It can hardly have escaped anyone's attention that we are in the middle of one of the worst droughts in living memory. Here at Minsmere, as in most of the rest of Suffolk, we haven't had any recordable rain since late May. Consequently, much of the reserves looks more like a desert than a wetland. Even in a "normal" year (whatever that is), average annual rainfall on the Suffolk is less than in most of Turkey, but this year we are perhaps more comparable with Mali!
The extent of the drought hit home two weeks ago when I enjoyed a few days back "home" in Shropshire. Even there, many of the grasslands were parched, though some of the lawns were a strange green colour - I had almost forgotten that grass is green, rather than yellow. Whilst visiting one of the Derbyshire Dales in search of dippers, I was shocked at how dry the river was. For much of its length it was totally dry, with just a few pools remaining around mill ponds and below weirs - thankfully there was enough water for at least one dipper to be seen.
Then last week we were in Norfolk where we actually experienced the unusual phenomena of water falling from the sky - lots of it! So much so that it scuppered our plans for fish and chips on the beach. Luckily, this brief spell of heavy rain didn't affect the bee-eaters that were nesting just along the coast at Trimingham, and they have successfully fledged chicks from both their nests. While this is great news, it is also a worrying reflection of our warming climate, which is likely to see further prolonged droughts interspersed with torrential rain and flash flooding. Interestingly, four bee-eaters flew over Minsmere last week, too, but these were clearly not the Norfolk birds as they are still present (photo below of one of the Trimingham bee-eaters).
Here at Minsmere, the impacts of the drought are obvious to even our most casual visitors. East Scrape is totally dry, and there's very little water on West Scrape, meaning that most of the waders and gulls are concentrated on South Scrape, which remains wet as it brackish water so can be refilled via the sluice. There's a good selection of birds on South Scrape, too, including dunlins, ruff, lapwings and black-tailed godwits, plus one or two knots, ringed plovers, avocets, green and common sandpipers, Sandwich terns and little gulls. A curlew sandpiper has been present for a couple of days, too, though it eluded me yesterday, when my highlight was this stunning full summer plumage grey plover.
One benefit of the Scrape drying out is that will makes it easier to undertake end of season habitat management work. One of the wardens has been busy cutting the taller vegetation on East Scrape this week using an impressive soft-track harvester. In the next few weeks we'll also be starting work on a big reprofiling project, creating new islands and changing the layout of East Scrape to help to revitalise this important habitat. This work will be completed in tandem with the creation of a new fully accessible path from the North Wall to East Hide. There will be more information on these projects in due course.
A few Canada geese, teal, mallard and shelducks remain on the Scrape, but most of the ducks and geese have relocated to Island Mere, which does at least still look like a mere, even if water levels are lower than usual. There are also several great crested grebes at Island Mere, including fledged young, as well as coots and mute swans.
Also within the reedbed, if you are patient then you may be rewarded with a glimpse, probably in flight, of a bittern, great egret (photo below by Steve Everett) or bearded tit, while both hobby and marsh harrier can be seen above the reeds. Kingfisher sightings are more regular in late summer too.
One groups of birds that are perhaps less affected by the dry weather is the migrant songbirds that pause their southbound journeys to refuel on ripe blackberries or elderberries or the many smaller insects that are also attracted to these fruits. This includes various warblers, chats and flycatchers, which you can look for along two seasonal trails that we've just opened through the North Bushes and Sluice Bushes, or in the scrub along the dunes.
For example, on my walk yesterday I spotted this gorgeous female or juvenile pied flycatcher in the Sluice Bushes (photo below), then saw a spotted flycatcher and a chiffchaff a little further along the same trail, while a visitor photographed a whinchat nearby. Today I watched two lesser whitethroats and three chiffchaffs flycatching on Whin Hill, and heard by chiffchaff and reed warbler singing in the same area. Other migrants to look out for include whitethroat, blackcap, willow warbler, wheatear and yellow wagtail.
Of course, there are still insects to see too. Butterflies include painted lady, red admiral, peacock, speckled wood, common blue, brown argus, small heath, small copper, large and small white. There have been regular sightings of hummingbird hawkmoths too. The most numerous dragonflies are migrant and southern hawkers and common and ruddy darters, but keep your eyes open for black-tailed skimmers, brown hawkers, and even a late emperor. Lots of emerald damselflies are active around the pond, and willow emerald damsels are regularly seen where the ditch-side vegetation has been cut near Wildlife Lookout. This ditch is also a good place to see roach swimming near the surface. If you are lucky you might spot a great green bush-cricket or wasp spider in the dunes, but the action is rapidly winding down along Digger Alley.