As I drove up the road to the reserve this morning and saw the sun shining through the trees I knew today was going to be a fantastic day at Minsmere. It didn’t disappoint! It was a fantastic day both in terms of weather, visitor numbers and amazing sightings.
Although I didn’t make it out onto the reserve today it was lovely to hear all the stories of the sightings and to share peoples’ highlights with them as they left the Visitor Centre. The day started with a very exciting report from one of our volunteers of two marsh harriers mating in the reed bed near Island Mere Hide. We knew there had been much flirtation happening by the stunning sky dancing displays we have seen and Ian blogged about yesterday, but today it was confirmed that one pair has definitely mated. Our talented volunteer also managed to get photographic evidence of this act which I hope we will see shortly.
The splendid sunshine also encouraged bearded tits to come up in the reed bed allowing them to be seen by Island Mere and North Wall. Seeing the bearded tits is a treat in itself as they are usually easily heard but not always seen and seeing them close up makes these sightings even more special. Reed bunting were also spotted amongst the reed bed by North Wall and two came for an afternoon snack by the Visitor Centre Feeders.
Bearded tit photograph by Jon Evans
The Scrape was thriving with activity again today with avocet numbers reaching 56 and 60+ black tailed godwits reported on East Scrape along with a mediterranean gull, a common gull and our two female smews.
On Wednesday I had the pleasure of going on a guided walk around the reserve as part of my induction for my new role as Visitor Experience Officer. We started off at the Visitor Centre looking at the feeders outside and listening to some of the bird song we could hear. I was amazed by the number of different species that visit the feeders. During the course of the walk it was great to listen to expert advice on bird identification in the field and I feel I learnt a great deal from this experience. We spent the afternoon visiting some of the hides around the Scrape and at the end of the walk we spent time making a list of the number of sightings we had seen. I was surprised when we added up the number of different species just how many we had seen in only a few hours, 36.
At the end of a great day I made my way back to my car and there waiting for me was my friend Mr pheasant to make my total 37!
Photograph by Amy Lever (door sill of car bottom right of photo!)
Another lovely blog, Amy. The photos by the aforementioned talented volunteer didn't come out very well but the rampant nature of the featured activity is unmistakeable!!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.