Today’s group met up with me for coffee at The Froize at 8.30am, and I ran through our plans for the morning. We would spend the first half at Shingle Street searching for migrants in the coastal bushes, before heading to Boyton Marshes with its pools and tidal river by way of a contrast. 

We watched a Goldcrest in trees by the car park, then set off on the short journey to Shingle Street, seeing a Buzzard en route. We parked up by the allotments then walked south beyond the last house; from here we had a fine view looking towards Bawdsey with its Martello towers and extra sea defences. Birds were few and far between at this stage, but we spotted a Little Egret on a pool and coaxed out Blackcap and Chiffchaff from a bramble in one of the gardens; these two are the last warbler species to make their migration south, having shorter journeys to complete than the others. 

We tried hard to find the recently present Yellow-browed Warbler along the allotment path, but without success in the fresh breeze. Finding migrant birds in autumn is very much weather dependent, and today’s strong southerly wind wasn’t in our favour. If the wind is in the west, birds are blown towards the east coast so it is possible to see ‘visible migration’ in action, with flocks of hirundines, pipits and finches heading south. Easterlies produce the chance of finding drift migrants from across the North Sea. Today unfortunately we had neither but, as we strolled north, we saw a few Meadow Pipits and a party of Linnets before a pair of Stonechats proved co-operative and allowed scope views.

At the sea we paused to enjoy the well-known ‘shell line’ and discussed how it came to be here. We returned to the cars along the shingle side of the houses, most (but not quite all) of which were deserted on a cold and grey autumn day.

En route to Boyton we noted small groups of soon to depart House Martins and Swallows. Having reached the reserve car park we headed past ‘Banters Barn’ and had one last attempt to find passerine migrants in the hedge. Further on, the main flash to the left of the path held a small number of Black-tailed Godwits, one of which stayed around to wash and allow us more prolonged looks. A Snipe flew to the reeds at the back, Teal roosted and fed whilst a Water Rail squealed from the ditch behind us.

From the river wall, looking north towards Butley Ferry we spotted a few Curlew and an impressive number of Redshanks. Looking south towards Havergate Island we found a party of Avocets; this species breeds on the man-made ‘scrapes’ but winters on the estuaries. Bearded Tits pinged from the ditch in front of us but remained hidden. The grazing marshes were covered in geese, most of which were Greylags. Almost at once the flock rose and flew round with the birds calling loudly. At this stage we didn’t spot anything which might have caused alarm, but I mentioned Peregrine as a possible culprit; it certainly wasn’t the local Kestrel, or the Buzzards soaring over the woods across the river.

We headed on to a position from where we could scan the newly created wetland where a Merlin had apparently taken up residence. We weren’t in luck; I discovered later that this bird had relocated to Hollesley today! Nevertheless, our perseverance was rewarded when, in the distance, we spotted a Peregrine with prey being chased by a Marsh Harrier. The falcon eventually landed to enjoy its meal on the Orfordness shingle. A wonderful spectacle!

It was time to stroll back to the vehicles, seeing a seal in the river and a whistling group of Wigeon along the way.

Back at The Froize we had the opportunity to buy drinks from the bar before heading to the restaurant. As always the range of dishes on offer was remarkable and, having walked a fair distance on a chilly morning, we were all ready to tuck in! My personal choices today included a fabulous lamb shank followed by a splendidly light panna cotta.

We reflected on a varied morning at two very different sites; it had seemed like hard work finding birds but in fact our species tally was well over 50, with a number of highlights. In any case, it had been lovely simply being out in the wilds! Before we went our separate ways, I advertised the next Froize event – “Glorious Winter Wildfowl” – on Thursday 14 November. Full details on the Froize website https://froize.co.uk/.