Today is World Wildlife Day, which seems like the perfect opportunity to celebrate some of Minsmere's most amazing wildlife, so here's a quick summary of what's been seen this week.
Let's start with adders which are continuing to prove popular with many visitors. There are two males regularly basking under the brambles beneath the sand martin bank, including a gorgeous black adder. They can be tricky to see, but if the sun is out it's certainly worth putting in the effort, and our volunteers are often available to help you find them. We've heard a woodlark singing over the bank on several mornings, too.
Sightings of mammals are always popular too. Some, such as rabbits, grey squirrels and muntjac, are easy to see at Minsmere, but sightings of most other mammals make for a real red letter day. Otters, in particular, as always popular, and several visitors have been lucky enough to see otters at either Island Mere or Bittern Hides this week. Timings, as ever, are unpredictable. Perhaps an even bigger surprise has been the sighting of a white stoat, or ermine, from North Hide. It's rare for stoats to turn completely white (bar their black tail tip) this far south, especially as the winter has been so mild.
A stoat in more typical colouration. Photo by Christine Hall
It's still early in the year to look for many insects or flowers, but the daffodils look stunning behind the Visitor Centre, and patches of primroses are starting to bloom in the woods. We've just completed some woodland thinning work, felling selected trees to open up the canopy, which should benefit flowers and insects by allowing more light to reach the woodland floor.
Daffodils by Pete Etheridge
Marsh harriers have begun displaying over the reedbed, and a couple of pairs of great crested grebes are now displaying at Island Mere, but we're still awaiting the first booming bitterns of the spring. Several of the reedbed residents are, however, making their presence known vocally, if they insist on remaining hidden, with little grebes whinnying, water rails squealing and Cetti's warblers shouting from the reeds. Also at Island Mere, two snipe are usually feeding close to the hide.
Great crested grebe at Island Mere this week
Display is also increasingly obvious in the woods as more birds prepare for the breeding season: drumming great spotted woodpeckers, singing tits, goldcrests and chaffinches, and treecreepers chasing each other around tree trunks. A pair of great spots are often on the visitor centre feeders too.
Out on the Scrape, the flocks of ducks and lapwings have been joined by the first returning black-tailed godwits, oystercatchers and ringed plovers, but we're still waiting for the avocets to return to join the couple of over-wintering birds. The pair of whooper swans remain too.
Finally, it looks like our starlings may have moved elsewhere again, with no reports of a murmuration for the last week.