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| Look who's watching ... |
It has been a joy to discover via the Trailcam just how often the hedgehog has been visiting our garden, though we are rather concerned that a local cat has been keeping a rather close eye on it. We have a hedgehog house and provide water. We put out fresh supplies of dried food containing insects each evening. David saw the hedgehog a few nights ago, but mostly we rely on the camera to keep us in the picture.
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| Look at those feline eyes in the background. |
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| Sutton Hoo (installation inspired by helmet) |
We have enjoyed some waterside bird-watching recently at NT Sutton Hoo. These are our sightings (and 'listenings') so far. Merlin, the Cornell bird ID app has helped us along the way. We have found the app pretty reliable, though I suspect it is designed for users in the US. The bird recorded as a 'White Wagtail' was probably a Pied Wagtail.
3 March
9 March
17 March
30 March
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| The Oystercatchers in the next photo were on this rampike. |
1 April
36 species in total so far since 3 March. Those with a letter, such as (a), have been seen on more than one occasion.
*
There were quite a few ladybirds, mainly but not exclusively 7-spots, on the Sutton Hoo site and a few butterflies: we noticed Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals. We saw a beefly on Saturday, and two shieldbugs this afternoon on the gorse.
Thanks to the Trailcam, we were absolutely thrilled to find that a hedgehog had been visiting our garden most nights last week. Of course, we can't tell whether it is the one who came to our door for food and water nearly every evening last summer, but who knows ...
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| Birds galore |
David and I checked the forecast last Saturday, which didn't promise much in the way of sunlight, but we set off anyway. In fact, the early February weather, on the day after World Wetlands Day, was superb. There were plenty of ducks about on the scrape behind East Hide.
The structure above was hard to miss, with its distinctive yellow base. I assumed it was to do with the new and controversial Sizewell C. However, it turns out to be a Kittiwake Hotel (see here also) for Black-legged Kittiwakes.
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| We had a good view across to Southwold. |
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| Is this a Great Northern Diver in winter plumage? |
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| You can reach East Hide via the new boardwalk below. |
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| You can see some of the birds we saw and heard. |
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| It was almost balmy on the beach. You can see the coastguard cottages on Dunwich Heath. |
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| I wonder how this view will change ... |
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| We saw several Shovelers on the scrape |
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| Not all the ducks were so alert ... |
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| ... and neither were the Lapwing. |
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| It was a joy to watch this elegant Pintail ... |
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| ... and to see this pair of Shovelers. |
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| The light kept catching our eye ... |
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| ... and the clouds at sunset. |
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| By the time the rain began, we were heading for home. |
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| Female Blackcap, quite a regular visitor |
David and I spent an hour doing the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this afternoon. We felt our results were disappointing, but that may be more to do with the fact that we did our count in the afternoon this year (when many birds are less active) rather than in the morning. We often see Great tits, House sparrows, Magpies and Blackbirds. We sometimes see a Great spotted woodpecker, a Song thrush and a Wren. None of these put in an appearance today.
You can see our results in the list below.
Back in 2010 when we were still living in Swansea, we counted these birds. Last year (2023), from the same suburban Suffolk home as this year, we submitted this list.
I don't know whether our local bird numbers have decreased or whether the new time of day had more to do with our result than other factors. Yesterday when we were on a very local walk, we counted a slightly different mix of species (Greenfinch, Blackbird, Blackcap, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Redwing and Starling), either from observation or from sound via the Merlin Bird ID app. It's good to know that we still have Greenfinches in our area as we rarely see these birds.
