Following on from the Macro workshop, we organised a series of day events for anyone staying on in East Anglia. A couple from Scotland, and two other participants from Milton Keynes area and from Bath took us up on the offer to stay locally.
We started with a day at Lakenheath (Suffolk) where the Bitterns, Marsh Harriers, Hobbies and Kingfishers were the stars. The day was perfect weatherwise - sunny and moderately warm so plenty of insects including dragonflies to photograph. However the storms arrived for our journeys home or to accommodation with very flooded roads etc
The next day, we visited Strumpshaw (Suffolk) where, unfortunately, the winter flooding and the recent cool weather had not been kind to the Swallowtails or Dragonflies but we did find things to photograph especially in a barley field near the reserve.
By Friday the weather had deteriorated and the day at Winterton was markedly cool with occasional blustery showers. The stars here were definitely the Little Terns that were nesting on the beach. Lots of images were taken of the Terns fishing in the very rough waves - there was such a strong on-shore wind that the tide never retreated much. Brian, who lives locally, spend the day with us showing the various habitats and flowers in this dune complex which earned its designation as an SSSI
As there were only two of us for the final day and the weather was wet and windy, we decided that Buxton Heath was not a good idea and, instead went to Hickling Broad. We spent a wet morning in one of the hides with lots of Marsh Harrier action though the light was pretty poor. Just as we parked at our final destination, Horsey Gap, the clouds cleared and we spent an hour on the beach photographing the very playful seals in the sea.
(Photographs by Ann Miles, Dave McKay, Jane Rees and John Harvey)
