It's been a bit of a wild and windy day today as Storm Desmond has made its presence felt - albeit without causing the disruption experienced farther north - but for those brave enough to venture out onto the reserve, there has been a wealth of wetland wildlife to enjoy.
The day started with a gorgeous pink sunrise, but sadly the sun itself never really materialised - though at least rain has held off. It was hard work trying to walk into the teeth of the gale though, and our regular visitors have commented on how the wind was rattling and moaning around the hides (though I did hear some comments that it wasn't the wind that was rattling and moaning!).
The view from Bittern Hide on a calmer day by Ian Barthorpe
For the regulars who spend every Saturday morning in Bittern Hide, there were some rewards for their patience this morning. First a bittern showed on and off for at least an hour, then an otter swam straight towards the hide before exiting stage right, along the main ditch. The otter quickly returned, and they continued to watch it for much of the next hour. There were also sightings of grey heron, little egret and several marsh harriers from Bittern Hide this morning.
Over at Island Mere the bitterns were keeping their heads down a bit today, but they have shown well at times on most days this week. Sightings there today have included water rail, water pipit, kingfisher and stonechat, as well as at least five marsh harriers and the regular mute swans and cormorants. The Bewick's swans that have sometimes been seen feeding south of the mere appear to have moved to fields near Leiston during the day, but they often return to roost on the mere.
If it felt a bit wild in the reedbeds, the beach was even more bracing on the beach, so not many people tried spotting any seabirds today. It has, however, been a good week for sightings of red-throated divers and common scoters, and a pomarine skua has been seen on several dates.
The best wildlife spectacle at this time of year, though, is on the Scrape, where hundreds of ducks and gulls can almost be guaranteed to be present. The most numerous ducks, as usual, are teals, but there are also good numbers of wigeons, shovelers, gadwalls and mallards, and a few shelducks. There haven't been any reports of pintail for a few days, but one or two are usually present.
Gadwall by Ian Barthorpe
Alongside the ducks, large flock of gulls can be found loafing on the Scrape. Most are herring and great black-backed gulls, with smaller numbers of black-headed, lesser black-backed and a few common gulls. For the gull aficionados there are also several Caspian and yellow-legged gulls. Most people haven't heard of these two species, and you won't find them in many field guides as they have only relatively recently been split from herring gull and recognised as separate species, so you have to be keen on gulls or an expert on subtle plumage characteristics to pick them out. For those that put in the effort, they have been well rewarded. This evening's counts were nine Caspian gulls and five yellow-legged gulls.
Although winter is not the best time to look for waders at Minsmere, there are a few around at the moment. At least 220 lapwings are present, usually on South Scrape. Black-tailed godwits and curlews often just reach double figures, but other waders present over the last couple of days have included up to three dunlins, turnstone, avocet, redshank and ruff. West Scrape is also a good place to see little egrets. All these birds also attracted a hunting peregrine over the Scrape this morning.
With the wind it hasn't been easy to spot smaller birds today, apart from around the feeders, but seven redwings were in the sluice bushes this morning and a stonechat was near the sluice.