When you work at such as an amazing place as Minsmere, it's easy to take things for granted. We come to know where to expect to see certain species - as you read in Whistling Joe's latest post about adders. But that doesn't mean that there aren't a few surprises hiding out there, ready to catch you out. I encountered one such surprise today: a common toad.
This really should not be a surprise. When I first started working at Minsmere, 17 years ago, it was hard to drive to Eastbridge after dark during March without a real danger of squashing several toads on route. A few years later we could stand on the boardwalk over the pond and watch squirming masses of mating toads, surrounded by strings of spawn. Yet, sadly, such experiences are no more as toads, along with common frogs, have seen a huge fall in population sizes throughout the country. So much so, that I can't actually remember the last time I saw one at Minsmere. And this one was huge, suggesting that it must be a female. Hopefully she'll have mated and is looking for somewhere to spawn.
The one amphibian that we do regularly see is smooth newt, with a very healthy population in the pond. Many of these are caught during our pond dipping events - though we are much more likely to catch efts, as young newts are known, than the adults. With their gills, I often think the efts look like the dragons from the How to tame your dragon series of films and children's books by Cressida Cowell. We're not the only ones that like to catch the newts and efts though, as at least one black-headed gull is a regular predator at the pond. He has been nicknamed Newton by our volunteers - though it may be Newton 11 by now as he's been regular there.
In fact, it's already been a good week for getting up close to some of Minsmere's wildlife, as this extremely tame robin sat and sang to us just a metre from the path through the Rhododendron Tunnel yesterday.
Then back at the office this magpie came to see us. As a favourite species of Clare, one of our volunteers, she couldn't resist taking some photos, and sending them to me - she knows I love magpies too. It's sporting a very natty piece of bling - a reminder that the Waveney Bird Club's ringing demonstrations will run every Thursday from 2 April to the end of October.
Of course, not all our wildlife is either as tame or as easy to spot, and to spot some of the more exciting species seen this week you had to be in the right place at the right time. For example, two common cranes flew over Island Mere on Friday, a great white egret flew over the visitor centre on Friday, a red kite and a spoonbill made brief visits yesterday and the three smew remain frustratingly mobile. The green-winged teal also remains elusive, but this is now thought to be a hybrid with Eurasian teal.
Visitors to Island Mere yesterday morning were treated to some amazingly close views of an otter, but it had disappeared by the time I got there, so I had to be content with tufted ducks, great crested grebes and close marsh harriers, plus the distinctive sounds of singing Cetti's warblers and booming bitterns.
The six whooper swans remain on the Scrape, but numbers of ducks have dropped dramatically. Totals from our monthly counts on Sunday were down to 183 teal, 161 wigeon, 92 shovelers, 83 mallards, 43 gadwall and 33 shelducks, plus just a couple of pintails. Avocet numbers are fluctuating between none and 50+, Mediterranean gulls have increased to about 40, and more than 500 black-headed gulls are now back - with the attendant increase in volume.
Finally, if you are planning a visit later this month please note that the cafe will be closed on Friday 20 March whilst we carry our some vital upgrades to our gas cooker, so please bring a picnic with you that day.