A Winter Afternoon at Shingle Street

Some of you may know Shingle Street or may know of it from Blake Morrison's poetry collection of the same name. For me it epitomises what is wild about the Suffolk coast. It can be bleak, and rumour has it that the bitter east winds blow in from Siberia. The ruggedness is what draws us back. We have watched seals here, though there were none in evidence this afternoon.

Visibility was cloudy but quite good on the shore, as you can tell from the photo above. The picture further up the coast was a bit different: in the photo below you can just make out the Orfordness Lighthouse through a rather otherworldly haze.



The sun kept coming and going during our time on the beach. The next photo shows the shoreline in the foreground, then the shingle spit, with Orfordness in the distance. You can make out the red and white bands of the decommissioned lighthouse more clearly in this shot.

There appeared to be very few birds about except for the gulls, two Redshanks in the tidal stream and the strings of Cormorants who flew past in a southerly direction.

The picture of the red and white bell-buoy below was taken with my zoom extended.

There were quite a few empty shells mixed in with the shingle...

... like this Oyster shell in the photo below, suggesting that the gulls had found some easy pickings.

It would be wonderful if there were seals hauled out on this sandbar next time...

The tide was on the low side, but was not particularly low.

This next picture shows a brackish pool, surrounded by a covering of green salt-resistant vegetation. There are many rare plants at Shingle Street.

To the right of the Whelk you can see some small green leaves beginning to reappear.

There were one or two toadstools in the mossy areas, and while I know they can favour damp conditions, I was surprised to find them tolerant of the salt.

I am not sure I have been able to identify the succulent-like plant (Sedum Acre, Biting Stonecrop?) in the photo below yet, but it was beginning to grow in all directions. There is a good vegetation list for the area here.

How's this for an empty beach!



By 3.45 pm the light was pretty low...

It was time to head home for a cup of tea.

Previous Shingle Street posts

• 3 January 2019
• 21 January 2017
• 22 March 2016 - with seals
• 24 March 2014

First Snowdrop

I posted a picture of frost in my previous post on a day when our tiny wildlife pond was a sheet of ice. This morning I caught a spell of sunshine and went outside, only to find this single Snowdrop. It was such a cheering sight, even if the photo, taken on my phone, barely shows off its 'singular' beauty.

Our First Barn Owl of 2015

What a windy weekend!

I was given a copy of Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet by Mark Cocker for my recent birthday. I grew up only a few miles from the Yare-side village of Claxton, so was particularly keen to read the volume. Mark Cocker writes compellingly about his Norfolk owl encounters in the book, and it was these accounts that made me feel the urge to seek an owl encounter of my own.

We headed for the Suffolk coast, watching for birds of prey on a small road that runs along the River Deben, keeping a weather eye on the state of the wind and high tide.

We pulled in at a favourite lay-by and looked around. Intitially the surrounding area seemed devoid of avian wildlife, but all of a sudden a Kestrel swept into view, hovering near the tree-line on our left. It did not hang about, but David was quick to spot a Little Egret in a dyke on the opposite side of the road.

We had watched Barn Owls, these magnificent giants, from this spot in the past. Astonishingly we did not have to wait long before a graceful, if ghostly, form spread out before us, quartering the fields. It circled round for a short while before taking roost in the dense bare branches of a tree. The photos below were nearly all taken behind the glass of the car windscreen and the conditions for photography were far from good. But the joy was in the seeing and the watching, and the record shots below testify to the excitement of what could otherwise have been a dull January afternoon. 

 We finally reached the waterfront, where we looked out on Felixstowe Ferry and its martello towers ...

For more Suffolk wildlife and superb photography ...

• Old Man of Minsmere aka John Richardson: Suffolk (Kingfisher and) Short-eared Owl Sighting 

Click on the logo below to see other wildlife posts from all over ...

Tree Following ~ Silver Birch in December 2014 and early January 2015

                 and early 2015

This post is the ninth in my Tree Following series, part of a wider project run by Lucy Corrander from the Loose and Leafy blog. It is the first post of the new year, but is actually largely about December 2014. I am following a Silver Birch, B. pendula, in Suffolk, UK. You will find the other Tree Follower links on the Loose and Leafy blog ... so do take the chance to catch up with happenings in the arboreal world!

2015! Silver Birch Sunrise

Welcome or welcome back!

December has, inevitably, been a month of bare branches. Unlike this time last year when the weather was mild and damp, we have had a run of sub-zero temperatures, with wonderful frost-flower patterns on the car roof.

The chill factor has not prevented the Silver Birch from developing: take note of those forked 'twig ends'! Spring may not quite be on the way and last year's seeds are still winging their way on to my windowsill, but this kind of new 2015 growth is good to see. As I write the sky is overcast and the air is saturated with moisture, but it was bitterly cold at dawn.

New growth at the end of each twig!

I see the occasional Grey Squirrel in the tall tree that marks the start of the Local Nature Reserve, some 200 metres beyond our garden, but I have not seen a squirrel our side of the fence since December 11th. We have been trying hard to keep our supply of bird food topped up, and the squirrel in question discovered a feast of fat balls inside the feeder that hangs from the Silver Birch.

 The creature climbed, dangled, hung upside down and gorged. 

There came a point at which s/he could no longer reach the remaining bits of food, so s/he tried biting the wood on the outside of the feeder to enlarge the hole. I hope it didn't cause indigestion!

Then when that ploy no longer seemed the best option, the creature simply flipped off the lid of the feeder and climbed inside the cylinder. One very overstuffed Squirrel, and the only mammal noted in the vicinity during this period.

I can't *really* count this as a Tree-Following sighting as it was way up above the Silver Birch, but it was lovely to watch a Grey Heron flying past. This is an infrequent occurrence in my neck of the woods. I noticed a charm of Goldfinches on the Nature Reserve tree on 15 December: I have not seen this species in the vicinity of the Silver Birch since the early summer (May-June post).  

David, my husband, spotted the Green Woodpecker on the Silver Birch for the first time. I went to grab my camera, and the bird flew off, so alas, no photos.

We have hardly seen the Great Spotted Woodpecker this month. The Starlings have been frequent visitors, and when they are busy squabbling among themselves and slicing of bits of fat, there is usually a wily Robin underneath, waiting for the bits that fall. I have also noticed the Blackbird in the undergrowth and the Magpies up to their usual dive-bombing antics.

The Blue tits and Great tits have been constant visitors to the coconuts. A Thrush has been seen under the drooping birch branches from time to time. I'm guessing it is a Song Thrush. According to this BTO fact sheet, the little heart-shaped markings would suggest as much, since Mistle Thrush markings are more pointed like arrowheads.

The stars of the Christmas show (acrobatic squirrel apart) have been the Long-tailed tits, who have delighted us with their intermittent appearances. They visit the coconuts on the Silver Birch in groups of three and four and are such fascinating birds to watch as they interact with one another.

Moving on to insects and other creatures, I have seen a few moths, but these have been less frequent sightings. It was slightly off-limits in terms of distance from the tree, but we had a sleepy seven-spot Ladybird on our front door over the holiday. This morning there was a spider, but it vanished before I could take a close look.

For a list of species seen in, on or around the Silver Birch to date (nothing new to report for this last month), please follow the link here and scroll down.

Don't forget that the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is just around the corner, taking place on 24-25 January. And if you can't wait until then, you might consider subscribing to the BTO Garden Bird Watch, which I have only just heard about.

What surprises does February have in store? 

* * *

Postscript
Just to show that I am keeping my eyes open, here is a mature Silver Birch I noticed on Dunwich Heath some days ago, making my tree seem barely more than a mere sapling! Look at the rather grotesque fungus ...

 MY PREVIOUS TREE FOLLOWING POSTS

• November to December 2014
• October to November 2014
• September to October 2014
• August to September 2014
• July to August 2014 
• June to July 2014
• May to June 2014 
• April to May 2014
• March to April 2014
• February to March 2014

Frostflowers: Fractal, Feathered or Fern-like?

This is the time of year for Jack Frost and his ice patterns!

The swirls in the photo above graced the roof of my car some days ago and made me wonder how they came to form in the way that they do.

I am, alas, no scientist, but it seems that small environmental changes, for example in air temperature, air movement, in the number of water molecules or in the quantity of dust particles, cause an ice pattern to grow, perhaps by developing long frond-like arms, thereby deviating from its original flower-like design.

But what causes these formations in the first place? Well, in the case of windows, it seems that frost patterns emerge when a pane of glass is exposed to sub-zero temperatures on the outside and moist air on the inside. Water vapour in the atmosphere condenses and becomes frost on the internal surface of the glass. These days with central heating, we rarely see frost patterns inside our homes, but I recall the high sash windows of my teenage years and the chilly patterns that delighted us on winter mornings.  

• The Story of Snow: what we sometimes miss
• Fern pattern
• Frost photos

Nature Reserves: Minsmere

Grey Squirrel ... with a twist in the tail!

A friendly rabbit

Swanlake ...

... all puffed out!

Not quite Treetops ... but close!

Delighting in (wild)life ...

We failed to see Waxwings today, but were thrilled to watch Bullfinches, hyperactive Goldcrests and a Green Woodpecker. Sadly the low light meant that most of my bird photos were disappointing (and the Goldcrests were too quick for the camera!). 

Bird Count (1): January-February 2011

Birds I have seen during January and February in South Wales

I wonder what species you have noted so far this year in your neck of the woods? I have also seen the following: -

Mammals
1) Grey Squirrel
2) Rabbit
3) Fox

Amphibians
1) Common Toad

Insects
1) Bumble Bee
2) Hover Fly
3) Ladybird (fluttered past without stopping)

Molluscs
1) Snails

I have yet to see my first Butterfly of 2011. I recall spotting my first one year on 14 February in the snow!

Postscript: you might enjoy this post about what birds can do in Israel ~ thanks, April!