Regular readers of these blogs will have seen several mentions of our Love Minsmere campaign over the last few weeks. For those who need a quick recap, we're asking EDF to take full account of the importance of Minsmere during the planning and construction of the proposed Sizewell C nuclear power station, and to adequately address the issues that we have raised. These issues include the impacts of the development on our ability to control water levels, how it will affect coastal processes, and the effects of noise and light pollution.
I'm sure that many of you have already signed our e-action and submitted your response to the EDF consultation - more than 15000 people have done so already. If you haven't, you can add your voice to this campaign here - but hurry, as the consultation closes on Friday 29 March. As well as adding your name, please encourage your friends to do so - perhaps we can reach 20k signatures by Friday!
It goes without saying that Minsmere's staff and volunteers all love Minsmere, and our visitors tell us that they do, but it's clear that our wildlife loves Minsmere too. Why else would the male and two females smews still be here at the end of a particularly mild March, rather than beginning their return journey to the Arctic? The four whooper swans remain too - they'll be heading to Iceland soon.
As if to demonstrate how much wildlife loves Minsmere, we have visitors from the south as well as north, and pride of place today has gone to the aptly named glossy ibis that has been seen from North Hide. Glossy ibises breed in a wide swathe of southern Europe, southern Asia and Africa. They've even colonised parts of Australia and the Americas. Until relatively recently, glossy ibises were rare visitors to the UK, but the numbers of sightings have increased considerably over the past ten years. A pair even attempted to nest in Lincolnshire in 2014. Here at Minsmere they are now annual visitors - who remembers the long staying bird at Eastbridge last winter?
This glossy ibis arrived on West Scrape yesterday and was still present this morning. It made a brief sojourn to RSPB North Warren mid morning, but was back on the Scrape, performing to dozens of eager birdwatchers, by early afternoon. Although they initially look like a dark, over-sized curlew, glossy ibises live up to their name and have superb glossy green and bronze plumage, especially when seen in the sun. I couldn't appreciate the full glory of its colours in this afternoon's matt-grey light, bu tour volunteer Mark managed some great photos yesterday.
Glossy ibis by Mark Stannard
The ibis and smew may have been the star attractions on the Scrape, but they were far from the only birds enjoying this part of the reserve. The cacophony from 1000+ black-headed gulls and 120+ Mediterranean gulls was clearly audible from the visitor centre when I arrived, while avocet numbers are continuing to increase. Other birds seen on the Scrape included two pintails, five turnstones, three knots and several oystercatchers, as well as the regular flocks of ducks (wigeon, gadwall, teal, shoveler, shelduck and mallard), geese (Canada, greylag and barnacle) and lapwings. There's even a beautiful female Cape shelduck, which has escaped from a collection somewhere and taken a liking to Minsmere - who can blame it?
Cape shelduck by Russ Sherriff
Patient watching from the reedbed hides is usually rewarded by a sighting of a displaying marsh harrier, or the sound of a booming bittern, or if you're really lucky, a glimpse of an otter or two. Cetti's warblers can be heard, but seldom seen, in many of their traditional haunts, including Bittern Hide, Island Mere and the North Wall - after being almost wiped out at Minsmere by the Beast from the East, this is a very welcome return. Other reedbed sightings have included bearded tits, little egrets, great crested grebes, and two sand martins.
The woodland is increasingly full of birdsong, with chiffchaffs being particularly prominent and great spotted woodpeckers drumming. The star attraction here, though, is the two male adders that continue to put on a good show along the Adder Trail while they await the females, who are still enjoying their winter slumber. The sunny weather over the weekend produced sightings of brimstone, peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies, too.
Brimstone butterfly
There's even some great wildlife to spot around the car park and visitor centre, where a woodlark was singing all morning and a pair of common buzzard have been noisily displaying. The rather tame muntjac is a popular attraction, especially at the end of the day when she comes to hoover up any remaining spilt birdfood.
Our regular birdwatchers have been keeping their eyes to the skies over the last few days in the hope that the wandering white-tailed eagle that has been reported at various sites in Norfolk and Suffolk over the past week might put in an appearance. No luck yet, but someone saw an early osprey flying north this morning, and red kites and peregrines have been seen on most days. What else will arrive this week?