East Angular

We've spent the weekend in Suffolk (and a bit of Norfolk).

Friday evening, Nightjar survey, preceded by a fine barbeque and a tasty Firecrest:


Saturday, Sizewell:

Bee Orchid

Dunwich Heath

Sunday, Minsmere:

Common Tern. I thought this was a very artistic style of defecation

Shoveler, drake moulting into eclipse plumage

Tiny Moorhen

Speckled Wood (the only butterfly we saw all weekend!)

Juvenile Magpies outside the cafe

Looking south towards Sizewell

and west (inland)

Konik ponies

We stopped off at Lakenheath in hope of hearing Golden Orioles, but didn't.

And the Ouse Washes at Earith, where we didn't see a Cattle Egret

Good clouds, though

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640

Surf's up!

On the beach at Minsmere

Looking towards Southwold

The great British (?) tradition, the sandcastle

Ringed Plovers fleeing from the bank holiday crowds

Sizewell at 6.34 am. The Kittiwakes were screeching already

Darren tried seawatching but didn't see anything except butterflies...

Red Admirals (and a few Small Tortoiseshells) were crossing the North Sea (presumably from the Netherlands). This one made landfall on a nice warm metal NT sign

Can you feel the sand between your toes?

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Minsmere dragonflies

male Emerald damselfly

Emperor ovipositing

I could have spent all day at the pools near the Minsmere visitor centre, as there were a few Southern Hawkers flying round, tantalisingly within camera range. However, I spent 10 minutes there and didn't quite manage any shots... Maybe next year??

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Suffolk heathland

Hobby hawking for dragonflies

Grayling basking on gorse

gorse

Robin's pin-cushion gall, made by the wasp Diplolepis rosae

Gorse and blackberries

Marsh Harrier - not a very heathy species, but it was flying over it!

Robin (without its pin-cushion)

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Cyder 1, Nightjars 0

We spent this weekend in Suffolk, based on a notion that we'd go looking for Nightjars so it would be nice to stay overnight somewhere.

It was our first camping trip of 2007 (something we do occasionally) and we stayed in a field in Eastbridge, a stone's throw away from Minsmere. The Eel's Foot in Eastbridge serves Aspall's, the best cider in the world, and after we realised that going Nightjarring would compromise our cider-drinking, we decided the 'jars could wait til later...

Swallow

The Black-headed Gull colony provided [noisy] entertainment

Green Hairstreak

Assorted damselflies which I haven't really thought about yet

drake Shoveler

Four-spotted Chaser

Male Stonechat

Female Stonechat

Possibly the highlight was adding Bittern to my Tent List (birds seen or heard while I'm in the tent). This was accomplished at 6am on Sunday morning when we heard at least two 'booming' from the Minsmere reedbeds.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, some with Extender EF 1.4x II