We have some exciting news about some of the wildlife stars of the recent BBC Springwatch series. As mentioned in previous blogs, the stone-curlew pair that sadly failed to hatch a chick during the series were successful at the second attempt. Although one chick was soon predated, the second chick continues to thrive, and on Monday, our wardens fitted it with colour rings that will help us to track its progress - and hopefully to identify it if it returns successfully to Minsmere next spring. The stone-curlews can still be seen from the North Wall watchpoint, but they are quite mobile and often hide among the bracken at the edge of the field, making them quite tricky to spot.
Stone-curlew chick by Adam Rowlands
Talking of ringing birds, the Waveney Bird Club will hold their next ringing demonstration tomorrow (Thursday), with further demos planned for Thursday 25 August and 1 September. These events are a great opportunity for children, families and keen birdwatchers alike to enjoy amazing close views of some of Minsmere's birds as you learn about how and why birds are ringed. Highlights of the demos so far this month have included bearded tits, sparrowhawks, green woodpeckers and various tits, finches and warblers. What will they catch tomorrow?
This reed warbler warbler took a liking to one young visitor at a recent ringing demo
Of course, you don't have to come to a ringing demo to see some amazing wildlife at Minsmere, and this week I've been lucky enough to have some great close encounters. In the (rare) absence of any volunteer guides, I took a stroll around the Scrape on Monday morning to chat to a few visitors and update our daily sightings board. The bee-wolfs were active in the North Bushes, and several common blue and grayling butterflies flitted among the dunes as the sun reflected off an inviting looking blue sea (though it would take a lot for me to take a dip in the North Sea, even in August!).
East Scrape was buzzing with birds, including about 150 black-tailed godwits, several ruffs, spotted redshanks and dunlins and a couple of common sandpipers. A lovely flock of 14 little gulls loafed at the back, but all of the avocets appear to have moved elsewhere for the winter now (if you want to see avocets in Suffolk for the next six months try the Blyth and Alde-Ore estuaries). A few young shelducks were easier to pick out than the moulting (and therefore mostly brown) mallards, gadwalls, teals and shovelers.
Habitat management work, in preparation for next spring's breeding season, meant that the highlight on South Scrape was a couple of knots, while a gorgeous moulting golden plover was the pick of the waders on West Scrape. Over the next few weeks, our wardens and volunteers will be cutting vegetation on the Scrape on various dates, but don't worry as they try to only work on one section of the Scrape and there's loads of other great places to spot wildlife - more on that later.
One of the highlights of Monday's walk was a very close encounter with two wheatears around the sluice. They seemed almost oblivious to visitors and even posed for photos on the sluice itself.
Wheatear at the sluice by Ian Barthorpe
As if that was exciting enough, I later saw photos from a visitor who had watched these two wheatears interacting a with an adder which they clearly didn't like within their feeding territory. And yesterday afternoon one of our volunteers watched as two hobbies worked collaboratively to catch another wheatear, this time from the stone-curlew watchpoint.
My second really close encounter with birds came yesterday afternoon as I took a lovely family from Hertfordshire out on one of our popular 4x4 safaris. As we entered a woodland clearing I spotted to point out a buzzard, circling ahead of us. Only it wasn't a common buzzard. It turned out to be a honey-buzzard, which gave superb views as it glided overhead. This rare bird of prey has been several times in the local area over the past month, though it's movements are far from predictable.
The safari took us us through parts of the reserve that are usually closed to visitors, with lovely views of carpets of purple heather, a sighting of some of our konik Polski (Polish ponies) and views across Island Mere, before we headed out to the Chapel Field for a closer view of the ruins of the 12th Century Leiston Abbey. The abbey will be scene of an archaeological dig next month, exploring the legend of piracy among the monks.
The Chapel Field is a great place from which to look south across the Minsmere Levels, and the nearest pool to the ruin is currently attracting a lot of interest. Sightings have included wood sandpiper, several green sandpipers and greenshanks, two little stints and good numbers of dunlins, redshanks, black-tailed godiwts and teals. Not only that, but a lovely pied flycatcher was seen feeding in an adjacent apple tree yesterday, and redstart and whinchat have been in the same area today, with clouded yellow butterfly also seen in the Chapel Field. The family and I also enjoyed close views of several hunting kestrels - a bird that is always guaranteed to raise excitement levels.
So, if we are doing management work on the Scrape, then it is certainly worth a walk along to the Chapel Field. Alternatively, within the next few days we'll also be opening our seasonal path to the North Levels pools. This is a great walk past seeding thistles adorning by hungry flocks of goldfinches to a usually innaccessible series of pools that attract large flocks of little egrets and grey herons, and can be very good for waders. Who knows, the purple swamphen could even be hiding somewhere along there!