Southwold and definitely NOT birding

After disgracing myself and making my birder's wife stand and look at a bush (to see a Barred Warbler) for an hour during our anniversary weekend away in Norfolk in September, we decided to have a non birding half week away at a favourite place of ours in Suffolk - Southwold.

I was to be allowed one bird excursion during the week and some side excursions on the way to and from Suffolk.

So, Sunday morning we got up at a leisurely pace (no early 5am departure this time) and eventually left the house mid morning.  En route, we stopped off for a coffee at Anglesey Abbey and a bit of browsing and purchasing in the SHOP.  After what seemed like 3 days, we eventually arrived in the Southwold area and I took advantage of my allowed side excursion which this time was to be a visit to Dingle Marshes where we scored our first Twite of the year.  As the weather then set in, we rushed back to the car and drove the remaining distance to the house in Southwold.  The rest of the evening was then taken up with a visit to the Lowestoft to see the new Bond movie - excellent.

The following day was to be a totally non birding and we therefore got up late again and ambled down to Southwold Pier for the SHOPS.  Fortunately, they did not open till 10:00am which gave me 15 minutes to stare out to sea to check if anything was around (nothing at all except for one Seal).  The SHOPS then opened and my birder's wife went into a browsing frenzy, a sight to behold indeed and possibly to avoid, so I excused myself and arranged to meet her again in 30 minutes.  As I marched down the pier I was called over by a gent and his wife who pointed to something black and white under the pier to see if I knew what it was, and it turned out to be a Little Auk - a great bird for a non birding day indeed.  The rest of the morning was spent SHOPPING and then the afternoon was spent walking to Walberswick for further browsing.  As we arrived back 30 minutes before dusk, we decided to drive over to Hen Reedbeds NR to watch for owls and raptors and managed two Marsh Harriers and a very obliging Barn Owl which floated from just behind us, giving us a really close view.  It was actually the birder's wife, who is typing this sentence, who first saw it - well done, her!

The next day was the scheduled birding day with a visit to Minsmere.  However, Minsmere was pretty quiet birdwise except for a few Snow Bunting on the beach and a couple of Knot on the scrape.  The highlight of the day had to be the Red Deer and a magnificient stag taking interest in his harem.  And for the birder's wife, the SHOP.

We had nothing planned for today, except for the drive back and therefore paid a visit to Dunwich Cliffs for Coffee and a browse in the SHOP, another visit to Dingle Marshes to watch the Twite and look for a Richards Pipit (who was not playing at being seen) and then lunch at Minsmere followed by another browse in their SHOP.

So, a relaxing and enjoyable few days away non birding - well almost.  Next weekend will be completely different as I am popping to Norfolk for a day and a half with Mike-PCC.  Hopefully I will manage to secure some of my unseen birds for this year during that visit.