As I mentioned in my last blog, there's always something interesting to see at Minsmere, and the last week has been filled with one slightly unexpected find after another, incuding several found on our family activities.
The excitement began late morning on Sunday when Peter, one of our volunteer guides, spotted a small wader that looked different from the nearby dunlins and sanderling. He alerted one of our regular very experienced birdwatchers, John, who was also in East Hide, and the wader was quickly identified as a Baird's sandpiper. This is a North American species that migrates from the Canadian tundra to the coasts of South America every autumn, but every year one or two of these tiny waders are blown across the Atlantic, when they always attract a crowd of interested birdwatchers. This was only the ninth time that a Baird;s sandpiper had been found in Suffolk, and the third one at Minsmere, where we last saw one in September 2004. It was also the first time that an adult had been seen in Suffolk, rather the more typical "lost" juvenile. The Baird's sandpiper remained until Monday evening, allowing most of the staff to catch a glimpse of it, but it had moved on by Tuesday morning.
A Baird's sandpiper - this one was photographed in South America, not at Minsmere - by Almiyi (Google Images)
Elsewhere on the Scrape, we've had some great counts and variety of waders,, including 200+ avocets, 200+ black-tailed godwits, 75+ dunlins, 28 spotted redshanks as well as ruffs, little ringed and ringed plovers, green and common sandpipers, knots, bar-tailed godwit, turnstone and sanderling. A few little gulls and Sandwich terns have also been seen on the Scrape.
Another interesting bird seen on most days over the last week has been a honey-buzzard, with reports from Westleton Heath and Walberswick as well as this scarce bird of prey has wandered widely around the Suffolk coast. It gave great views as it flew low over the Discovery Centre this morning. At least a couple of red kites flew over on Monday too.
The theme of unusual sightings continued when some lucky children found a few lesser stag beetles during their minibeast searches on Monday, as well as the more expected but equally popular violet ground beetles, centipedes and woodlice.
The bee-wolfs and pantaloon bees were stars of Tuesday's family nature walks, especially when a pantaloon bee inadvertently landed in a huge cobweb. Despite the attentions of the owner, it eventually struggled to freedom, leaving a trail of yellow pollen lining the web. Other stars on these walks were Wesley the water vole, a male adder in North Bushes, the stone-curlews with chicks (both chicks are surviving and growing well) and cinnabar moth caterpillars. Another highlight on Tuesday was the water stick insect that was caught during the pond dipping sessions.
Our family theme on Wednesday was "Nature's survival skills: camouflage" and the camouflage was obviously effective as the more unusual species kept themselves hidden, but the wet weather in the morning may have been a factor too.
Completing the first week of family activities for the summer, we welcomed back the Waveney Bird Club for their regular Thursday ringing demonstrations. The session certainly started well when an absolutely stunning juvenile wood warbler was caught in North Bushes this morning. This species is not even an annual visitor at Minsmere, so to see one in the hand was a real bonus.
Juvenile wood warbler
The demonstration finished with a feisty male green woodpecker, while bearded tits, whitethroats, blackcaps, reed warblers and wrens were among the other highlights.
Completing a week of unusual finds, I managed to find several great green bush-crickets this afternoon. Although not a rare species, I had never seen one at Minsmere before. As their name suggests, they are large (about 5 cm long), bright green and very well camouflaged. So how did I manage to see at least four of them having failed to find any over my previous 13 1/2 years at Minsmere? Because this afternoon I joined a large work party helping to remove the seeds of the highly invasive pirri-pirri-burr, a weed from New Zealand that is spreading across some of our grasslands. Perhaps I should volunteer more often!
A great green bush-cricket