I may sound like a stuck record at times, but as regular readers will know, I love Island Mere Hide. There is something magical about sitting quietly, scanning the reeds in the hope of spotting some of the amazing wildlife found there. Even a quick visit usually produces something interesting, but allow an hour or two and you are almost certain to be rewarded.
That was certainly my experience on Tuesday when walked around the Reedbed Trail to complete our weekly health and safety checks. While my main reason for walking around was to check doors, window catches and benches to ensure that remain safe to use, these walks do, of course, also allow me to indulge in a spot of wildlife watching.
As I walked up the boardwalk to Island Mere Hide, a gorgeous male Marsh Harrier cruised past the front of the hide, searching for prey along the reed edge before drifting leisurely off towards Eastbridge, to return again five minutes later.
Entering the hide, I spotted the usual Cormorants resting on the cross bars in the mere, and a quick scan revealed a small group of Coots and Gadwalls feeding out on the mere, along with a couple of the regular Mute Swans. Then one of our volunteers alerted me to the presence of a Bittern skulking in the narrow strip of reeds between the mere itself and the cut vegetation in front of the hide. As I watched, the Bittern slowly emerged into the open, stepping cautiously between the reed stems as it searched for a new fishing spot, before eventually disappearing into the denser reeds to the left.
I grabbed my camera and got a few quick photos, which I was quite pleased with, until another volunteer, Les, told me that he had been in the photographic area below the hide and sent me his pictures. As always, these were awesome, so here's one of Les's photos, rather than my own.
Bittern by Les Cater
All the time I was watching the Bittern I could hear the pinging calls of Bearded Tits in the reeds to the left, and I did manage the odd glimpse of these beautiful birds, but these views were nothing compared to those experienced by Les and our other regular early morning visitors to Island Mere Hide.
Early morning in October is possibly the best time to look for Bearded Tits, and the early risers have certainly been treated to some incredible views as the birds forage along the edges of the path, searching for tiny bits of grit. These are ingested to help the birds to grind down the hard reed seeds that form the bulk of their winter diet.
Bearded Tits by Les Cater
Of course, I was also briefly distracted on my walk by a Kestrel hunting dragonflies along the woodland edge. While not as skilful an insect-hunter as the Hobbies, our Kestrels still seem to be pretty adept at catching some of our larger insects this year. Sometimes you can get a good comparison of the different techniques, as the two falcons hunt alongside each other. The continuing warm weather is certainly still encouraging good numbers of Common Darters to fly around, and so several Hobbies have delayed their migration to take advantage of the glut of food available to them.
The Water Voles at the pond continue to steal the show for most visitors though, even usurping yours truly and other guests this week when the local TV news channels came to Minsmere to celebrate the announcement that East Anglia features as one of the must-see destinations in the latest Lonely Planet guide, in part due to the wonderful wildlife that can be seen at Minsmere. You can read more about this story here.
Water Vole by Les Cater
Despite all this focus on Island Mere and the Water Voles, there is still lots to see on the Coast Trail too, with large flocks of ducks and feral geese joined by Lapwings, Black-tailed Godwits and one or two Avocets. Other species seen on the Scrape this week have included Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls, Knot, Grey Plover, Redshank, Goosander, Kingfisher and Water Pipit, while highlights on the sea include Eider, Red-breasted Merganser and Red-throated Diver.
If birds and Water Voles aren't your thing, then there's a great range of fungi to spot too, or you can simply enjoy the fabulous autumn colours, especially on a sunny day like today. Why not join us on a Fabulous Fungi guided walk next week, or discover some our awesome trees on Margaret's All About Trees walk. There's also another Sunset Stroll and a variety of Hallowe'en-themed family activities next week. You can find out more about all our events by clicking here.
Finally, as if the above didn't give you enough reasons to plan a visit, we have some exciting Starling news. Numbers are increasing, and a dusk visit to Bittern Hide, or looking out behind South Hide, should produce some mesmerising displays of swirling flocks. There's about 5000 Starlings at the moment, but hopefully numbers will continue to increase - and with the clocks changing tomorrow evening, dusk will be even earlier.