Marsh harriers (four or more), garden warbler, sedge warbler, bar tailed godwit, reed bunting, avocets, hobbies (two, I think) ... no bitterns, bearded tits, purple heron, otters, wheatears, stonechat
Here's an experiment/debut picture posting (inspired, in part, by Facebook and our newish digital camera, I confess). We spent the weekend with my grandparents and took the customary trip to Minsmere on Sunday morning, before the crowds. We seem to have got into the habit of doing it in reverse, so we wandered off to the newish Bittern Hide first (several marsh harriers put in a great fl close-range fly by, but no signs of any bitterns - and no sound of others cooing over them).
So we wandered on to Island Mere, scanning the skies for hobbies. Plenty of sand martins, swifts and a few swallows - and a beautiful garden warbler singing his/her heart out on the top of a tree. No hobbies though. Also saw a herd of deer reaching up on their hindlegs to nibble the fresh leaves on the trees (no sure whether they were red, roe, or fallow - but they certainly weren't runty little muntjacs, though we saw a couple of those in the garden in Dunwich).
Then we retraced our steps and did a circuit of the Scrape before coming back past all the newly-arrived birders with their serious kit. That's when I thought I saw a couple of hobbies, right in the distance, swooping over the woodland. They looked like swifts, then were certainly birds of prey - generally a pretty good hobby indicator.
Who knows - if this post works again, I might try another picture post another time.
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