An Hour on the Beach

Last weekend we spent an hour or so on the beach at Landguard, in the lee of the port of Felixstowe. There were one of two gulls on the shoreline and cormorants and geese overhead.

Port to the left, bird observatory to right, and protected nature zone (where we see butterflies) in the foreground

 

I was interested to see the red ring on this gull, and it was a shame I failed to photograph the rest of the label. A lot of bird ringing is done at the bird observatory. There is a blackboard on the fence listing recent sightings, which is always good to see.

 

Sunset on the boardwalk, looking towards Harwich

 

Blue Skies at Snape, the Calm before the Storm

It is always a joy when the first spring flowers appear, and these bright yellow Aconites at Snape this afternoon were the first ones I have seen in 2020.

The reedbeds were shimmering in front of the poplars...



...and large swathes of the sandy soil had been ploughed.

This was the view, looking back to the Maltings, with its cafes, shops and famous concert hall.

I saw one tiny fish in the water and a couple of flies or midges above it, but it was really the reed reflections that caught my eye.

The gulls were out in force.

There were a few small waders and some Shelduck in among them.

This is St Botolph's church, across the water at Iken.

These small flecks of green must indicate new growth in the reedbed.



I wonder who will find these remaining rosehips.



The land here is very flat, and I love the marked bands of colour - green, gold, blue, more green and more blue - that can be seen.

We stopped to listen for birds, but apart from the cooing sound of some distant Wood Pigeons, we heard very little above the sounds of an aeroplane overhead, some traffic in the distance and what was probably the motor of some kind of farm machinery.

There may not have been much sound on the marsh, but the view from the boardwalk is always rather special, with these stark trunks. Robert Macfarlane called these skeleton trees 'rampikes' on his Twitter feed on 24 September 2019. I always thought that trees like these had been struck by lightning, but I believe these ones may have been damaged by flooding.

On the east coast of the USA, stands of waterlogged trees are known as ghost forests. You can just see Iken church through the bare branches.



I'm guessing a Muntjac has been making its way through the reeds on a fairly regular basis.

There was a last shimmer of light as we took a last look at the poplars.

The moon rose over the water...

... as our shadows began to lengthen.

Postscript
Gusts in the high 60s (mph) are predicted for our area tomorrow (i.e. for Sunday 9 February). Do check the forecast if you are out and about.

Nature Reserves: Needham Market, Suffolk

We took a chilly walk around the lake at Needham Market. It forms part of a Local Nature Reserve, and proved a good place for ducks and gulls.

The lake used to be a gravel pit, and the River Gipping flows through the site. Apparently grass snakes are seen in the warmer months, but this one above was the only serpentine creature to put in an appearance on this bitter January day. 

There were, however, welcome signs of spring, like these catkins. Hazel, Alder and Birch all produce catkins at this time of year. Alder trees produce not only male catkins but also female strobili which are like miniature pine cones in appearance.

For a moment we thought we had chanced upon an Easter Island council, but on reflection, it was possibly more like a woodland gathering of Ents!

There were a number of chilly-looking Moorhens about ...

... and moles were evidently not far away.

We were particularly pleased to see this Great Crested Grebe, as I do not recall seeing one in non-breeding winter plumage before.

The photo above shows the sunlight on the lake ...

... but I was puzzled by these small white ducks. I feel sure that they were not large enough to be Aylesbury ducks. I gather Mallard drakes are not too particular when it comes to pairing. There is a white duck called a Pekin (or domestic/farm) duck, bred originally from the Mallard in China. Perhaps these are Pekinese ducks, but they may be Call ducks. They are not albino as they have yellow bills. There are, of course, forms of leucism that can effect wildfowl.

Sadly this grebe above is a bit out of focus, but these are such graceful birds!

This trio of Black-headed Gulls (with deep pink legs) looked out on ...

... a lone gull with pale orange legs. I suspect it was also a Black-headed Gull, probably a 'first winter' bird. Do let me know if you think otherwise! 

Seasonal Splash: the Norfolk Broad at UEA

I seem to have been in Norwich quite a bit this last week! I spent my teeneage years here, so it has a special place in my heart. On Tuesday night I went on a twilight tour of the Cathedral Cloisters ...

.... and then on Wednesday I had the chance to wander around the lovely grounds at UEA, where there is a Broad. It was a rather bleak November afternoon, but I managed to spot drifts of autumn colouring.

The photo above shows another view of the UEA Broad, an artificial lake that had been marsh in a previous pre-university existence. I wonder how many British universities have their own wildlife trail. Norfolk is full of Broads! 

I approached the Broad from the iconic Sainsbury Centre, pictured below. 

These are the ziggurats, designed by Sir Denys Lasdun ... You can read about the original ziggurats here. 

The larch above was brown, perhaps due to the time of year. The seed heads below were looking pretty bare.

I believe it is National Tree Week. I looked closely at these Ash buds, hoping that they would escape the die-back disease ...

It was a shame that there were so few birds about, though having said that, I noticed a Magpie, a Jay, several Long-tailed tits, a Robin and this Black-headed Gull ...

I must go back in the Spring, and see how different the landscape looks.

These bright leaves were a glorious sight on a drab afternoon! 

I felt we needed Mr and Mrs Andrews (without the gun!) to complete the scene below ...

Beautiful Birds (33): On Liberty Island, New York

It seems almost unbelievable that three weeks ago we were preparing for what looked as if it was going to be a very stormy crossing from the embarkation point of Castle Clinton on the Battery Wall in Manhattan to New York's Liberty Island, which rises out of the vast river Hudson. However, the ferry was large and pretty stable, and we soon found our sea-legs. Of course, it was only a short crossing, but I didn't realise that at the time! The weather turned bitter, and with the added wind chill factor, I have rarely felt so cold.

I soon had my first glimpse of the iconic Statue of Liberty from the windows of our ferry, the Miss Ellis Island.

The statue grew nearer and it was not long before we were disembarking. 

This was the view looking back towards Manhattan. You can see from the reflections that this photo was actually taken from inside the ferry on our return voyage, but it was pretty much the view we saw from the island. 

We just managed to brave the elements long enough to allow ourselves to circumnavigate the path around the island. I had particularly wanted to keep an eye out for any wildlife, thinking that perhaps I might see something other than the pigeons we had encountered everywhere in New York. The elegant London planetrees provided something approaching a less concrete and more natural environment. The patterned bark was quite beautiful, but it was far too cold to hang about for long ...

... though David stood still just long enough for me to take his photo! 

There were a few Sparrows scrabbling about in the freezing earth under the plane trees ...

 ... and the occasional gull flew past against a storm-laden sky. It was not long before large flakes started to fall on the statue.

This gull had landed and was looking hopefully in our direction . . . 

[P.S. My thanks to Jeremy of Jeremy Inglis Photography for his ID of Ring-billed Gull, Larus delawarensis. A 'first' for me Curiously, I note that there was a sighting of single Ring-billed at Essex, my adjoining county, yesterday!].

. . . while a Starling hopped about from foot to foot.

We may not have seen any very exciting wildlife on this particular excursion, but we enjoyed looking. Liberty Island was known as Bedloe's Island in a previous existence. It was originally part of the Oyster Islands, and is cared for these days by the National Park Service. It has been a smallpox station in its time and has apparently also been home to huge populations of 'English rabbits'.

Incidentally, anyone who has watched Earthflight will have seen the (trained) Snow Geese doing their fly-past above the Statue of Liberty (you can watch them here for the next 3 days). I understand that huge bird migrations can be seen from this vantage point at certain times of the year.

And finally . . . for anyone who is interested, this is what really took us out to the USA! You can see David with his Award if you scroll down.