Yes folks, it's official. It may be quite cold outside, with a chill breeze and only intermittent sunshine, but summer is here. One of our guides reported the first swift over the Scrape this afternoon. With several swallows and house martins over Island Mere this morning, and well over 100 sand martins around the nesting bank, there's plenty of aerial insect-eaters here despite the cooler weather.
A swift by Mark Thomas (rspb-images.com)
There's also a good selection of insect eaters elsewhere on the reserve as more and more summer migrants return for the breeding season. A nice flock of five yellow and one white wagtail were on West Scrape this morning, before relocating to the Konik Field. Wheatears were seen from North Wall and in the dunes today, and there was ring ouzel along the entrance road last week. Cuckoos are now being heard daily, and a couple of nightingales are singing on Westleton Heath.
Warblers too, have arrived en masse. Several reed warblers are now singing within the reedbed, alongside good numbers of sedge warblers, while the first whitethroats, lesser whitethroats and garden warblers have joined the blackcaps, willow warblers and chiffchaffs in the woods. The star warbler, though, is proving very elusive. A Savi's warbler has been singing in the reedbed south of Island Mere since Tuesday, but it is very distant and only sings very early in the day or after about 6.30 pm in the evening. There has also been a grasshopper warbler singing nearby.
Reed warbler by Jon Evans
Spring wader migration is also well underway, with an increasing variety of wading birds visiting the Scrape. Among those seen over the day or so are common and green sandpipers, whimbrels, ruffs, bar- and black-tailed godwits, dunlins, knots, ringed, grey and little ringed plovers, turnstones and greenshanks. With avocets, lapwings, redshanks and oystercatchers all displaying, and the stone-curlews often visible from the North wall, it's possible to see 15-20 species of wader on any visit. A few common and Sandwich terns and several Mediterranean gulls are also present alongside the commoner gull species.
A drake garganey was on the Konik Field yesterday, while several wigeons, teals, shovelers, gadwalls and shelducks can also be seen around the Scrape.
It looks like the Iceland gull and jack snipe may now have moved on, but at least one winter visitor remains in the shape of brambling around the visitor centre yesterday.
There are least seven male bitterns booming, with regular sightings at Island Mere and Bittern Hide. Bearded tits are also regularly seen in the reedbed, and marsh harriers are very active. A highlight at the weekend was a crane that flew west on Saturday.
The weather may not be conducive to insect watching, and hasn't always been easy for watching our adders, but our mammals have been putting on a better show recently. Harbour porpoises have been seen offshore on Saturday and again today. Up to three otters remain regular at Island Mere. There have also been several recent sightings of weasels and stoats around the reserve.
Stoat by Steve Everett