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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Jamey Douglas

Country diary: Holding our breath as we watch the bearded tits

A male bearded tit
A male bearded tit with its ‘harlequin-like markings’. Photograph: Jerome Murray/Alamy

As we climb the river wall, our steps laboured by the steep bank, the harsh wind suddenly hits us so fast it takes our breath away. The Butley river, with its saltmarsh and mud banks, sweeps ahead on my left. To my right, Boyton Marshes stretches into a bright white horizon. These are the famous Suffolk skies: wide and open.

Continuing on the Suffolk coast path, curlew, Cetti’s warblers and skylarks call. As I look ahead, redshanks busily scour the mud on the river edge. Oystercatchers fly past us, following the river, and a marsh harrier glides above one of the islands in the distance.

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