Monday, 11 February 2013

Nature Reserves: Minsmere

Grey Squirrel, posing for a 'quick pic'

These are a few photos from our most wintry walk yet. We were at Minsmere on the Suffolk coast. The windchill factor made us feel that we were back in Philadelphia, where we spent some time a year ago last January. There was an onshore gale blowing, and it was bitter!


Red Deer, lying low (we also saw one tiny Muntjac deer)

The Squirrel again ...

The cold Suffolk sea!

These Mute Swans had the right idea, sheltering in the reedbed at the edge of the scrape.

It is very chilly, so we have added another coconut fatball to our feeder in the garden. Needless to say, a plump Blue tit appeared and headed straight for the old one, which I suppose was tried and trusted. The bird may have preferred it because he could almost get inside the shell as so much of the fat had already been eaten. Perhaps this added to a feeling of safety from predators or shelter from the elements.

We also saw a few other species of bird earlier while we were at Minsmere, which I will list below, along with the ones I have seen elsewhere in February ...

Minsmere 

Mute Swan
Marsh Harrier
Mallard
Cormorant
Coal tit
Black-backed Gull
Shelduck

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Home patch

Blue tit
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Robin
Goldfinch
Wood Pigeon
Chaffinch
Great tit

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Ipswich

Collared Dove
Carrion Crow

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Essex

Curlew



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5 comments:

  1. Andrea11 February 2013 at 02:28

    I love the color of that squirrel it is so cute! We don't have squirrels here. What do you mean by coconut fatball? Is it a real coconut fruit or something made to that effect!

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  2. Crafty Green Poet11 February 2013 at 10:34

    Lovely photos of the squirrel! Lucky you to see a marsh harrier too!

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  3. Mary11 February 2013 at 15:16

    Boy, does that sea look cold! Brrrrrr. Love the squirrel and it has a very fluffy tail. Deer and swans....wonderful.

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  4. Em Parkinson11 February 2013 at 21:20

    That picture of the sea is fantastic Caroline. I feel like I'm there and very cold!

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  5. Andrea13 February 2013 at 01:29

    I am back Caroline for the coconut fatballs. We have coconut trees in our property, we produce copra out of the mature nuts. But sometimes we also open the mature nuts and just let the chickens help themselves with the meat (coconut endosperm). The birds cannot compete with them though because they are above the trees. Because we don't have extreme climate like your winter, maybe that's the reason why we don't help our birds here, they have enough food for themselves throughout the year, i guess!

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