trip back in time to now

Just had a couple of days away close to the coast in Suffolk another area of this fine country that holds a special place in my heart. Stayed in a lovely little pub the Blaxhall Ship with good food, real fires and friendly staff. Blaxhall is about five miles inland and has a fine common on the seaward side that I can remember visiting when I was agricultural college.

Back then we were told that smugglers used to bring their goods inland from the Alde across the common to the pub for further wider dispersal, as you sat in the pub at night with the fires burning,the bars smelling of wood smoke and alive with customer chatter, with the darknessand snow just outside quietening vehicle movements to whispers you could almost have been back there with the horses being unloaded and men keeping watch. I had only had half a pint as well by then, something very rare for me these days I know, but it was Adnams and that close to Southwold it had to be done.

Did some birding on the way down and both days there, on the Orwell, the Deben and at Minsmere. Peregrines, Marsh Harriers hunting in the falling snow, lots of duck including a Drake Smew and a couple of redheads which brought back memories of working in Ipswich and seeing one in falling snow in the docks.

In the photo above there is a male and female Smew kipping on the edge of the snow and ice. Saw a kingfisher and some nice waders including Snipe and Blacktailed Godwit. The Snipe were so keen to feed especially at Minsmere on the Thursday that they were very close to the hide we sat in, how many can you see in the picture below.

The Godwit feeding on the exposed mud of the Deben a few miles inland on Friday with all the talk of horrendous snowy weather coming a very fresh southeasterly blowing. At the beach in Aldeburgh an hour earlier it was cold enough to cut you despite thermals.

All in all a lovely couple of days away doing nothing in particular and something special at the time, something I never really managed in 2012.