We were greeted this year with a lovely sunrise. Sadly, Natural England has not been able to renew its agreement with the landowner, so the car park is now closed but I am pleased to say that all public footpaths remain open. I was delighted that this year we had some distinguished birders with us: Nigel Redman – tour leader with Rockjumper and of our trip to Somaliland in 2012, Nik Borrow – tour leader with Birdquest including our trip to Tanzania in 2006, and Leio and Jen de Souza of India Nature who, respectively, led and organised the trip that Mandy and I did to Bhutan this April. Their expertise meant that we had an admirable 62 species including excellent views of Bearded Reedlings, Marsh Harriers, Bittern (in flight, for two of our number) and Nightingales (photographed by Nik).
Happily, the Cetti’s Warblers’ explosive song was present once again. We had two very good scribes in Jasmine and Ellie who kept the list in order, as well as our youngest participants, Basil and Jacob, who enjoyed the morning and were looking forward to hot chocolate after the walk. Towards the end, the rain made its unwelcome appearance and so we made our way to the Anchor where breakfast was enjoyed by the majority of the group. Afterwards, the dedicated few made their way to the Bird Hide to complete the morning’s birding.
A total of £160.00 (including donations from those who could not attend the walk) was collected, to be shared equally between Walberswick Church and the Dingle Marshes Project which is still progressing, organised by Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Thank you all for your continued support.