Category: Fauna

I was walking the sea-wall when the wind freshened from the west, the sky darkened and I was caught in a light shower. Within a few seconds small parties of swifts suddenly appeared, tracking low along the sea-wall – and heading south.

Cuckoo still calling, which is getting late. As the nursery rhyme has it, '...in June he changes his tune/ in July he prepares to fly'.

The local oystercatchers still have three surviving young, which are highly mobile but not yet flying. Not long to go now before they can take to the air – and safety.

A group of four spoonbills feeding actively near the viewing platform on the Hollesley Marsh reserve. They commute between here, Boyton and Havergate (where they are probably nesting). Spectacular birds!

The lapwing and oystercatcher families in the pools by the sea-wall to East Lane now each have three surviving young, mobile but not yet flying, so still in danger from foxes, otters and dogs.

The Shingle Street cuckoo is still calling – just. Already the first cuckoos that have successfully deposited their eggs with a foster are returning south. Sometimes we see the juveniles here later in the summer, as in this image, but by then their parents are long gone.