Early summer is a great time to discover a wealth of wildlife at North Warren. While it can be a quieter time for birds, there are still several goodies to be found, and the insect and plant life is superb.
Most of the birds are busy with business of breeding. Birdsong is less now, as the adults must strive to find enough grubs to keep hungry chicks happy, but you can still hear the chattering of reed and sedge warblers in the reedbed and ditches, along with the loud, sharp bursts of Cetti's warbler and easily missed song of the beautiful reed warbler. In the scrub, common and lesser whitethroats, blackcaps and garden warblers are busy too.
There were only two booming bitterns in the reedbed this spring. I say only two, because we've had three boomers in recent years, but actually two is not bad for such a small reedbed. There's no sign of any nests yet, but the wardens have now started monitoring for signs of feeding flights. Marsh harriers are nesting too, but it's the hobbies that are star attraction in the reedbed. Up to 12 of these elegant falcons can be seen most days, causing terror among the sand martins and swallows or feasting on clouds of damselflies.
Hobby by Steve Rowland
It's a great time to study damselflies and dragonflies, and several species are now on the wing. The commoner species include common blue, blue-tailed and large red damselflies, four-spotted chasers and banded demoiselles (the later mainly along the river). The first Norfolk hawkers (a recent colonist on the Suffolk coast, perhaps from continental Europe rather than the Norfolk Broads) and emperor dragonflies have been seen this week, and there are very good numbers of red-eyed damselflies.
Butterflies are easy to find too, although the weather forecast this week is not favourable. Look out for the jewel-like green hairstreak in gorse, common blues and small coppers on the beach, and the first migrant red admirals and painted ladies.
Talking of the beach, that's probably the best place to be in late June, as the sea pea comes into flower. Other scarce shingle plants such as sea kale, yellow horned-poppy and a few plants of sea holly are also present. All of these are specialists, being salt-tolerant and thriving in freely-drained, shallow soils and restricted to few areas in the UK where the harse conditions prevent competition from other plants. Lookout for a wide variety of other plants along the beach, including showy species like dittander and fennel, as well as ground hugging stonecrops and cranesbills. But watch where you're walking. Skylarks nest in many places along the shingle, and the plants are easily damaged by trampling.
Sea kale by Ian Barthorpe
Elsewhere on the reserve, only a single nightjar has been heard on Aldringham Walks so far, and three or four pairs of Dartford warblers survived the cold winter. One or two red kites and buzzards have been seen recently too. There's a few cuckoos and turtle doves around, although numbers are down on recent years.
Why not escape the crowds in Aldeburgh and stroll around North Warren over the next few weeks.