon in the Reception area, we sorted out our membership and then we met up with the other member of the Group, Sandra who was sitting in the Cafe area waiting for us. We were then waited for another individual who was supposed to be turning up. At 11am we decided he would not be appearing so set off on a walk through the reserve to find the first Hide.
Within minutes of sitting down, a Bittern flew past us on its way to its nest on the far side of the reserve. We saw numerous types of bird about, Barnacle Geese, Little Egrets, loads of Black Headed Gulls and even a few Terns and Swifts flitting around in the skies in above us.

We left that hide and walk around to the pathway up to the sea wall. It turned out to be quite a nice day and was quite warm but windy. We walked over the Hill onto the Sand Dunes which were covered with a lot of Gorse and Heavy Bushes, the sea looked quite flat but we could see the breakers. We saw lots of people looking into the Gorse and then we saw why. A Male Stonechat was sitting on top of a bush in front of us. They are quite an attractive bird, the male has an orangy/apricot belly and a black head, we also saw a Linnet and a female Whinchat.

The next Hide we went to was full up but we were fortunate enough to get quite a good seat in the lower section as some people left. we sat down and in front of us we could see loads of Avocets dredging their beaks in the mud, occasionally a Tern would fly over acrobatically. There was a lot of birds about, a Herring Gull decided to fly to close to a Black Headed Gulls nest and was mobbed by all the Gulls and flew off to join his mates. A small group of Kittiwakes sat across a wooden bar above the water. We also saw Shoveller Duck, two types of Terns, the Common Tern and the Rosette Tern and also a Black Tailed Godwit off to our right. I like the Avocets, they have an upward curved beak and love to eat invertebrates, especially crustacenas and worms.

We then left that Hide and walked along the Dunes and then turned inland going back towards the Visitor Centre, there were still 2 other Hides we could go to before we did so. As we walked along we saw a field of Highland Cows laying down in the Grass, I like them, I remember once walking through Brockenhurst in the New Forest and turning a cover and a huge one standing in front of us in the middle of the road, something you never forget, I guess.

As we walked a little further, we saw one of my favourite birds of prey, the Marsh Harrier, they are brown and they look pretty chunky, they fly around in loops in the air. They build their nests in the reedbeds and also hunt in them for food, things like frogs, small mammals and birds like Moorhen and Coots. We also saw a Hobby flying over the big green bushes in front of us, they are one of the smallest birds of prey in the country. After stopping at the last two Hides where we basically saw alot of what we had seen before, we came across a big group of people looking at a tree for some reason.

We went round to the side to see what they were looking at and could hear a bird making a hell of a lot of noise in the nest in a hole on the side of that particular tree, it was a Green Woodpecker. It did occasionally look out but I think the amount of people standing around probably freaked it out.
The reserve at Minsmere is worth a visit but the journey of 2 hours makes it a once a year trip.