Suffolk Bird Report 2019
Cretzschmar’s Bunting Emberiza caesia at Minsmere May 31st, 2019 First for Suffolk Henry Page Friday 31st May (2019) … what I thought would be a seemingly normal day at Minsmere turned into a MEGA cascade of events. I was currently living on site and involved in the RSPB’s internship programme for practical conservation. Living on site really has its perks and I was usually out on the reserve long after people had gone home or well before they’ve arrived… which was the key to this discovery. It was a blisteringly hot day and my morning was spent changing the battery and doing repairs on the Sand Martin Riparia riparia fence and other odd jobs. I also saw my first ever Broadbordered Bee Hawkmoth Hemaris fuciformis as I was heading back to the office for lunch. I returned with the camera and, typically, the Bee-Hawkmoth had long gone. Then I was told by Cretzschmar’s Bunting at Minsmere Beach, Henry Page one of my colleagues that a Hoopoe Upupa epops May 31st had been seen at Aldringham, which he really wanted to see in his lunch break, and kindly invited me along. So as soon as his shift finished, he drove past to give me a lift there. Then all off a sudden my radio went off “I’ve just had a report from visitors that they’ve just seen an Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana), which they think could even possibly be a Cretzschmar’s Bunting which would be mega for the reserve but it has flown south”. My colleague, hearing the message as well, then said… “are you staying here then or coming to see the Hoopoe?”. I jokingly said “nah I’ll come to see the Hoopoe” - famous last word! After returning from the briefest glimpse of a Hoopoe I’ve ever had, I worked the rest of the day and finished around 17:30pm. In the office there was talk that staff members and a number of birders had been out looking for this bunting sp. with no sign whatsoever. At this point I thought that as it was a wonderful sunny evening I might as well have a walk along the coast before heading back home to Norfolk for the weekend. My thoughts were the same as earlier when the initial message came through saying ‘flown south’ that the chances of actually finding this thing would be a needle-in-a-haystack situation… near impossible in my mind. But I tried my luck and set myself the challenge of walking from North Wall to the Dunwich Heath National Trust border and then walk the whole stretch south to Sizewell. Deserted dunes greeted me; everyone had gone home for the day leaving me peacefully with the Dartford Warbler’s Sylvia undata, Stonechats Saxicola torquatus, Linnets Carduelis cannabina and all the other regulars. I got as far as a kilometre away from the Sizewell dome and had a young farmer’s message for a meeting at the pub for 20:00 that sounded very appealing at that point. So, I gave up and headed back towards the Sluice. Less than a minute later I noticed ‘an oddlooking Linnet’ at distance perched on the gorse. Usually in the dunes in the past when looking for anything unusual, or visitors asking for identification help, the saying ‘if in doubt, it’s a Linnet’ is said more often than not. However, as soon as I looked through my bins the excitement and 52
