Monday 2 October 2017

A trip to Minsmere

For our first full day in East Anglia, we travelled into Suffolk and visited RSPB Minsmere, where the order of the day was 'Wildlife, tea, cake, repeat'. Whilst there were plenty of birds to see, my photos of the day didn't reflect this, despite my futile attempts to capture images of Bearded Tits.

At this time of year, as in Orkney, so in Suffolk. There was a lot of slime mould about, in the form of Scrambled Egg mould (or Dog's Vomit mould, if you prefer, but I suspect you don't!).


We were chuffed to see species of butterfly that either aren't common or do not put in an appearance in Orkney. Here's a Comma that is trying it's darnedest to be just an autumnal leaf, honest.


And we did have great views of a Southern Hawker hunting along the vegetation at the side of a path, plenty of Migrant Hawkers, as well as countless Common Darters and the occasional Ruddy Darter.

Bench press: 20+ Common Darters and a Speckled Wood butterfly

Sympetrum sweethearts

A rather worn, male Ruddy Darter
In the evening, we returned to Sisland, and were able to enjoy further views of the Barn Owl. Later, as we settled down for the night, we could hear several Tawny Owls in some nearby trees.

2 comments:

Mark said...

What a flippin bench!

Imperfect and Tense said...

As often in the UK, it was a day with sunny periods interspersed with cloud cover. Insects, and other cold-blooded creatures, will often seek out surfaces that are retaining heat from the last sunny period, so as to maintain their body temperature. As a species that is on the wing during the Autumn, and so having a very real need for a 'thermal reservoir', Common Darters can often be seen sharing a source of warmth. This was a pleasingly numerous example! There'll be a bit more about Common Darters soon.