A Saturday morning saw Keith and I on our way to the RSPB reserve at Minsmere with the Gravesend RSPB group. Minsmere is one of the star RSPB reserves in the UK, located on the Suffolk coast. The weather forecast wasn’t great but Minsmere always has a surprise or two.
Photo by Stefan Berndtsson ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/sbern/ )
Arriving we were told of two Ring Ouzels near North hide. There has been quite a passage of this highland nesting thrush this autumn, so we headed off to see if we could find them. it took a while but eventually, we saw one fly and I found that or another one perched in a bush (sadly head-view only) and then another flight view. We continued to wait but there were no further sightings and we decided to move on.
Down on the beach, we found Stonechat and a Dartford Warbler and as we walked back into the reserve, we had a collection of Egret species -A Bittern and 2 Great White Egrets to go with the commoner Grey Heron and Little Egret). By contrast, wading birds were very low in number.
Gadwall 
Cormorant
At Island Mere we were watching the Marsh Harriers when someone spotted an Otter, which swam across the Mere in front of us.
Common Pheasant [sp] (Phasianus colchicus)
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)
Gadwall [sp] (Mareca strepera)
Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Water Rail [sp] (Rallus aquaticus)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Little Grebe [sp] (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus)
Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Eurasian Curlew [sp] (Numenius arquata)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Eurasian Bittern [sp] (Botaurus stellaris)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Great Egret [sp] (Ardea alba)
Little Egret [sp] (Egretta garzetta)
Western Marsh Harrier [sp] (Circus aeruginosus)
Common Kingfisher [sp] (Alcedo atthis)
European Green Woodpecker [sp] (Picus viridis)
Eurasian Hobby [sp] (Falco subbuteo)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Marsh Tit [sp] (Poecile palustris)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Barn Swallow [sp] (Hirundo rustica)
Cetti’s Warbler [sp] (Cettia cetti)
Common Chiffchaff [sp] (Phylloscopus collybita)
Eurasian Blackcap [sp] (Sylvia atricapilla)
Dartford Warbler [sp] (Sylvia undata)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Ring Ouzel [sp] (Turdus torquatus)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
Redwing [sp] (Turdus iliacus)
European Stonechat [sp] (Saxicola rubicola)
Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis)
White Wagtail (Pied) (Motacilla alba yarrellii)
Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)
Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Chloris chloris)
Common Linnet [sp] (Linaria cannabina)
Pete's Favourite Things 