Trip Reports - 2025

Clumber Park

7 members met up at Clumber for our first 2025 trip, delayed from last weekend when it was much too icy underfoot. The car park was almost full and the place extremely busy. After a short wander along the lakeside, we spent a while in the woods by the chapel hunting for the elusive Hawfinches. The woods were busy with tits, Siskins, Blackbirds, Stock Doves and Jackdaws and we also found Treecreeper and Nuthatch before finding at least 2 Hawfinches. They were quite high in the trees but all had good views through a telescope before we headed to the bird hide. We had a coffee there where the feeders were busy and we added Great Spotted Woodpecker to the list. Before reaching Hardwick village. where we had our lunch, we recorded a pair of Goosander and Shoveler on the edge of the frozen inlet there. The main lake was clear of ice and there was a very large number of Gulls there. There were hundreds of both Common and Black-headed Gulls with smaller numbers of Herring and Lesser Black-backed. After a short visit to the ford, we returned on the other side of the lake where a Little Egret and 2 Great Egrets were seen. Wildfowl recorded were Tufted Duck Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Shoveler, Pochard, Canada Goose, Mute Swan and Greylag Goose. The only raptor recorded was Kestrel and we only saw one Great Crested Grebe and no waders. We were back at the car park before 2:00 and had recorded a total 42 species.

Suffolk Weekend

Sunday 18th May
Nine members and a guest met at the entrance to Minsmere at 9:00 and headed for the East Hide to start the day. We were surprised to find a few Sand Martins still around the nesting bank. There were many Swallows passing through and the odd House Martin too. The eastern area of the wader scrape was rather dry and there seemed to be work going on to re-profile that area. The sun prevented us from getting good views over the eastern part so we soon headed for the East Hide where the sun would be behind us. We met an RSPB volunteer on our way round who told us that the Stone Curlews around the reserve had had a very good year. The views from the East Hide were excellent and we were able to find a small number of waders there. Lapwing, Avocet, Ruff, Green Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit and Snipe were found. We all enjoyed fantastic views of a Bittern which spent several minutes flying across the scrape before disappearing into the reeds. There were good numbers of wildfowl including Mallard, Gadwall, Mute Swan, Shelduck, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Barnacle Goose, Moorhen, Shoveller, Teal, Wigeon and Egyptian Goose. Other highlights on the eastern scrape included Water Rail, a few Bearded Tits, Stonechat and Wheatear. Some of us were lucky to see Kingfisher and others managed to find a Guillemot on the sea. There was a small group of wagtails foraging on the mud seen from the West Hide. Some of them had distinctly yellow faces and it seems there is a local variety of Pied Wagtail showing this feature in this part of Suffolk. After visiting the other hides around the eastern scrape we spent the rest of the day in the Bittern Hide and the Island Mere Hide overlooking the reed beds. From the Island Mere Hide we had another splendid view of a Bittern on the edge of the reeds being downed and harried by a couple of Marsh Harriers. Other raptors recorded during our visit were Kestrel and Hobby. Some of us were lucky enough to see a Slow Worm crossing our path as we returned to the visitor centre at the end of the day, 62 bird species were recorded.

Sunday 18th May
At 9:00 we met at a parking area near Snape where we took a walk down to the Alde estuary. We spent most of the morning on the walk spending a while at the end of a north-south spit allowing views of both side of the estuary. On the mud flats we recorded good numbers of Redshank and Black-tailed Godwits together with a few Curlew, Avocet and a Little Egret. Wildfowl present included Shelduck, Canada Goose and Wigeon. In the woodland were several Jays and we heard Green Woodpecker. The highlight was an Osprey which passed through as we watched from the end of the spit. A total of 28 species were record on the walk. After lunch 4 of us did a circular walk from our accommodation at Thorpeness around the Mere and "The Fens" finishing by crossing North Warren reserve and returning along the coastal path. We spent a while at the screen overlooking "The Fens" where we had excellent views of Hobby, Kingfisher and Sparrowhawk together with a couple of Great Egrets. We heard a very loud Water Rail quite close by but it failed to put in an appearance. Around North Warren we saw Buzzard, Stonechat, Jay and heard Green Woodpecker. A Muntjac deer was spotted near the Mere and a small group of Red Deer were near North Warren. A total of 35 bird species were recorded.