It's been a superb spring day at Minsmere, with migrants galore a few notable surprises. The wet start clearly grounded a few migrants, and it didn't seem to put visitors off either.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was a cuckoo heard calling a couple of times beyond Island Mere late morning. This was a very early bird, with the bulk of cuckoos not expected to arrive for another two weeks or so.
Cuckoo by John Bridges (rspb-images.com)
Island Mere proved a bit of a magnet for birds today, with both common tern and little gull hawking insects over the mere this morning, seven great crested grebes displaying, and then three common cranes flying over mid afternoon and landing in the reedbed. Add in the regular sightings of marsh harrier, bittern and bearded tit, plus singing sedge and Cetti's warblers, and it was certainly worth spending time in Island Mere Hide today.
There was a bit of a gull-fest on the Scrape again too, with sightings including a juvenile Iceland gull, second-year Caspian gull, two yellow-legged gulls, eight Mediterranean gulls and a kittiwake. There were also two Sandwich terns present.
Waders, too, put on a good showing on the Scrape. A highlight was a spotted redshank sporting an orange leg flag. This bird appears to have been ringed in France. Other waders included five ruffs, two bar-tailed godwits, 20+ black-tailed godwits (there were 191 present yesterday), knot, ringed and grey plovers, 100+ avocets, 20+ dunlins as well as redshanks, oystercatchers and lapwings. A jack snipe and at least one common snipe remain at North Hide, where a drake garganey was again seen. A green sandpiper was also seen yesterday. A pair of stone-curlews has also returned tot heri usual field, north of the North Wall, where they can often be seen from the viewpoint.
As well as all these waders and gulls, there are still several of the common wintering ducks present on the Scrape, while both yellow and white wagtails were seen on East Scrape today. Overhead, sand martins are increasingly active around the nesting colony, while both swallows and house martins have been seen in small numbers.
Not to be outdone, there is a notable increase in birdsong within the woods, including several chiffchaffs, blackcaps and willow warblers, as well various tits and finches. The first lesser whitethroat of the year was seen and heard in the sluice bushes today too. Other notable migrants over the last few days have included wheatear, ring ouzel, and black redstart on several dates and a common redstart near the South Belt Crossroads on Saturday.
Chiffchaff by John Bridges (rspb-images.com)
With spring very much in the air, there are regular sightings of adders on the adder trail, while insects to look out for included bee-flies feeding among the ground ivy, various bumblebees, and peacock butterflies,
Bee-fly by Sue Stephenson-Martin - look out for them around ground ivy flowers this month