Today I spent a day in Suffolk, visiting Thorpeness, Sizewell, Minsmere and Dunwich Heath. All four locations provided me with views of some nice birds on a lovely sunny day, including one which was a lifer and another which is my all-time favourite bird! On top of this a wide variety of birds throughout the day gave me an impressive day list of waders, woodland birds, gulls, waterfowl and other species.

My first stop was at Thorpeness where I twitched a long-staying juvenile Barred Warbler; thanks to Mark for showing me the bush that the bird had been frequenting so that I did not have to wait long.

Next stop was Sizewell nuclear power station. An unlikely site for nature but I went to have a look at the Kittiwakes nesting on the offshore platforms which were easily seen as were more than 20 Little Gulls feeding on the water. As I was leaving a Black Redstart showed itself on the power station itself.

My next destination was Dunwich Heath, managed by the National Trust. I came here to look for Dartford Warbler, the species that got me into birding; I saw one with my dad when I was 7 years old and bought my first pair of binoculars the next day. It was super rare then, colourful and I come from Dartford! Today it took me some time before finding one and they were typically given away by a pair of Common Stonechats. I heard the song of the Dartford Warbler and then very quickly saw one, then another, and another…… in fact there were around 8 of them having a riot in the mature heather tufts. I can honestly say that I got more excited with this sighting of Dartford Warbler today than I have for any bird in many years. Sorry to all the Spoon-billed Sandpiper fans but Dartford Warbler means a lot more to me and I see far fewer.

Moving on to Minsmere there was a really good selection of birds on the pools with Little Stint, Water Rail, Spotted Redshank, Barnacle Goose (they looked suspiciously feral), Common Snipe, Bar-tailed & Black-tailed Godwits and many others. The woodlands were nice too with Coal Tit, Goldcrest and Treecreeper bein g nice sightings.

Other nice birds included Cetti’s Warbler, Bearded Tit and Hobby making it a rewarding day in a number of ways.