Welcoming back old friends

Spring is here though not without its unpredictability from frosty mornings to blazing sunshine and days in which it seems we experience all four seasons in 24 hours.

But what is predictable are the arrivals, particularly for those of us with the good fortune to live within the boundaries of Minsmere.

While many arrive laden with binoculars, scopes and cameras on the off chance of spotting a rare migrant or infrequent visitor, spring for me is like that of a good pub landlord – waiting for my ‘regulars.’

And with impeccable timing they are beginning to arrive. I am in my fifth year of living by what is known as either Vault Hill or Saunders Hill and from my window I watch camouflage-clad birders making their way from the road by the Rhododendron Tunnel up the hill on the path to the bridleway, where many will hope to see Stone-curlews.

But it is the field itself that provides the reassuring site of ‘my regulars’, perhaps overlooked by many trudging up to see the ‘Wailing Heath Chickens’. They have occasionally landed within site of the house – comically on one occasion I was chatting to passers-by when a pair landed within 50 feet of them. [Please check at the visitor centre to find out the best locations for looking for Stone-curlews so that we can minimise disturbance.]

Saunders Hill is more than just hundreds of rabbits – the area is a super warren and trying to stop them coming into the garden feels like King Canute trying to stop the waves so we’ve given up on that and embrace the visitors. Currently there is a tiny baby rabbit making daily forays to pick up the crumbs beneath the bird feeders.

From the garden looking on to the field we have already seen the return of ‘our’ pair of Oystercatchers. Their screeching cries in flight, there’s no subtlety in their arrival and for the firth year running a pair have turned up on the field behind to probe for food and an appropriate nesting site. A great one for our ‘garden list’.

The Curlews are back too, and have been for a few weeks, ranging from a lone straggler calling out for company to a squadron of up to 17 strong wheeling through the skies before landing on the brow of the hill – strangely, when they land they do so, first, in a line all facing the same way before milling around. They won't stay to breed so will soon be making their way north again.

Our other regulars include Shelducks. The first year we had one pair nesting on the field and, later in the summer as we walked home from the Eel’s Foot, we followed the adult pair and several chicks as they walked down the road, past Scotts Hall, through the gate to the road leading to the visitor centre. Like traffic cops, we took it upon ourselves to warn drivers approaching to slow down to let the waddling family pass – one chick panicked, ran through our garden and out the other side to reunited with mum.

Last year and this we’ve had six Shelducks fly in. Big, bold and colourful they’re hard to miss. Skylarks are another welcome visitor this time of year and, like last spring, we’ve been particularly lucky to have a pair of Woodlarks too – their song so distinctive and wonderful, ending in what I think sounds like the opening bars to Dave Brubeck’s jazz classic, Blue Rondo A La Turk. But maybe that’s just me.

Chiffchaffs are here and they are an annual visitor to the feeders, the Bitterns are booming of course and now we look forward to other seasonal returnees. Hobbies, which tend to swoop around Island Mere and Bittern Hides, occasionally come into view above the treeline facing us, as had – albeit only once – a Woodcock.

It won’t be long before we hear the squeaks of baby Tawny Owls and a distant Nightingale. This year, we have had regular noisy flypasts by Cranes which I hope will also become one of our ‘regulars’ in the future.

So, while it is lovely to see a rare and just occasional visitor – and we have had both a Common and Black Redstart, the odd Stoat and even a Polecat – there is something reassuring that you can almost set your watch by the regulars.