Hi! Sorry it’s been a few weeks since I posted my last entry. They’ve been a bit hectic.
All the superb media coverage leading up to our 60th birthday led to one of Minsmere’s busiest weekends ever for our Spring on the Suffolk Coast celebrations. More than 2000 visitors came, many of then first time visitors to Minsmere. On the Sunday we actually had to open a second overflow car park when the first one filled up before lunch! The tearoom enjoyed its best ever day, with the Minsmere birthday cake proving very popular.
After all that media attention and such a busy weekend, I was glad to get away for a few days birding in Scotland, while the Bank Holiday weekend at Minsmere was as busy as ever. There’s been no let up in visitors since, attracted by many good birds.
Bitterns remain one of Minsmere’s star attractions, and it looks like we’ve had a further increase this year with ten booming males. At least five females are feeding young now, so are regularly seen flying over the reedbed. One in particular, our famous V-female, is here for at least her twelfth year, nesting very close to Island Mere Hide.
Marsh harriers have also increased, with at least 14 nesting females. Can we fit any more into our reedbeds? Sitting in Bittern Hide, it’s also been possible to see up to nine hobbies hawking insects over the reedbed – an impressive sight.
Despite all this activity, none of these has been the true star. That honour has gone to a southern European species lurking in the reedbeds. Minsmere is always one of the most reliable places to see purple herons in the UK, and our first one of the spring arrived on 27 April. After a couple of brief sightings, another was found on 18 May, and by 21 May there were at least three, possibly four, of these skulking herons flying around the reedbed from pool to pool.
Purple heron had become a bit of a bogey bird for me at Minsmere. Although I had seen two here before, I had managed to miss them every year since I started working here in 2003. That changed this year when I finally caught sight of one last week. Yesterday I saw two together. Maybe today I’ll get all four!
There have been a few other rarities so far this spring, but I missed them all. However, I did manage to add a new bird to my Minsmere list at the weekend – a drake mandarin. Whether this was a wild (or more accurately a feral) bird - perhaps dispersing from Christchurch Park in Ipswich following management work there - or an escapee, I don’t know, but mandarins are such beautiful birds that they’re always nice to see.
Another bird that’s always nice to see is red kite, and we’ve had daily sightings for the last week. Maybe they’ll nest here soon.
With half tern coming up, we’re expecting another busy week. I’ll be off to the Suffolk Show next week, so if you’re there, please come and say hello. It’s always great to get feedback from our many visitors.
Bye for now