Minsmere has been a migration crossroads this week, with arrivals from North, South, East and West. We expect arrivals from the North and East in winter, while visitors from the West are scarce but not too surprising. However, it was the bird from the South that really stole the show in more ways than one.
It is unusual to have birds from southern Europe visiting Minsmere as late in the year as this - they should by now be sunning themselves in warmer climes, not braving the chill of a November frost. So it came as a bit of surprise when a gorgeous Hoopoe took up residence in the dunes this week. First seen at Sizewell beach over the weekend, it relocated to the Minsmere dunes on Monday where it showed incredibly well, despite the wintry weather, until moving back to Sizewell on Thursday morning.
Hoopoe by Peter Norfolk
Hoopoes are one of the most exotic-looking birds to visit the UK. These Jay-sized birds share the colourful crow's pink, black and white colouring, but do so in most impressive way with broad long-fingered black-and-white wings, a delicate decurved bill and a superb long crest which it holds erect when disturbed. The name Hoopoe, as well as its scientific name, Upupa epops, is onomatopoeic, deriving from the distinctive soft "poop poop" call.
Hoopoe by Robin Drew
Hoopoes breed widely across southern and central Europe, and many of you will have spotted on your holidays to the Mediterranean, but they remain scarce in the UK, when they are most frequently seen in spring or early autumn. They can turn up almost anywhere, including school playing fields and churchyards - basically any area with short grass where they can probe for beetles, larvae and other soil invertebrates.
In fact, the Hoopoe wasn't the only bird that should have migrated to Africa already to be seen this week, with one or two Swallows being seen each day, while an Osprey was spotted a few miles to the north yesterday and a Spoonbill paid a brief visit to the Scrape on Tuesday.
Another scarce visitor this week arrived from the west. A Green-winged Teal was found among the hundreds of Eurasian Teal on the Scrape. This is the North American counterpart of our Teal, and was, until recently, considered to be a separate species. New analysis suggested that Green-winged Teal is actually a race of its Eurasian cousins. The females are indistinguishable, while the drakes are very similar, but have a short vertical white stripe down the side of the breast, rather than the horizontal white stripe along the wing in Eurasian Teal.
Most of our wintering ducks come to us from the north and east, having breed across a wide swathe of northern Europe and Arctic Russia, but we can be pretty confident that the two Whooper Swans that are moving between Island Mere and the Scrape have migrated here from Iceland, where most of the population breeds, while two Bewick's Swans have flown from at least 3000 miles to the east. Similarly, a single young Pink-footed Goose that has joined the Greylags on the Scrape has come here from Iceland.
Bewick's Swan (behind) and Whooper Swan, for comparison. Photo by Ian Barthorpe
Other birds are arriving from the east too. Starlings, Redwings and Fieldfares have been passing through, while I watched a male Blackbird struggling valiantly just above the waves to reach landfall in the dunes after a long crossing from Scandinavia. Many of the Robins and Goldcrests on the reserve have come from Scandinavia or the Baltic states too. Meanwhile the Water Pipits that remain on the Scrape are most likely to have migrated here from the mountains of Central Europe, including the Alps!
The birds have probably come from furthest north are the two or three Little Auks have been spotted offshore. These tiny seabirds nest on cliffs around the edge of the Arctic ice and are sometimes blown as far south as English coasts during autumn storms, but you really have to be in the right place at the right time to spot them.
A library photo of Little Auks
Of course, not all our birds have migrated long distances to be at Minsmere. Some may have moved from elsewhere in the UK, while others probably never leave the reserve. Some of the other highlights this week have included Bittern, Snipe, Water Rail and Stonechat at Island Mere, Bearded Tits and singing Cetti's Warblers in the reedbed, up to 33 Marsh Harriers roosting at dusk, and upto 16 Avocets on the Scrape.
As well as birds, the Water Voles continue to show occasionally, a Stoat was seen the visitor centre this morning, Red Deer and Muntjac are regular in the woods, and the odd Common Darter dragonfly was still flying at the start of the week - until the temperatures dropped.