Suffolk Day sightings

It's been a gorgeous day to celebrate the second ever Suffolk Day, and Suffolk's wildlife has definitely played its part in the celebrations.

Our volunteer guides were telling me at lunchtime that between the four on duty today they had more than 150 years of experience visiting Minsmere - so they certainly should know the reserve as well as anyone else. As ever, they've enjoyed sharing that knowledge with our visitors, many of whom took advantage of our Suffolk Day offer of free entry for Suffolk residents to make a long overdue first visit.

Nick went on an early morning search for reptiles and came back with a beautiful female grass snake - a big one measuring at least one metre - and lovely young slow worm. Both have been on display in a tank in reception all day, allowing visitors a rare chance to see these reptiles up close. Nick will, of course, return them to where he found them at the end of the day. There have also been a couple of sightings of adders along the trails.

A slow worm

Digger Alley is becoming a hotspot of activity, with more individuals and more species emerging every day. The first beewolfs were spotted on Saturday, and today we've seen the first pantaloon bees of the year. There's also green-eyed flower bees, ornate-tailed wasps, sand wasps and the beautiful ruby-tailed wasps (also, aptly, known as jewel wasps). 

Nearby, two popular day-flying moths have also been spotted for the first time this year along the North Wall - the black-and-red six-spot burnet and black-and-yellow, hoverfly-like six-belted clearwing. The grassy areas along North Wall and the dunes are also good places to test your skipper ID, with large, small and Essex skippers now all on the wing. Other butterflies in these areas include common blue, brown argus, small heath, ringlet and meadow brown, while in the woods we've seen the first purple hairstreaks and white admirals of the year too.

There's been a significant increase in the variety of dragonflies too with southern and migrant hawkers and common and ruddy darters added to the list. Four-spotted chasers remain the most numerous dragonflies, with good numbers of Norfolk hawkers and hairy dragonflies, plus a few emperor dragonflies and broad-bodied chasers. A banded demoiselle was, unusually, seen close to the visitor centre today - they are usually seen at the New Cut. Among the damselflies, several red-eyed damsels can be seen resting on floating vegetation in the ditch between Wildlife Lookout and South Belt Crossroads.

Red-eyed damselfly

Of course, there are birds too, and the species for which Suffolk is so well known among birdwatchers have been showing well. At least 100 avocets remain on the Scrape, many of them sitting on nests. Bitterns have been regularly flying over the reedbed from Island Mere and Bittern Hides, as have marsh harriers. Bearded tits have been a bit easier to see this week too, although the breeze today has counted against seeing them.

Many of the black-headed gull chicks on the Scrape have now fledged, with the adults beginning to disperse. Others are still nesting, having lost their first broods to predatory lesser black-backed gulls. There are still Mediterranean gulls with chicks, and two Sandwich tern chicks remain on the Scrape. Lapwings and redshanks have fledged young too. 

Up to 350 black-tailed godwits can be seen on the Scrape, and early passage waders have included a few spotted redshanks, curlews and dunlins, plus single wood sandpiper and turnstone.

A green woodpecker nest with well grown young can be seen near South Belt Crossroads, and hobbies are hunting over the woods and reedbed.

All in all, there's certainly been a lot to see today, and we hope that other attractions have enjoyed a similarly successful Suffolk Day.