SUFFOLK/NORFOLK
When you think about Suffolk, one site above all features at the top of pretty much every birder’s list
When you think about Suffolk, think beyond that one site that features at the top of pretty much every birder’s list
Minsmere RSPB rightly has a truly stellar reputation. You can look out over the extensive reedbeds and see Bearded Tits, Bitterns and Marsh Harriers, often at very close quarters.
You can check the scrapes for all manner of passage waders during migration periods, and while you’re at it enjoy the sight of dozens of Mediterranean Gulls in breeding plumage in spring. When I visited, I must confess that the spectacle of the latter took me by surprise, and was the highlight of my visit, despite plenty of competition. You can look for Stonecurlews which often breed on the reserve, or just off it, and again during migration, it’s a great place for passage passerines, including the likes of Wryneck.
But having made the trip to the Suffolk coast, don’t forget some of the other great birdwatching spots it has to offer, some of them within walking distance of Minsmere.
In spring, especially late spring, Westleton Heath is well worth a stop. Although it can get fairly busy with dog-walkers and general tourists, with a bit of patience and a walk out into the open parts of the heath, you should find Dartford Warblers easily, singing from atop gorse bushes, while Wood Larks were also easy to see and hear. And, if you go back at
dusk, this is a great place to find Nightjars – when I was there, it had almost got truly dark before four or five males all started up their weird, mechanicalsounding ‘churring’ song. I sat down on the path, and waited a few minutes, and then started to see the white wing flashes of the birds all around me, and spent a thrilling 45 minutes watching them swooping and swirling past.
Nearby Dunwich Heath can also be good for Dartford Warblers, and Dunwich Forest is gradually seeing its conifer plantations replaced by deciduous trees and heathland, so expect more of the same there in the future.
The coast north of Minsmere, including Dunwich, Walberswick, and Southwold, offers plenty of good birding, with estuaries and inlets attractive to waders, scrub and bushes used by arriving migrants, shingle, and patches of heathland inland.
But if you’re in the area, make the time to head up to the Suffolk-Norfolk border, and the Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s reserve of Carlton Marshes. It’s already making a name for itself, not least because of the American Bittern seen there last year, but as it continues to be developed you can expect it to become a bigger and bigger draw.
Situated just outside Lowestoft, it’s described as “the Broads in miniature”, with marshes, reedbeds, scrapes, grassland and meadows, alongside the River Waveney.
Star species include Hobby, Marsh Harrier, Grasshopper Warbler, Reed and Sedge Warblers, Bearded Tit, Cetti’s Warbler, Lapwing, Redshank, Wigeon, Teal and Snipe, the latter three in winter.
It also has the rare Fen Raft Spider, successfully reintroduced to the reserve in 2012, and ongoing habitat creation work could see the likes of Bittern colonising.
When I visited, I stayed at the Waveney River Centre, over on the other, Norfolk side of the river (a free ferry connects them), and took a boat trip downriver to Breydon Water, on the edge of Great Yarmouth.
This included calling in at the RSPB’s reserve at Berney Marshes, which gets huge numbers of Wigeon in winter, plus Pink-footed Geese, and the trip brought regular Marsh Harriers, Barn Owls and Cetti’s Warblers, but Breydon Water itself is the place to be to look for waders.
When there’s plenty of mud exposed, huge numbers can gather, and while most will be the commoner species that you’d expect – Lapwing, Redshank, Golden Plover, Knot and godwits – it also has a good record of attracting rarer species during migration periods, with a Great Knot back in 2014 being particularly memorable.
So, next time you’re heading to Suffolk’s best-known birding hotspot, remember to take a look at some of the other great reserves and sites within easy reach to the north. You won’t regret it!