Good Friday in Suffolk

[Eastside Urchin]

Went to minsmere on good friday to be greeted with snow,freezing temperatures and gales.Nethertheless birdwatching wise i had a miserable day on the whole,had an hour a half on the beach freezing my nuts off where i was rewarded with a few herring gulls,6 cormorants,1 shag and that was all (4 days after freinds of mine on the same spot had divers,scoters,gannets to name just a few)

On the reserve there were good numbers of avocet,marsh harriers

and the usual waders & ducks you would associate with minsmere.Had a couple of garganay which is a new bird this year for me.

Spent an hour and a bit in the bittern hide where i failed to see a bittern or even hear one but had a few marsh harriers which showed well and on the way back to the centre i had a treecreeper which cheered me up a bit.

Went and sat in the car park at dunwich beach overlooking the reedbeds for lunch with alice and had 5 twite,rock & water pipit,skylark!,black headed & herring gulls and the called a halt to proceedings and went to our b & b.

Was going to get up at 5.30 the next morning and do some sea watching for 3-4 hours but with the snow hitting the coast and widespread traffic mayhem reported for the area decided to run back to upminster at 7 in the morning via little chef to watch the mighty urchins win 2-0 at Harrow.A good choice me thinks!!!