Birding at Sizewell

The easterly winds brought seabirds to our coast in numbers today to the delight of birders.  I was birding with Carol and Anna and in only a couple of hours we had seen almost 200 Gannet, several duck species including Common Scoter, several Arctic Skuas, one Great Skua and a Sooty Shearwater.

Yesterday at Trimley reserve there was a Red-backed Shrike reported.

Orwell Wader Turn-over Project

Below is an excellent photograph taken by John Kemp of a Black-tailed Godwit loafing on a rising tide.

The godwit was ringed at Levington in 2008 by Newton & Wright as part of a Natural England & BTO 'Turn-over' project to find out the population using the estuary over the winter period.  Redshanks are also individually colour ringed.

The godwit below has now been seen 10 times; Breydon Water, Freston (R Orwell), Welney, Trimley Marshes and Mistley Walls (R Stour) where the photo was taken.

Photo by John Kemp

Wildlife

This photograph was taken a long way from home but it does not matter where you go in the world wildlife is being threatened and destroyed beyond belief.  Our government with their allies are no different yet here in the west we are supposed to be educated and a cut above the rest.

I am still looking for this handsome fellow at Newbourne but maybe only in my dreams.

The angle of this shot shows the Proboscus Monkey to be very handsome.
Endemic to Borneo

Levington

The night sky at Levington last night.

Landseer Park

Landseer Park is situated in the centre of a large housing estate to the east of Ipswich.  In the not to distant past there was a wonderful diverse mixture of habitats with mature trees, woodland, scrub, wet meadows, fen areas to streams and ponds, which covered the whole of the valley.  However, during the 1950’s and 1960’ much of the valley was in-filled with domestic refuse.  All that remains from that era now is the wooded area on the high ground between Clapgate Lane and Cliff Lane.

A large area of the park is undulating open regularly mown amenity grassland with large areas of herb rich grassland, acid grassland which has developed into a lovely mosaic of grassland types.  There are a number of scrub areas planted on the perimeter slopes some of which are maturing into wonderful habitats.  

Landseer Park woodland

Orb spider

Trimley Marshes

The Green sandpiper is a passage migrant, breeds in subarctic Europe; nests in old Fieldfares nests,  The species winters in southern Europe and tropical Africa.

The bird pictured below was captured and ringed at Trimley.

Green Sandpiper in moult showing new inner primaries, old outer and
 old secondaries.

Ipswich

Another derelict site in Ipswich.

Small Wood Reed

Ipswich

Recently I have been snowed under with survey work in and around Ipswich, very enjoyable and great weather too.

Superb area of acid grassland in Ipswich (not a building to be seen).

The Mint Moth a common micro, lots about at the moment.