There seems to be something about Wednesdays this month. I think we may have to rename them as rare bird Wednesdays, as for the second week running we've been treated to superb views of a rare visitor to Minsmere, even if this week's doesn't quite come up to the standard of last week's!
First, as I was away for the second half of last week, I suppose I'd better mention last week's visitor. Minsmere's first little bittern since 1977 was found in the ditch north of the North Wall sluice, where it showed very well at times for the afternoon. Although looking superficially similar to it's larger cousin, little bitterns are considerably smaller, being barely the size of a moorhen. Like all bittern species, they are elusive birds, being extremely well camouflaged in the long vegetation of wetland margins. They breed widely across mainland Europe and winter mainly south of the Sahara. One or two calling males have been heard in the UK in recent summers, and they have bred in Somerset, but late autumn records are unusual. As this was a young bird, it presumably got caught in unfavourable winds and headed the wrong way. Sadly it wasn't seen again after going to roost on Wednesday evening, but it's tempting to think that it could still be lurking in the reedbed somewhere! For photos of the little bittern, see Limpy's Forum thread.
Amazingly, the little bittern wasn't the only rare visitor seen last week as Paul Green found a stunning vagrant emperor dragonfly in the dunes, close to the sluice. Incredibly, this was the third one that Paul had found on the Suffolk coast in just a couple of days. What's more, he's just found another in the same area today. Vagrant emperors breed in Africa and only occasionally reach the UK, so this was certainly a notable series of records. Vagrant emperors are distinguished by a bright blue band across the thorax of an otherwise large brown dragonfly.
I may have missed both of last week's spectacular sightings, but I was lucky enough to see today's, which is the star of this week's blog. While long-eared owls are far from rare birds, they are typically very difficult to see. As breeding birds they are almost exclusively nocturnal. In winter you may be lucky enough to find a roosting bird, or even a small group of them, hidden deep in scrubby vegetation. It's not often, though, that you get to see one just two metres away from the path, as today's bird was near South Hide.
This long-eared owl was presumably a newly arrived migrant from Scandinavia, as several have been reported flying along the coast over the last few days, along with a number of short-eared owls. Both of these owls are similar in flight, but once perched they are easier to distinguish. Long-eared owls have orange eyes, while short-eared owls eyes are yellow. As their name suggested, the ear tufts also vary in length, those these can be held flattened against the head, rather than erect. Of course, these aren't ears either, but tufts of feathers. It was great to watch the ear tufts flickering in the wind as this bird hunkered down among the reeds, resting after its long journey.
The long-eared owl proved very popular with visitors today, and it seems very apt to be able such amazing views of an owl on Hallowe'en. If you stay on the reserve until dusk there's a good chance of spotting at least one more owl too, with barn owls regularly seen hunting along the New Cut. Short-eared owls are possible too, while tawny owls are becoming more vocal after dark, even if they prove difficult to see.
Other than these scarce visitors, Island Mere has been the centre of attention for the last week, with up to three bitterns regularly feeding just metres from the hide. They're often seen in company with grey herons, or even an otter. In fact, one visitor commented this week that he'd had his "best bittern sighting in 60 years of birdwatching" while another referred to it as "a bad day for fish" after photographing both bittern and otter making successful kills.
Bittern by Jon Evans
Other Island Mere sightings include at least one great white egret, up to 70 cormorants, several mute swans, up to nine marsh harriers, and a regular sparrowhawk. Bearded tits have been harder to spot in the recent windy weather but are still present. The cattle egret was certainly still roosting until at least Sunday. Even more excitingly, a ringtail (or female-type) hen harrier has been spotted a couple of times.
A glossy ibis that paid a brief visit to East Scrape on Monday was the best bird seen on the Scrape, where other sightings have included five avocets, a grey plover, a jack snipe, several snipe and good numbers of wigeons, teals, gadwalls, shovelers, shelducks and lapwings.
It's also been a good week for checking the sea, though a telescope and patience are generally useful tools if you want to see the best variety of birds. Among the species seen offshore this week have been little auk, guillemot, red-throated diver, great-crested and slavonian grebes, common and velvet scoters, great and pomarine skuas, gannets and even a sooty shearwater. A hobby was a surprise sighting flying in off the sea yesterday as most headed south a few weeks ago.
Sadly, our volunteers have just found yesterday's long-eared owl dead in the bushes beside where it roosted. It is likely that the long migration had left it hungry, and the overnight rain prevented it from feeding, and probably led to it getting chilled.