Whilst waiting for the rest of the group to arrive, I decided to spend the morning at Dunwich Heath, which is just north of Minsmere.
I was hoping to see a Dartford Warbler so I set off along the red route. I was walking slowly, scanning the heath on either side. After about 5 minutes a Dartford warbler landed on the footpath in front of me. It was hunting for insects and soon found one and flew off. About 15 minutes later, a chap caught up with me and asked if I had seen any warblers. I told him what I had seen. He lived in a static caravan nearby and visited the reserve daily. He had not seen a warbler, just as he walked off, one flew across the path and landed on the top of a gorse bush. I shouted to him, but the bird had flown off by the time he returned. He then walked off. I continued my slow paced walk.
I did not see any deer, nor hear any birds. As I was walking along the path that was leading back to the car park, I heard a warbler singing to my right. I scanned the area but was unable to find anything. A short distance further along the path, I then saw two warblers on top of a gorse bush close to the footpath.
A group of people were walking along the path and they disturbed the birds. I remained still in the hope that the birds might return and they did.
I was facing the sun, hence the poor photos. I had just returned to my car when Tracy rang to say that she was near Carlton Marshes, so I drove there to meet her. Tracy had spoken to people in the visitor centre so she knew where to go to see the red-footed falcons. On our way we heard and saw a whitethroat.
Shortly afterwards we saw a bittern.
We heard but did not see a cuckoo. Shortly afterwards we saw a red -footed falcon hunting for dragonflies. We saw 5 in the air at one time. Hobbies were also hunting.
We saw this Egyptian goose on our way back to the car park.
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