Two rare breed sheep, a male and female, out grazing Snape Warren
Had a nice Easter day, visiting the family in Snape, had a nice meal, although being a new vegetarian, I'm still getting used to the food. Nut roast or lamb - hmm. After the meal we went for a walk along the Sailor's Path, a track that runs from Snape to Aldeburgh, through heath and woodland, fenland and marshes and which flows parallel to the river Alde. Around three miles along the way is Hazelwood Marshes, an area of mudflats that used to be grazing marsh until it was inundated by the surge of 2013. It has a hide which is the only viewpoint on the river for miles around.
As you can see from the photo above it was high tide, everything was completely saturated under water. Islands had been created that just about peaked above the water line and were full of roosting WADERS. The usual suspects were around such as AVOCET, BLACKWIT, DUNLIN and OYSTERCATCHERS, birds that are usually encountered along the river throughout the year. Also present were a flock of BAR TAILED GODWITS, a species that doesn't usually winter that much on the estuary, which probably means they were a spring passage flock. Some of the birds had turned into the brick red of their summer plumage, a much richer and deeper colour than the BLACKWIT. There were also GREY PLOVER, TURNSTONE and KNOT about. There were a few duck about, the usual wintering species. Hazelwood Marshes was the planned destination of the walk, from where we would walk back to Snape. However I had one final plan.
Okay, so on other blogs I have mentioned I don't usually do twitches, but with a COUE'S ARCTIC REDPOLL just half a mile from Hazelwood Marshes, I thought I might as well have a look. It was by the entrance car park, nothing particularly different about the habitat just some farmland.
One birdwatcher was present, and upon asking him if he had seen anything we were directed to a flock of LESSER REDPOLLS (the normal or commoner redpolls). A flock of 15 were present feeding on farmland - strange behaviour for a bird usually seen in woodland. Every so often they would erupt from the field and roost in a nearby hedge, where they would stay for a couple of minutes before commuting back to the field, where they would hide in and out in the ploughed furrows. Eventually after around half an hour I finally caught sight of the ARCTIC REDPOLL, a much paler bird with a slightly longer body. Okay I guess, some kind of tick, a new bird species, quite a rare bird to find even though this one had been present since October. With that done we walked back to Snape and I went home.
So ended my little Sailor's Path adventure and it proved to be quite an interesting one. Next birdwatching visit will be to North Norfolk next week. Until then have fun.
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