It's that time of year when many of Minsmere's often harder to spot species become easier to find as their usual reticence to put in an appearance is overcome by the desire to show off in an effort to attract a mate.

That's certainly the case in the woods, where birdsong is increasing by the day, with chaffinches, great tits and marsh tits now joining the chorus alongside robins, wrens, dunnocks, blue tits and blackbirds. Above this melody, the percussion is frequently provided by drumming great spotted woodpeckers. One particular individual had chosen the perfect rotten branch on which to drum this afternoon, the sound resonating around the woods. It was a bit too deep into the trees for a decent picture, especially as I was facing the sun, but here's the bird in question.

While the woodpecker provides the percussion, the bass line can only be added by one species, and sure enough, a couple of our bitterns have begun booming early this year. A visit to Island Mere or Bittern Hide around dawn or dusk may be rewarded with hearing these first tentative booms. As more bitterns begin to join in over the next few weeks, they'll be heard more often during the day.

If you've read Whistling Joe's latest Forum post, you'll know that at least one of our bitterns has begun performing badly again, wandering out into the open at Island Mere and approaching too close for the big lens photographers to capture their hoped for photos. The bitterns reverted to type and once again eluded my gaze when I walked down to Island Mere today, but this very showy little egret did put on a good display.

"Oi, over here!" The egret was clearly enjoying the sun, spending time preening and keeping it's feathers in tip top condition. 

  

Other regular sightings at Island Mere include otter, bearded tit, water rail, snipe, buzzard and several marsh harriers, with the latter already carrying out their dramatic switchback display flights. Cetti's warblers are increasingly vocal too.

Out on the Scrape, the first Mediterranean gulls, ringed plovers and oystercatchers have begun to return, avocet numbers have reached 12, and up to 200 black-headed gulls are now present. Other waders and gulls seen this week include black-tailed godwits, curlews, turnstones, herring, common and both lesser and great black-backed gulls, and a Caspian gull.

It's ducks that still dominate the sightings on the Scrape, though, with a couple of drake pochards adding further variety this week, and the drake green-winged teal and redhead smew both still being present, if elusive at times. A few tufted ducks and goosanders can usually be found among the hordes of wigeons, gadwalls, shovelers, teals, mallards, shelducks and pintails, many of which are already displaying. The pintails are still present in bigger numbers than usual. They are often seen close to East Hide, but proved stubbornly shy when I tried to get pictures this week. At least the long tail streamers help to confirm the identification.

  

They do have to come up for air sometimes, though.

There have also been a number of sightings of an otter on the Scrape this week. On Sunday it spent two hours feeding on snails within a few metres of Wildlife Lookout, much to the delight of the visitors in the hide.

Two spoonbills put in a brief appearance on the Scrape on Sunday, when a great white egret at Island Mere was presumably one of the three birds that are regular at nearby Dingle Marshes. There have been no sightings of the whooper swans for a few days, though.

On calmer days this week it's still been possible to find the Dartford warblers and stonechats in the dunes or great crested grebes, red-throated divers and grey seals offshore. On windier days, those brave enough to seawatch have picked out a few distant gannets too.

Finally, I discovered some new behaviour this week. I have always assumed that where patches of moss have been dug up in grassy areas, such as the North Bushes, this has been due to green woodpeckers probing for ants, or blackbirds looking for worms. It seems that I was wrong, as I caught two beautiful magpies red-handed on Monday, tossing moss all over the place. I guess they were probing for leatherjackets and other soil invertebrates. It did, however, give me another chance to photograph these gorgeous birds.