After a busy bank holiday weekend, this week's species of the week blog is a day late, and is accompanied by news of some exciting finds over the last few days.
First, the latest selection of our ongoing 70 species to spot at Minsmere challenge is the whitethroat. It may seem strange to be choosing a summer migrant in late August, but this is actually a great time of year to spot many of Minsmere's warblers. Like most warblers, whitethroats arrive in the spring and immediately start singing to set up their territories. They spend the spring and early summer nesting and rearing their youngsters. By the end of July, with the chicks all fledged, singing ceases and they begin preparing to fly back to Africa for our winter (or in the case of the chicks to make the hazardous journey for the first time). To maximise their chances of making this journey successfully, they need to build up sufficient fat reserves, and that makes them easier to spot in late summer and early autumn.
Why? Because one of the best sources of food right now is blackberries, and any other ripening fruits for that matter. Not only are the fruits high in energy, but they also attract juicy insects which are readily gobbled up by hungry warblers.
As a result, it's usually possible to find several whitethroats feeding in North Bushes and along the dunes. Check them carefully though, as there are usually a few lesser whitethroats with too - as well as blackcaps, chiffchaffs, willow warblers, reed warblers and perhaps the odd garden warbler or spotted flycatcher. Many of them will be juveniles, with bright, fresh feathers, but lacking some of the ID features of the adults.
Juvenile whitethroat by Jon Evans
Whitethroats are, however, relatively easy to tell from the other warblers. In all plumages they have chestnut wing coverts, forming a distinctive panel on the upperwing, and white outer tail feathers. In comparison, the closely related lesser whitethroat is much greyer, lacking any chestnut tones, and has a hint of a dark mask. Male blackcaps are grey with black caps, females and juveniles have chestnut caps. Chiffchaffs and willow warblers are smaller, more olive-green and very similar to each other. Juveniles can be very bright, adults may be quite dull. Generally, willow warblers have longer wings and paler legs than chiffchaffs, but they are always an identification challenge for beginners.
Lesser whitethroat by Jon Evans
As well as the warblers, the bramble bushes are also good places to look for various tits, finches, butterflies and dragonflies, all taking advantage of the rich food supply. And, of course, for us, as who doesn't like a delicious blackberry and apple pie? If you are picking blackberries, don't forget to leave some for the wildlife.
At the start of this blog I also mentioned some interesting sightings. One of our volunteer guides had a particularly interesting morning int he Wildlife Lookout today. The highlight was a bittern that fed just a few metres from the hide for more than 20 minutes, providing almost unparalleled views. Another highlight was a very late juvenile cuckoo, while he was also treated to sightings of hobby, yellow wagtails, green sandpipers and at least a dozen snipe.
Elsewhere on the Scrape, wader counts at East Hide today included 175 black-tailed godwits, 80 dunlins, 30 ringed plovers, 14 spotted redshanks and four ruffs, plus a selection of other species. At least 11 avocets remain, and 20 little gulls are still roosting on the Scrape, A wheatear was in the dunes behind the hide, and a couple of wigeons have returned to the Scrape.
A great white egret has arrived on the reserve too, being seen in flight over Island Mere at about 8.45 am and relocated in North Marsh at about 4.30 pm today. Other highlights in the reedbed today included hobby, water rail, kingfisher, bitterns, bearded tits and two pochards at Island Mere.
The other star species today were much closer to the visitor centre, and were found by families during the final pond dipping session of the summer. Among the more expected newts, dragonflies larvae and water boatmen were these impressive beasties.
Female great diving beetle (with photobombing alderfly larva)
Water stick insect
Although pond dipping is finished for the summer, our bird ringers will be here again on Thursday, and they've agreed to add an extra ringing demonstration the following week, on 7 September, for those who'd like to attend these events but also want to avoid the school holidays. They are likely to catch a variety of warblers, finches and tits, giving you the chance to see whitethroats up close and personal, if you're lucky.