Many years ago when I was a teenage birdwatcher from deepest West Berkshire, the local birdwatching club would organise a weekend trip to the Suffolk coast, in particular to the RSPB reserve at Minsmere. The journey took ages in those days with no M25, so armed with my binoculars (East German Carl Zeiss Jena 10×50, huge and heavy), notebooks and field guides, the anticipation was almost unbearable.
Minsmere was and still is a Mecca for birdwatchers and, at the time of my first visit, was one of the few places in the country you could see avocets, marsh harriers and bitterns. For me it was a magical experience,
