A Bit of Birding in Suffolk Part 1

After a very complicated visit to Birmingham last week, we had a few days in Suffolk before the looooong drive back to Scotland. Our plans were completely changed over Easter due to someone in the family testing positive for the dreaded 'Vid'. We already had 4 nights booked in Aldeburgh, so we hastily found a B&B for 2 extra nights.

On the way we popped into Ickworth NT and came across our first Egyptian Geese of the year, with goslings!

We found that we were near a reserve that we had visited in previous visit, this is the Suffolk Wildlife Trust's Hen Reed Beds reserve, we paid three visits over the two days. More Goslings, this time Greylag Goose,

Marsh Harrier over the Reeds,

and one of the many Twite that were about.

We also saw our first Swallows of the year here, collecting mud for their nest, as well as Cetti's Warblers, they just wouldn't stay still for a second, so no chance of a photo. Little Egrets put in a few appearances but liked to hide away from us or had reeds in front, so this is the best photo I could manage:

and finally a solitary Lawing:

Oh! I nearly forgot, we had a very very brief sighting of a Bittern as it flew over the reeds! In total just 24 species, but a great place to sit, chill and get sunburnt!

Japanese Gardens - Cowden

 Last week we went with our good friend Val to the Japanese Gardens at Cowden, just 20 minutes away from us, what a beautiful place. We just went for a stroll and to see what it was like, didn't expect any birding, but was delighted to see:

Plus the gardens were pretty nice too!

Fife Ness

 Catching up again! This is a brief post with some pics from our visit to Fife Ness and The Fife Bird Club hide there (we are members!)

As you can see this is predominantly a sea watching hide, the "Bird Traffic" is fabulous and on occasions pretty close in, so most are easily identifiable. Plus some good photo opportunities!

And a few more Gannet shots:

Loch Leven Kirkgate & Short Eared Owl

 We had heard there were Short-eared Owls showing from the viewpoint at Kirkgate at Kinross, so we made a couple of visits last week to have a look. The first was late in the day and we did see a Shortie quartering the fields, but I it was dull and very cold so didn't get any decent photos and didn't hang about too long, So we popped back for an hour on Sunday, the sun was out not so windy, so managed to get some better shots:

There were a few other photo opportunities too: