Visitors...

The marina has resident swans. The male rules the roost and guards his territory, fiercely warding off any other swans that are brave enough to venture into the marina. He can often be seen swimming around the boats and is unafraid of anything.

In the last few weeks, he has been joined by his family: partner and seven signets. Again, they are unafraid and will swim close to the boats.

One group of creatures the swan seems to tolerate in the marina is the flock of Canadian geese – probably because he is seriously outnumbered. There must be about 40 of them and that is before the young grow up.

Once away from the marina and sailing off shore, we don’t see much wildlife…surprisingly Ipswich doesn’t have any dolphins! However, on our last trip out, we gained a hitchhiker. A small turnstone arrived aboard and stayed with us for about 40 minutes. He is a land based bird, so must have been lost and in need of a rest. He spent the whole time looking out to sea, clearly debating whether or not to leave.