Despite the chilly north-west wind, the reserve is taking on much more spring-like feel, with birdsong echoing from every corner of the reserve, courtship behaviour becoming increasingly obvious, and even a few young birds starting to appear.
Nightingales always prove popular, and continue to sing from the car par entrance and North Bushes. They've been joined in the latter location by various warblers: Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. Garden Warblers have just been to return, with one singing near the Discovery Centre. In the reedbed, there are increasing numbers of Reed and Sedge Warblers (photo below) accompanying the resident Cetti's Warblers, and a Grasshopper Warbler has been heard near the North Wall again this morning.
Above the reeds, there was a notable influx of Swallows, Sand Martins and Swallows midweek, joined by the odd Swift and Hobby. Many of these are catching the clouds of juicy St Mark's Flies that fly in a characteristic way, long black legs dangling below them.
Other birds are taking advantage of this rich food source, too, especially the Black-headed Gulls that are breeding on the Scrape. Gulls have never been known to pass up an easy meal, and many of our breeding birds also head inland during the day to feed on surrounding pig fields. With them there will often be several Mediterranean Gulls, their distinctive cat-like call easy to pick out from the throng. In fact, it's often easier to find Mediterranean Gulls flying over the car park than it is to find the among the throng on the Scrape.
Another gull visits the Scrape for a different reason every spring. More than 100 Kittiwakes can often seen roosting, bathing or gathering large beakfuls of nesting material from the Scrape before flying south to their nesting colony on the outfall rigs from Sizewell A power station. Their black legs and "dipped in ink" wingtips make these easy gulls to identify - see photo below. It always feels strange to see and hear these elegant gulls on the flat Suffolk coast, rather than the rocky cliffs on which they typically breed.
Talking of rocky cliffs, we've seen several birds that are more typically associated with rocky cliffs that Suffolk. A pair of Ravens were seen over Island Mere this morning, and there have been several further sightings of the White-tailed Eagle on Sunday and again yesterday. There are also still a few late Wheatears passing through on their way north.
Another species that breeds on the moors but can still be seen in good numbers at Minsmere during April is the Common Gull, with many of the birds prevent being second-year birds that probably won't nest this year. There are others gulls present too, including both Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, as well as large numbers of Sandwich Terns and several Common Terns to provide an ID test for visitors.
However, it is probably the long-legged, long-beaked birds on the Scrape that have attracted the most attention this week. In particular, a Spoonbill has been busy feeding for much of the week, with two or three others reported flying over.
The most numerous long-legged birds on the Scrape are the Avocets which can easily be seen from all of the hides on the Coast Trail. Many are now indulging in courtship behaviour and vigorously chasing away any bigger gulls, crows or Marsh Harriers that dare to fly over their chosen islands, but I much prefer to watching them gracefully feeding, swishing their bills from hide to side int he shallows.
As well as watching these two elegant species feeding this week, I've enjoyed close views of both Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits, giving a good chance to compare these essentially similar species.
Bar-tailed Godwit (above) and Black-tailed Godwit (below) both in breeding plumage., Note that the red colouration is darker in the Bar-tailed and extends right down the belly, while Black-tailed is more orange-red and has a white belly. The upperpart pattern differs, too. Also, note that Bar-tailed has shorter legs above the knee and slightly more upturned bill. In flight (or when they flap their wings), the Black-tailed Godwits shows a broad white wingbar and square white rump, while Bar-tailed lacks the wingbar and has a white diamond up the back. Black-tailed is by the commoner of the two at Minsmere, but both species are likely to be present for the next few weeks.
Other waders to look for on the Scrape at the moment include breeding Oystercatcher, Redshank, Lapwing and Ringed Plover and passage Knot, Dunlin, Turnstone, Ruff and Spotted Redshank, while we'd usually expect to see a few Common, Green and Wood Sandpipers and Sanderlings passing through in late April/early May.
Bitterns are continuing to put on an incredible show with regular sightings of multiple birds as the males chase reluctant females around the reedbed. With at least 17 booming males around, there is clearly a lot of competition when it comes to comes to mate selection this year! There are also still regular sightings of Great Egrets, Little Egrets and Common Cranes around the reedbed.
Marsh Harriers are also easy to see over the reedbed, and we've had sightings of Red Kite and Buzzard again. On Island Mere, look for Pochard, Tufted Duck (photo below), Little Grebe and Great Crested Grebe, and listen for Reed Bunting, Bearded Tit and the various warblers.
Finally, the cooler weather has been less conducive to spotting insects or reptiles this week, but it's worth checking suitable habitat for Orange Tip, Green Hairstreak or Small Copper butterflies, Large Red Damselfly or Hairy Dragonfly.