Four Days in Suffolk - Day 2

Following a surprisingly good night's sleep and after a good English Breakfast, we are off to Minsmere. I remember it is a rather long and strange drive out to the reserve, along narrow roads through the woods, never quite being sure where the reserve starts.  Still we get into the car park and it really isn't that busy. At the entrance we are given the map and a brief explanation of the site. We have decided to buy another pair of binoculars, for me this time, so we head for the shop first.  After a little while browsing we get offered help.  Do they watch you to decide if you're serious before offering help?  Anyway, we weren't far off what we eventually bought, and the staff kindly offered to repair Jo's pair, which they did in a few minutes, and for free.  Great service from the RSPB!
We took the longest route first, out to the mere and spent a while in various hides, only one of which had a lot of birds.  We identified a very few, and puzzled over even more, we are only beginners, but I thought we could do better.  Later I would find out why we didn't, when we got to the last hide before the walk back.  In that hide were a couple of RSPB guides, and they showed us different birds and explained how their plumage was changing for winter.  That explains the difficulty, so birds are in transition - very confusing.

On the way back to the reception area and cafe, we stopped off to visit the dig at Leiston Abbey.  Very interesting it was too.

 The Abbey had been repeatedly flooded and eventually the monks were given some land further from the sea and moved the whole Abbey 'stone by stone'.  This must have cost a fortune, but their money making schemes were quite profitable and even at the time decidedly illegal!  They seem to have diverted ships from the real port and unloaded them, and charged the appropriate taxes etc. None of that money left the Abbey, it seems.  There were various law suits against them, but that doesn't seemd to have made a difference.

We spoke to a number of the diggers and heard what they had to say.  Most were older people, so there's hope for me yet maybe.  Many had paid for the privilege, because the dig was being run by DigVentures. From discussions about how to determine what is worth getting out of the trench, to the very obvious changes in the colour of the soil, and the constant references to the ground radar that is so helpful in showing where to dig, I was fascinated. 

We eventually returned for Lunch.  Simple food was available, soup, jacket potatoes, sandwiches and the like.  The jacket potatoe was OK, but not that hot, and the order wasn't correct, although that was quickly fixed.  We sat just outside the cafe, but still under cover, not to keep warm, but to stay in the shade!

After lunch we walked round the other two circuits (together, shorter than the first) and saw almost nothing in the bird line at all, which was very disappointing.  We did see some rather impressive Red Admirals on the blackberry bushes, and I managed to get a reasonable picture.

On our way home we vistied the 'new' Leiston Abbey.  Still a ruin, but MUCH more to see.

According to the information plaques: "The abbey was of the Premonstratensian order, a very strict order who favoured remote locations (like Minsmere) well away from towns. The order was started in 1119 by Saint Norbet or Premontre in northern France.  The inmates wore black and white robes and were ordained priests unlike the monks of mother religious orders."

Norbet / Norbert just set me thinking - shouldn't have really!

After a walk on Thorpeness beach we headed for the Parrot and Punchbowl in Aldrinngham (where, we later found out, two of our friends were married).  We had a lovely meal, and a very long chat with some sitting at the next table, who clearly wanted someone to talk to.