Charles Cuthbert

An interesting little group of waders from the Scrapes at Minsmere this week, Ringed Plover, Dunlins (3) and a Little Stint, the latter in winter plumage and an extremely scarce bird here in late winter/early spring! (15th - 20th March 2026) @GrahamFAppleton

Peacock butterflies now waking up in the spring sunshine in coastal Suffolk, and occasionally pausing to feed on nectar from the bright yellow flowers of Lesser Celandine (19th March 2026) @BC_Suffolk @savebutterflies

An uncommon winter visitor to Suffolk, this Slavonian Grebe turned up on the South Scrape at Minsmere today, presumably the same bird that was present earlier on the South Levels (17th March 2026)

A few butterflies out in the sun this morning including this beautiful Peacock, showing its amazing 'eyes' while taking nectar from a patch of Comfrey flowers in a local churchyard. From coastal Suffolk (16th March 2026). @BC_Suffolk @savebutterflies @suffolkwildlife

@timinbrum @LandguardNot @suffolkwildlife Very upsetting, and there's no care or thought for wildlife!

@CRCuthbert @LandguardNot @suffolkwildlife Our old rented house had a pond, we had loads of newts.when we moved out the garden got flattened to make it low maintenance for students. We were gutted, the wildlife there was amazing.

A male Great Crested Newt, rescued from possible danger by the house yesterday, and safely released in my garden pond where they are plentiful! (10th March 2026) @suffolkwildlife

@loosemum @wildlifebcn I feel sure that it was trying to eat the newt, but had to break it into pieces first. I once watched a female Blackbird repeatedly pecking a newt until it was lifeless and could then be broken down and eaten, the whole event lasted about 20 minutes...

@CRCuthbert @wildlifebcn Thank you very much Charles, I couldn’t work out whether it actually ate it or not, it dropped it that many times and it looked very thin in my last shots, I wouldn’t have thought a bird with such a slim beak would manage a newt & it seems a waste of life if it didn’t eat it.

Not sure if anyone can tell from these photos which were silhouettes due to the sun in my eyes & on the water but I’m wondering if the Redshank has a Smooth Newt, I did think Gt crested originally but it looks too light in some shots I took. #Newts #Northantsbirds Summer Leys

@KateWhapham Thanks Kate, hope you saw the Whooper Swans and lots of other wildlife, Minsmere is a very special place!

@CRCuthbert Our first visit last week - a wonderful place!

The wonderful calls of Whooper Swans on the West Scrape at Minsmere, Suffolk, this morning, displaying together as they join with a third Whooper Swan. There's a clear sense of excitement and strong bonds between the pair as they greet each other on arrival! 10th March 2026

@Bozenka_2023 @suffolkwildlife True, the males have a distinctive silvery flash along the tail, and a long crest along the body and separately along the tail when mature

@CRCuthbert @suffolkwildlife I had to look up the white flash on its tail, which I hadn't seen before. Apparently it's a classic male breeding pattern. Very fancy!

@B_Strawbridge @suffolkwildlife Thanks Brigit, both Great Crested and Smooth Newts are doing very well in my pond at present, but as I'm sure you know, to see them well it's always better to look with a torch after dark when they are most active!

@CRCuthbert @suffolkwildlife Wow, what a beauty, Charles.

@B_Strawbridge @BTO_Suffolk @suffolkwildlife Thanks Brigit! This one arrived very recently, and has been feeding here for a few days, but will probably move on soon.

@CRCuthbert @BTO_Suffolk @suffolkwildlife What a handsome bird, Charles! A pair of Black Redstarts nest in the ruins of one of the old mines on Bodmin Moor, just a stones throw from us... but I haven't seen them yet this year.

It was good to see this superb male Black Redstart busily feeding around the Sluice at Minsmere today, probably an early spring migrant, and very confiding, although I struggled to keep my camera steady in the breeze! @BTO_Suffolk @B_Strawbridge @suffolkwildlife

@B_Strawbridge Well done Rob, amazing rescue!

My husband rescued over 100 #toads this morning... Stuck in just a few inches of water, at the bottom of a deep-sided pit under a grate . He walked over the grate a few times before he noticed movement and realised what it was. Thank goodness he was able to reach them!

Nesting season for Rooks... here the male courts the female and attempts mating, then collects material for lining the nest, but soon discards it! Meanwhile the female then gathers a large bundle of leaves and feathers in her bill before flying off to complete the nest...

🚨 JUST IN: A migratory bird just shattered world records — flying 8,425 miles (13,560 km) NON-STOP across the Pacific without landing once. The bar-tailed godwit doesn’t stop to eat, drink, or sleep during its migration across the Pacific Ocean. Its journey from Alaska to Australia takes roughly 11 days of continuous flight, covering over 13,000 kilometers through storms, headwinds, and open ocean with zero land beneath it the entire time. Before departure, it does something almost surgical to its own body. It shrinks its digestive organs down to almost nothing, converting the stomach, intestines, and liver into raw fuel. The bird essentially eats its own gut to make room for fat reserves that will power its wings for nearly two weeks straight. The brain doesn’t fully sleep either. Half of it stays active while the other half rests, alternating in shifts mid-flight at altitude over the open Pacific. The godwit is simultaneously unconscious and navigating with magnetic field sensitivity that no human instrument in the 18th century could replicate. What makes this genuinely staggering beyond the physical record is the navigational precision involved. The bird leaves Alaska and arrives in New Zealand with accuracy that would embarrass early GPS systems. It reads Earth’s magnetic field, atmospheric pressure gradients, star positions, and potentially quantum-level compass mechanisms inside its eye that literally let it see magnetic field lines overlaid on its visual field. Evolution spent millions of years building an aerospace navigation system inside a 300 gram animal. We spend billions engineering machines that do what this bird does on instinct, fat reserves, and half a sleeping brain. The longest recorded non-stop flight by a commercial aircraft is around 20 hours. This bird does 11 days. Without a runway.

How many Snipe? Minsmere, Suffolk, 6th March 2026

@LizParkin3 It's a genetic morph which produces black skin colour rather than the typical form.

@CRCuthbert What makes the adders melanistic?

A few early Signs of Spring from the Suffolk Sandlings, a melanistic male Adder, one of several Peacock butterflies, and a Dark-edged Bee-fly (5th March 2026)