So, as always when back in Suffolk, today I decided to visit the RSPB's flagship reserve, Minsmere. As you have probably noticed from previous blogs I have, in the past, been a regular visitor to this reserve but today's visit was my first of 2013. I was hoping for a flood of spring migrants but having looked at recent reports online, I knew that this was unlikely.
When I arrived I headed straight back down the approach road towards Island Mere Hide. It was a joy to walk past the work centre and towards the Whin Hill watchpoint at this time. There was nobody around and I got wonderful views of some common, but beautiful, birds. At least four
green woodpeckers flew from the ground and stuck themselves to trees and telegraph poles,
jays escaped silently into the woodland,
great spotted woodpeckers shouted at each other deep in the trees,
marsh tits 'sneezed' at me and a pair of
red-legged partridges turned their heels and scampered away in an almost comic manor.
A quick reminder of winter flew over Canopy Hide in the form of a couple of
redwings. Onward through the rhododendrom tunnel and more
marsh tits greeted me alongside many other small woodland birds including a
song thrush and these very obliging
long-tailed tits.
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| Long-Tailed Tit - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
Entering Island Mere hide the
garganey that had been showing well recently were immediately apparent - because they were sleeping just in front! Not good for photos but a very easy sighting by
garganey standards.
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| Sleeping Garganey - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
Whilst waiting for the ducks to wake up a male
marsh harrier gave some stunning views as it hunted in the low morning sun out to the side of the hide.
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| Marsh Harrier - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
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| Marsh Harrier - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
A
bittern flew across the far side of the mere and we got more excellent views of birds as this
little grebe fished progressively closer to the hide until it was lost to view (possibly underneath us!).
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| Bittern (record shot) - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
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| Little Grebe - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
Finally the
garganey awoke and spent about a minute wondering around before finding an even worse position, tucking their heads back and falling asleep again.
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| Garganey - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
Other birds of note from the hide were the calling
bearded tits and
Cetti's warblers along with the
teal,
common snipe,
mute swans,
great crested grebes and other regular waterfowl.
Off to bittern hide and the walk between the two hides provided my highlight of the day. No, it wasn't another bittern or more marsh harriers, it wasn't anything unusual - it was a
goldcrest! Nothing special you might say but it kept hopping straight towards me from bush to bush until it passed me by too close to photograph. I am very happy with what I did get though.
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| Goldcrest - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
Bittern Hide was pretty quiet so I headed for an early lunch. Massively recommend the cheese and ham toasties! Also recommend the view - it was a finch fest...
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| Finch Fest - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
From then on the birding became harder work. The wind got up and the complete lack (other than the garganey) of spring migrants became painfully apparent. Offshore there were a handful of
red-throated divers fighting the wind heading north and the Scrape was full of
black-headed gulls with a few others. One subtle sign of spring was the number of
avocets that had returned - they all seem to disappear in the winter.
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| Avocet - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
Quickly, a dampener was put on that spring feeling with a count of 10
smew! Not that seeing
smew is ever a bad thing - but in April?!?
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| Smew - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer |
The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful with
turnstones, a
dunlin and a
black-tailed godwit being the only highlights on the scrape and a
grey plover on the levels.
All together I saw over 65 species but the second half was indeed hard work with the windy conditions. A good day.
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