There are several song titles that I could have used as the headline for today's blog, but given that we've got away quite lightly this time, I decided to keep it simple. It is certainly cold, with the temperature barely climbing above zero for the last three days, but at least we've not had the snow that many of you will be experiencing.
The cold weather and clear blue skies make for some spectacular scenery and fantastic photographic opportunities, so I made the most of my walk around the Scrape yesterday to undertake health and safety checks around the trails. I came back with photos of the Scrape and various ducks, but also a few surprises.
Looking south from the North Wall towards the Scrape, wit the East Hide boardwalk and North Marsh reedbed in the foreground
In fact, my camera first came in handy just as set off along the North Wall when this gorgeous Meadow Pipit perched up alongside the path. It's not always easy to get a good picture of these small, streaky birds - the archetypal Little Brown Job that causes ID confusion for many beginner birdwatchers (and a few much more experienced ones too) - so I was pleased to get this picture against the lovely blue sky.
Pipits needn't be as daunting to ID as people often think. Meadow Pipits are by far the commonest, and therefore most likely. Tree Pipits are very similar, but they are summer visitors to the UK, mainly to the uplands, so can be easily ruled out in January. Meadow Pipits also have longer hind claws, which are very obvious in this picture. Rock Pipits are duller, greyer and more heavily streaked, and are most likely to be seen around rocky coasts. Water Pipits are plainer, with a more obvious supercilium and less streaking on the breast. They are winter visitors to the UK, breeding in the mountains of northern and central Europe, and are always quite scarce birds here, although there are one or two Water Pipits feeding around the Scrape. Frustratingly, they can be quite distant and often feed with the Meadow Pipits, so they can be tricky to spot. If in doubt, it's probably a Meadow Pipit.
Other small birds allowed closer approach than usual, too, as they focused more on finding food in the cold weather. I had several Robins and Stonechats feeding almost beside me as I walked through the dunes, for example.
Out on the Scrape, the ducks looked superb and many were obligingly feeding close to the hides, allowing me to run off a few more photos of one of my favourite groups of birds. Shovelers, in particular, proved to be very photogenic, with this female posing perfectly. Look at the size of that beak! You can even see the comb-like structure between the upper and lower mandibles that are used to filter seeds and invertebrates from the water.
I can spend hours watching ducks, scanning through the flocks of Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Shoveler, Mallard, Pintail and Shelduck for something a bit more unusual. There have been a few Pochards on the Scrape this week, for example, as well as up to a dozen Goosanders, especially in the evening. However, it was another waterbird that sprung the biggest surprise.
As I sat in the Public Viewing Platform scanning across South Scrape, I heard a strangely familiar haunting call that I couldn't place. It clearly wasn't a duck, goose or gull, but what was making that noise. I was about to take my phone out of my pocket and open the Merlin App to see if that could help when I spotted a large bird swimming across the Scrape. Its profile was so distinctive that even before picking up my binoculars I matched the shape with the call and realised that I was listening to (and now watching) a Great Northern Diver! I immediately put out the news via our radios and local WhatsApp groups, at which point this spectacular bird took off and flew low over my head and straight out to see. Cue an update message!
Although not the best picture, the square head is a very distinctive feature of Great Northern Diver
Great Northern Divers are also known as Common Loons in North America so may appear in your field guide or bird App with either name. They are the largest of the fiver diver species. Although scarce off the Suffolk coast in winter, they are actually the most likely diver to be seen on freshwater in winter. As the name suggests, they breed in the high Arctic, with small numbers wintering around the UK coast. In breeding plumage they are stunning birds, but like the other divers they are much drabber in winter when the combination of size and square head make them easy to separate from the commoner Red-throated Diver. The rarer Black-throated Divers are almost as large but have much more rounded heads and less chunky bills.
As a measure of how unusual it is too see Great Northern Divers at Minsmere, I had only previously seen one distant bird flying south about a mile offshore, so you can imagine that I was very excited with this sighting. It was just frustrating that I could only share it with the two people sitting next to me on the platform - as is so often the case with rare birds!
Another brief visitor to the Scrape this week was a Spoonbill. More typically seen in spring and summer, this impressive white birds are becoming more frequent in winter too. Up to three Whooper Swans and two Bewick's Swans have also been spotted around the Scrape, or on Island Mere, during the week.
Whooper Swans on Island Mere this week
There are still a few waders around the Scrape too. Lapwings are most numerous, with about 20 Dunlins and half a dozen Turnstones feeding on the islands, as well as a few Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits wading the shallow water. However, the star attraction on the Scrape for most of the week has been a Purple Sandpiper. This species likes rocky coasts, with the rocks around Ness Point in Lowestoft being their main wintering location in Suffolk. Although they are regularly seen at Minsmere, they are usually around the Sluice outfall, and it's common to see them feeding around coastal lagoons like the Scrape.
These two Avocets were resting close to East Hide
Marsh Harriers, Bitterns, Bearded Tits and Snipe are all best seen at Island Mere, while woodland birds to look out for include Bullfinches, Siskins, Goldcrests, Treecreepers and Great Spotted Woodpeckers. There have also been sightings of a Chiffchaff and Firecrest this week.
The Water Voles continue to show regularly around the pond. As it's frozen today, they have been spotted feeding on the adjacent grass, much to the excitement of many visitors. Muntjac are proving very easy to spot too, but the Red Deer are best spotted feeding around the South Levels. However, they certainly roam more widely at night as I found many Red Deer tracks along the dunes yesterday. The easiest mammals to watch, though, are undoubtedly the Koniks on the Scrape, where they are helping to keep the vegetation short ready for the breeding season. They, too, were posing yesterday.
Finally, a reminder that we recommend wellingtons if you want to walk around the Coastal Trail as the path between the Sluice and Wildlife Lookout remains flooded in places followoing recent high tides and heavy rain. All other paths are open as usual.
The view from the Sluice - the path back to the visitor centre from here is currently passable only in wellingtons.