Five members and one visitor set off for RSPB Minsmere nature reserve on a beautiful fine sunny October day. In addition to the predictable waders were substantial flocks of barnacle geese and among them one red-breasted goose that showed intermittently – except to me! A group of keen birders waited patiently in front of the bushes beyond the sluice gate, hoping to glimpse the red-flanked bluetail that had been spotted there. We lay on the grass munching our sandwiches but nothing twitched, not even the birders. As we were completing the circuit back through woodland we paused to see a hind and its calf feeding quietly in the undergrowth less than twelve metres away.
On the drive out of Minsmere, we stopped to watch in the distance a field of red deer and two stags which were apparently resting. Further on towards Dunwich, we went to the RSPB viewpoint where a telescope was set up on a hill and excellent views could be seen of the distant herd of about thirty deer. While there was no confrontation between the stags, one could be seen, though not heard, bellowing as it pranced up and down and a green woodpecker added its distinctive yaffle and flight to a very special scene.