It's that time of year when our wardens and volunteers and volunteers are busy with habitat management work in preparation for the coming breeding season. You may spot them around the reserve clearing birch or gorse from the heath, building brash fences around sensitive areas, or adjusting sluices to control water levels.
Sometimes, however, we need to bring in machinery to help with some of the bigger tasks. While at first glance some visitors can be put off by the sight (and sound) of machinery, perceiving that it will cause too much disturbance, this is often not the case. In fact, it's more often the case that the wildlife is attracted to the areas being managed, taking the opportunity to feed in freshly disturbed soils and pools.
That is certainly what's happened this week, with machinery being used in two very different parts of the reserve.
Firstly, we've had contractors felling large trees in various parts of our woodland. One of the reasons for doing this is to open up the canopy, opening up the woodland floor to more light, and encouraging the growth of woodland flowers, such as bluebells. Although trees have been felled in several areas, we have not yet removed the timber or brash - some of which will be left to decay on the ground - and this fallen timber has proved attractive to red deer, which have come down to browse on the newly accessible bark. I took this photo with my mobile phone just before dusk one evening this week.
The fallen brash has also been a good area to look for the UK's smallest bird, the goldcrest, with lots of close sightings throughout the woods (photo below). There have also been a couple of sightings of the similarly sized firecrest near Bittern Hide and in the North Bushes, though I've not yet been in the right place at the right time!
The second area where machinery is in use is around the reedbed, where the impressive amphibious reed-cutting machine, known as the Truxor, has been very busy. This highly technical bit of kit is used to great effect by our contractors to cut reed from some of the wetter parts of the reedbed, then scoop up the cut material and stack it along the banks.
Although the Truxor is quite noisy, it certainly doesn't put off the wildlife, and our volunteer guides and visitors have had some great sightings of bitterns, snipe, water rails and water pipits feeding very close to the machine, especially when the ground was still frozen in the early part of the week. These species are still benefiting from the management work, and can often seen feeding in the open areas where the reeds have been cut close to both Bittern Hide and Island Mere. Sometimes, they can be so close to the hide that they are easy to overlook, as was the case with this superbly camouflaged snipe.
Several visitors have also been lucky enough to see the three otters from one of these hides, including at Bittern Hide mid morning today. Bearded tits have been showing well around the Konik Field/South Hide area, with other sightings at Island Mere and from the new boardwalk to East Hide.
On the Scrape, the first Mediterranean gull of the year was reported this week, among large flocks of black-headed, common, herring, great and lesser black-backed gulls. There has also been the odd yellow-legged and Caspian gull. Two avocets have returned after the frost, and one or two dunlins and turnstones remain among the varying numbers of lapwings. It's been a good week for pintail sightings on the Scrape, alongside the regular shelducks, shovelers, gadwalls, wigeons, teals and mallards.
Up to 31 goosanders and a few tufted ducks have been commuting between the Scrape and Island Mere, as have four whooper swans.
Other highlights this week include drumming great spotted woodpeckers in the woods, flocks of siskins, goldfinches and long-tailed tits (especially around alder and birch trees), a few reports of stoats and Chinese water deer, and both barn owl and woodcock around Whin Hill/Island Mere at dusk.
Finally, there is still time to complete the 44th RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. Simply pick one hour tomorrow, watch your garden birds and record the biggest count of each species, then submit your sightings at www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch. Will you be lucky enough to spot a waxwing? There have been several flocks around the UK, including small flocks in Ipswich and Reydon, but we haven't seen any at Minsmere for a couple of months.