Visitors from the east

In my last blog I mentioned the change to wet and windy weather. Shortly after that, the wind turned easterly and a flood of migrants arrived on the East coast. 

These were the perfect conditions for a fall of migrants. It began with flocks of song thrushes and redwings arriving last weekend, accompanied by smaller numbers of starlings, skylarks, blackbirds and fieldfares. there were also flocks of siskins, chaffinches and lesser redpolls heading south along the coast.

Whenever a fall of migrants occurs like this during the autumn, you can be sure that some scarcer visitors will arrive too, and that was certainly the case this time. Initially, the rarest of these migrants arrived elsewhere in Suffolk: a rustic bunting from Siberia in Lowestoft, a Radde's warbler from Siberia in Southwold, and a red-breasted flycatcher from eastern Europe in Felixstowe, but then on Monday morning one of our regular visitors struck lucky when he found another Radde's warbler in the North Bushes.

Radde's warblers are in the same family as chiffchaff and willow warbler, and, like those two more familiar species, they are mainly olive-green and love to skulk in thick scrub. They are best distinguished by a more distinctive face pattern (black line through the eye, pale eyebrow, or supercilium) and long, very pale legs, as well as a very different call. The Radde's warbler proved typically elusive on Monday, being seen only a couple of times, but it was a bit more obliging on Tuesday when I managed to successfully add it to my Suffolk bird list. It was tricky, though, as several chiffchaffs were also favouring the same patch of scrub. Another close relative, the slightly more frequently occurring yellow-browed warbler, was also seen a couple of times on Tuesday.

Yellow-browed warbler, taken last year (I couldn't get a picture of the Radde's warbler for comparison)

Since then, the excitement has eased a little, but the migrants have continued to trickle through, with sightings of redstart, wheatear, swallows and house martins, plus the arrival of a merlin in over the sea yesterday. Perhaps the most obvious migrants, though, are the hobbies, with more than 10 of these small, agile falcons hunting dragonflies along the woodland edges - they are best seen from the car park or Whin Hill.

The other star attractions for most visitors at the moment are the bearded tits, which can often be seen collecting grit from the trails between Wildlife Lookout and the sluice, or feeding on the reed seeds from North Wall or Island Mere.

Bearded tit by Steve Everett

Elsewhere within the reedbed, there continue to be daily sightings of bitterns, great white egrets, marsh harriers and water rails, plus the occasional otter. Dartford warblers and stonechats are regularly seen in the dunes, and blackcaps and chiffchaffs can be seen feeding around blackberry bushes.

On the Scrape, highlights have included a few yellow-legged and Caspian gulls among the gulls, especially in late afternoon, and an impressive count of 86 pintails yesterday alongside large numbers of wigeon, gadwall, teal, mallard and shoveler. One or two avocets remain, but most of the other waders have now moved on to pastures new.

Despite the cooler showery weather, good numbers of dragonflies remain active, providing food for the hobbies: migrant hawkers, common and ruddy darters and willow emerald damselflies. Several species of butterflies can be seen too.

Finally, a quick reminder that face masks are required at all times in all buildings, including the hides and toilets, and that we ask all visitors to observe social distancing at all times, especially in the hides. This means that if you can't sit two metres from other visitors, then the hide is full and you'll have to move on. A reminder, too, that the visitor centre, shop and cafe are only open from 10 am to 4 pm, and the toilets from 9 am to 5 pm.