The pond has certainly been a popular place for visitors to pause at the start of their visit to Minsmere this week - and often to return to later for a second look - with a great variety of wildlife often on view.
The star attractions here are, undoubtedly, Ratty and friends - our resident family of Water Voles. As we've been seeing two distinctly sixes of voles, it appears that we once again have a family at the pond, with both adults and well-grown young often see perched on their distinctive feeding platforms, busily munching through the stems of Reedmace and other wetland plants. When I saw this one this week it was sheltering beneath some overhanging vegetation as it fed on some of the submerged water plants.
Water Voles are certainly not the only stars of the pond, though. A couple of Grass Snakes are regularly seen swimming (though not in today's wet weather), searching for Smooth Newts and large invertebrate larvae, and a pair of Moorhens is often present. Dragonflies, too, are easily seen here, including Emperor, Norfolk Hawker, Four-spotted Chaser and a variety of damselflies: Common Blue, Azure, Blue-tailed and Emerald are most likely to be seen.
Of course, you don't only see dragonflies around the pond. The first Common and Ruddy Darters have now emerged and can often be seen patrolling Bramble bushes in the woodland rides, while Black-tailed Skimmers frequently settle on the paths just a few metres in front of visitors - as this one did yesterday.
One species that is notable by its absence around the pond this year is Sand Martin. You will still see these small birds flying low over the reeds or Scrape in pursuit of insects, but they have decided to nest elsewhere this year. We're not sure why they haven't used our nesting cliff - there are a number of likely reasons - but the last time they didn't nest at Minsmere we had record numbers the following year, so let's hope that 2025 proves to be another good year.
Moving away from the pond, Digger Alley is also a popular place to stop in the summer. Our volunteers will often be on hand to show you the many resident insects, including Beewolf, Ornate-tailed Wasp, Red-banded Sand-wasp, Ruby-tailed Wasp, Pantaloon Bee and the very loud Green-eyed Flower-bees. I was pleased to grab a quick photo of one of the latter this week, though as it was from behind I couldn't see the wonderful green eyes.
Out on the Scrape it's all change every day, at least in terms of the counts of individual species. Birds that still have young to feed remain predictable - Black-headed Gulls, Common and Sandwich Terns, Canada, Barnacle, Greylag and Egyptian Geese, Shelducks and Coots - but many others are on the move.
Numbers of Lapwings and Teal are slowly increasing as birds arrive from more northerly breeding areas to moult at Minsmere. Counts of more than 400 Black-tailed Godwits and 300 Avocets also indicate arrivals of birds form elsewhere, and these flocks look particularly impressive when disturbed by a passing Marsh Harrier or Sparrowhawk.
Just a few of the Avocets wheeling above the Scrape
Many other species of waders are now moving through. Some stay for several days, others quickly move elsewhere. Some of the species to look out for include Dunlin, Knot, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit - though finding one or two of the latter among the hordes of Black-tailed Godwits in various plumages presents an ID challenge.
A similar challenge awaits anyone looking for some of our more unusual gulls and terns, which include the odd Yellow-legged Gull, three Little Gulls of various ages, at least 26 Mediterranean Gulls and a second year Arctic Tern. Two Spoonbills have also been on the Scrape this week (photo below).
Many of the Gadwalls have moved to Island Mere to moult and take advantage of the shallower waters which make it easier to reach the rich supplies of submerged vegetation to eat. I estimated about 200 Gadwalls there yesterday, along with Tufted Ducks, the off Pochard, Little Grebes, Great Crested Grebes and Coots. Patient watching from Island Mere Hide or Bittern Hide should also yield sightings of Bittern, Great Egret, Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Hobby, Bearded Tit and Kingfisher.
In the woods, there are increasing numbers of our more notable summer butterflies, including Silver-washed Fritillary, White Admiral and Purple Hairstreak, with Graylings, Ringlets, Meadow Browns and Small heaths in more grassy areas and three species of skipper along the dunes. Woodland birds are trickier to spot at this time of year but might still include woodpeckers, tits, Treecreeper or Blackcap, while one of my colleagues got a shock yesterday when he came across a Nightjar churring along the Woodland Trail mid morning! These nocturnal and crepuscular birds are very rarely encountered by day, but you still have a few more weeks in which to listen to their unusual mechanical song at dusk on Westleton Heath.