I have to start this blog by paying our respects to our patron, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2. As you may have read elsewhere on our website or social media, we have marked the sad news of her death by closing all our visitor facilities for the day today. We will reopen as normal tomorrow.
When the Queen visited Minsmere with Bert Axell in the early 1960s, it would have looked very different to today. There was no visitor centre, shop or cafe then, and the total number of visitors granted permits each year was similar to the amount of people who now visit us on a single summer weekend! The Scrape was in it's infancy, avocets were still confined to the Suffolk coast as breeding birds, and marsh harriers were edging towards extinction in the UK.
Since then, there have been a huge number of changes in almost all aspects of life, including here at Minsmere, and next week sees the the start of the next phase of improvements for both people and wildlife: the construction of a new fully accessible path to East Hide and a major re-landscaping of East Scrape. Although both projects will mean quite a lot of machinery will be seen, we don't expect either to cause too much disruption for visiting birdwatchers, or the wildlife.
The East Hide path has been several years in the planning, having been delayed during the Covid pandemic. Partially funded by the Waveney Bird Club (who run our popular bird ringing demonstrations), the new path will finally allow all of our visitors to access the recently extended East Hide, which often provides the best views of ducks, gulls, terns and waders on the Scrape. The path starts towards the seaward end of the North Wall, with a new platform constructed along the southern edge of the bank, from which a gently sloping access ramp will lead to a new boardwalk between the reedbed and existing secondary sea defence bank. This boardwalk will eventually cross the existing access path to East Hide, then bridge the wide ditch south of the old gate, culminating at the hide itself.
This is where the East Hide path will start
We expect the North Wall to remain open during the construction period, apart from a few brief periods during the next couple of weeks, but access to East Hide will be closed for several days in mid to late October when work moves to that area. We will try to notify visitors of any closures as far ahead as possible, but there may be occasions where this is not possible until you arrive. If you are planning a visit, please check our social media for any last minute updates - @RSPBMinsmere on Facebook and Twitter.
The work on the East Scrape will involve diggers reprofiling some of the islands and adding greater topography by excavating shallow pools. This will recreate similar conditions to those that Bert Axell designed when he first created the Scrape in the 1960s. Following years of sedimentation, this deeper areas have been filled in, leaving a relatively uniform surface so that when the Scrape dried out, as it has in this years drought, there are no remaining areas of shallow water. This project will, therefore, improve the habitat for nesting and migrant birds, as well as creating better viewing opportunities for birdwatchers. We also hope to remove some of the small reedbed that has developed between East Hide and Public Viewpoint, restoring this to a shallow lagoon, like the rest of the Scrape.
The Scrape management work is the second part of the three year enhancement project, funding through the EU-supported Life on the Edge project. Phase one allowed us to add more shingle to the islands on South Scrape, which are favoured by nesting terns. Phase three, which we hope to complete next autumn, will see the re-profiling of West Scrape.
Work on both of these projects will continue throughout the autumn, and we'll provide regular updates both here and on our social media.
Although there will be diggers working on East Scrape, this is unlikely to cause much disturbance elsewhere on the Scrape (it hasn't in the past), so you should still a selection of ducks, geese and waders from Wildlife Lookout, South Hide and the Public Viewpoint. Teal numbers, in particular, have increased notably this week, and wigeon are beginning to return too.
Following their disappearance at the height of the drought, it's been good to see 40 avocets feeding on South Scrape again this week. There are smaller numbers of dunlin, snipe, lapwing and black-tailed godwit present, and several green and common sandpipers are still passing through. Wader highlights this week have included six greenshanks on Monday, two little stints (photo by Jon Evans) and a sanderling on Tuesday, and the odd whimbrel or golden plover.
It's been a good week for smaller migrants too, with several wheatears and whinchats in the dunes, various warblers (blackcap, common and lesser whitethroat and chiffchaff) in the North Bushes, one or two pied and spotted flycatchers, a late juvenile cuckoo, and a wryneck along the reserve boundary near Westleton for a day. Even more excitingly, eight bee-eaters were reported flying south this morning - could they be the ones that bred successfully in Norfolk?
It's perhaps the reedbed that has attracted the greatest attention this week, though. Island Mere is proving particularly popular, with large flocks of moulting greylag geese, teal and gadwall, several pairs of great crested grebes still feeding late fledging young, the unseasonal whooper swan and several mute swans all present. The star attractions have been the herons. Although bitterns are harder to spot in the autumn, they are still seen by at least a few people each day. We have, however, been treated to reserve counts of eight great egrets, especially at dusk (photo below by Ian Barthorpe). On our Sunset Stroll guided walk last night, for example, we watched six great egrets come in to roost, as well as an impressive ten grey herons! Of course, you should also spot marsh harriers, common buzzards, kestrels and hobbies hunting over the reedbed too, while a tawny owl is often heard during the day at the nearby Canopy Hide.
Finally, autumn is the best time to spot kingfishers at Minsmere (photo by Steve Everett). Long live the King!