I should have known that it was going to be a strange day when I looked out of the kitchen window and spotted a jackdaw and a rook in the garden. Nothing too unusual for some, perhaps, but I was only thinking the other day that we hadn't had a jackdaw in the garden for a couple of years, and this was the first a rook had actually decided to touch down in the garden. Perhaps it's something to do with the fact that I'm reading Mark Cocker's wonderful homage to rooks, Crow Country.
Arriving at Minsmere, the day started without too much of a surprise - the Savi's warbler that was heard at Island Mere yesterday was still reeling away and giving good, but distant, views from the hide (this may be bird previously reported as a grasshopper warbler as they both have similar mechanical songs.) The ring ouzel near the North Wall had been joined by a second bird, but that's nothing too unexpected either.
Excitement levels began to rise when news filtered though that a white-tailed eagle had been spotted flying north over the Deben Estuary. With all eyes to the sky, the eagle was eventually spotted over Westleton Heath, before continuing its journey northwards, at great height, over Dunwich Forest. Despite its reputation as a flying barn door, only a handful of people managed to spot it. With few reports of white-tailed eagles outside their usual range this winter, this came a a big surprise - in every sense of the word!
Later in the day, news filtered through that a handful of birdwatchers looking for the eagle were lucky enough to see a red-rumped swallow flying south over the sluice. This is another species that is not seen every year at Minsmere, so it would be great if it could be relocated (if you saw it, please send a rarity description to the county recorder).
And so it was that at lunchtime I headed out to the sluice, hoping to locate an unusual swallow. My first stop was at Wildlife Lookout, where there were great views of avocets, black-headed and Mediterranean gulls, teals, shelducks and the lone drake mandarin. My first two common terns of the year were very welcome, but the day's next surprise came in the form of a chiloe wigeon feeding on one of the islands. This is a South American species, and is widely kept in captivity, with escaped birds often turning up among wild duck flocks. Nevertheless, it was completely unexpected! Sadly it too far away for my camera.
South Hide produced more gulls, including several common gulls, plus redshanks, black-tailed godwits and oystercatchers, while the Konik Field proved popular with gadwalls and teal. Sedge warblers could be heard within the reedbed too.
At the sluice, there was, predictably, no sign of any unusual swallows, though it was nice to see our regular birds back. Several stonechats and linnets were in the dunes, and a beautiful male wheatear was feeding in the shingle about 200 metres to the north.
East Hide was, as expected, very noisy, with hundreds of black-headed gulls chattering and quarreling on the Scrape. Among them, I counted at least 44 Mediterranean gulls, 24 Sandwich terns, two common terns, five dunlins and a turnstone. I couldn't locate the earlier yellow-legged or Caspian gulls though.
As I walked back along the North Wall, I saw both the ring ouzels, but the stone-curlew was proving tricky to locate and the lesser whitethroat reported this morning was no longer singing. I was, however, about to get my biggest surprise of the day. A couple stopped me to ask what the bird was that they'd photographed. Having seen many photos of stonechats, linnets or dunnocks recently, I was half expecting more of the same, but no. These birds were very distinctive, with yellow and black facial markings. Shore larks! They had been photographed very close to the sluice earlier in the afternoon - and I had probably walked past them! Another one that got away.
A shore lark at Minsmere, taken a few years ago, by Jon Evans
All of which goes to remind us that you really can never predict what you'll see on a visit to Minsmere.
(Oh, and there were also sightings of a red kite and peregrine from Island Mere today, two adders in North Bushes yesterday and a cuckoo at the sluice yesterday, so keep those eyes and eared peeled whilst visiting this weekend!)