If you're like me then I'm sure that you often your lunch on the hoof, especially when birdwatching, though it's always better if you can find a perch to sit on while you eat. That perch might be a cafe table, a picnic bench, a corner of a hide, or simply a convenient log. Whatever it is, it allows us to sit and chill for a few minutes whilst eating lunch.
However, a different type of perch has been used by some of wetland birds this week, and this actually is lunch! Perch are one of the more easily recognisable fish in our reedbed, with their spiny dorsal fins and stripy flanks, although few people will spot one of a normal visit. They have, however, been on the menu this week, with this Great Crested Grebe clearly not put off by the spines!
Great Crested Grebe with Perch by David Naylor
The grebes aren't the only ones with a taste for Perch, though this Grey Heron really should learn not to play with its dinner.
Grey Heron photos by David Naylor
In fact, Island Mere Hide is proving to be an excellent spot for watching herons and their food. The ditch alongside the hide is teeming with tiny Three-spined Sticklebacks, as well as the larger Perch and Roach, so it's hardly a surprise that visitors have enjoyed such good views of Grey Herons, Little Egrets and Bitterns.
Little Egret by David Naylor
Bittern with Three-spined Stickleback by David Naylor
You don't only see Bitterns feeding in front of the hides. In fact, you are more likely to spot them in flight. Most flights tend be quite low and short, but in spring it's not unusual to watch courtship flights, where one or more males chase a hapless female with a view to mating her. These flights can be long, and can reach great heights. Although as staff and volunteers we half expect to spot a courtship flight in April, it is still unusual to be able to photograph the action, so hats off (again) to David Naylor for this superb photo of three Bitterns together.
Bittern courtship flight by David Naylor
The fourth heron that you might spot at Minsmere is the Great Egret. Much bigger than Little Egrets, they are often distinguished by their bright yellow bills, but in the breeding season the bill turns black, which leaves us guessing whether this ringed bird might be nesting somewhere on the Suffolk coast.
Great Egret by David Naylor
One bird that is certainly nesting, for only the third time at Minsmere, is Egyptian Goose. This native of sub Saharan Africa is widely established as a breeding bird in eastern England, but has, surprisingly, only just arrived here, where it joins Greylag, Canada and Barnacle Geese as part of our growing feral goose flock. David has done well to capture this beautiful flight shot of this unusual-looking birds that are actually more closely related to Shelducks than to true geese.
Egyptian Goose by David Naylor
Apart from the geese, the birds on the Scrape are changing almost daily. The gulls have definitely arrived en masse, with at least 2000 Black-headed Gulls scattered across the Scrape when I walked round yesterday, and a very nice flock of 40+ Mediterranean Gulls clustered on the bank between East and South Scrapes. A few Kititwakes have begun their annual gathering on the Scrape, where they bathe and collect nest material for the colony at Sizewell.
Mediterranean Gulls (centre) among the Black-headed Gulls by Ian Barthorpe
Sandwich Terns have also returned in big numbers, with at least 550 present, as well as the first Common and Little Terns.
Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits are the dominant waders on the Scrape, but there are also several breeding pairs of Lapwings, Redshanks, Oystercatchers and Ringed Plovers as well as a few migrants, such as Little Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Ruff, Spotted Redshank and Whimbrel.
Elsewhere, most of the warblers have started to return, with Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs in the woods, Whitethroats in the scrub and both Reed and Sedge Warblers in the reedbed. Even more excitingly, we have Nightingales singing at the car park entrance and near the pond, while the first Cuckoos and Hobbies are trickling in, too. Why not book onto one of our Sounds of Spring walks, or our Dawn Chorus walk, to learn more about Minsmere's marvellous birdsong.
There has also been a notable increase in butterfly numbers and variety this week, including Orange Tips, Small Copper, Peacock, Speckled Wood and Red Admiral, as well as Green Tiger Beetle near the pond. However, the star insect was a superb female Emperor Moth that spent the day resting on the cafe window today. What a beauty!
Emperor Moth by Ian Barthorpe
Finally, returning to where I started, just have to share this superb Great Crested Grebe close up by David Naylor. I just love the way the water droplets cling to its feathers.