Read on to find the answer to this often asked question.
Guest blog by Lisa Robinson, Intern Visitor Officer
The red deer rut is over! Well, it is as far as staffing the viewpoint is concerned, though there is still some bellowing in the mornings, so it might still be worth a wander up to the viewpoint for a few more days.
I’ve been up at the viewpoint on Westleton Heath every weekend for the last five weeks and have witnessed the rut season from almost the very start to the very end. It was really interesting watching the progression from just a bit of bellowing and posturing from the stags through to the mating and some full on fighting.
At the start the hinds seemed to all be together in a large group of over 100, and then as the weeks progressed there were clear groups formed of 15-20 hinds per stag. I saw one stag that had clearly lost a fight, and had to hobble off with a gammy leg and no hinds to play with at all!
At the peak of the rut season (mid October) the herd dynamic was clear, even from half a mile away. I remember one Saturday afternoon spent watching a stag trying to keep two others away from his hinds. Interestingly, the two competitors seemed to be working together to confuse the other! Very sneaky.
I learned a lot about red deer over the last six weeks. Before the rut started I read lots of information so I could try and answer visitors’ questions about the deer, but of course there were many things I didn’t know.
One of the most commonly asked questions that I (initially) couldn’t answer was “What is a monarch?” referring of course to Monarch of the Glen and the classification of stags. I did a bit of research and learned more than you would ever want to know about antlers.
It turns out that a stag with 16 or more tines (points) is a monarch, 14 tines is an imperial, and 12 tines is a royal. A tine can only be counted if it’s big enough to put a wedding ring on it, the first set of antlers are called prickets, and stags with no antlers at all are called hummels. Information overload? I’ll stop there. Suffice to say, the biggest stag I saw was indeed a monarch, with 16 tines.
The event itself was very successful with over 2000 visitors in all. Other than the deer, stone curlews and green woodpeckers were visible most weeks, as well as a couple of foxes ripping apart rabbits in front of the viewpoint. It’s been a fantastic few weeks and I can’t wait to help at more RSPB events in the future. I'm now busy helping to plan our Christmas events.
A royal stag (count the tines - there's 13) by Jon Evans
Answer: Minsmere.
Our Discover Nature Project is now underway, with revised access to the visitor centre to allow the builders to start building our new reception. Our office is also surrounded by a building ste, and work has started ont he new classroom and family activity area. Part of the funding for these exciting new developments - and the replacement Island Mere Hide - comes from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg IV A 2 Mers Seas Zeeen Crossborder programme 2007-13.
This European funding is in partnership with other sites in Holland and Belgium, under the title Natura People. Our project co-ordinator, Sarah Green, has recently written two blogs on our regional pages explaining more about both this project and a recent report highlighting the importance of Minsmere and other RSPB nature reserves to the local economy. Please follow the links to read more - Sarah tells the stories much better than I would.
Adding a further link to chain, we've had at least three black redstarts at Minsmere this week. These are scarce but annual visitors that breed nearby at Sizewell, but are much more common on the near continent - I saw one on a visit to Bruges for an Interreg meeting in the spring. One black redstart was on the skip used by the Environment Agency at the end of the North Wall over the weekend, while two were feeding around our trailers outside the office yesterday.
I'll keep you posted on the development work over the next few months.
In 2003 the RSPB Woodbridge local group produced a fabulous guide to the five RSPB nature reserves on the Suffolk caost. Called 'Spread your Wings', it proved very popular.
Eight years on, the time is right for a revised and updated book. We've acqwuired two new reserves in that time - Hollesley Marshes and Snape, and there are exciting new developments at Minsmere and Havergate.
The group are currently seeking funding to help them produce this new guide, which will be available in summer 2012. You can help them win £6000 by voting for them in the Natwest Community Force awards. Voting ends in four days, so please cast your vote now.
Vote Woodbridge. Vote Suffolk. Vote RSPB
It hardly seems right to be saying this in mid October, with the sun shining outside, but I can officially declare that winter has arrived.
How can I be so certain? Well, I've defined the first day of winter as the day I see my first wild swan - Bewick's swans arriving from Siberia or whooper swans from Iceland. By that measure, winter arrived yesterday afternoon when I spotted three whooper swans resting on East Scrape. Well, technically it began mid morning when Jon Evans watched them flying in from the sea, but it was mid afternoon before I got the chance to see them for myself.
There's another obvious reason to declare that winter has arrived. We had our first frost of the year in Suffolk this morning. I was grateful for a heated windscreen to remove the need to scrape the frost off the glass. It wasn't a surprise to see a frost, given the crystal clear skies at 11 o'clock last night. There was an amazing array of stars glittering across the inky black sky; some bright, others barely visible.
Other clues to the coming season are all around us. The shorter evenings signal the imminent end to British Summer Time at the end of the month, while winter migrants are arriving all the time. Numbers of ducks are increasing almost by the day on the Scrape, with many of the teals, shovelers, gadwalls and wigeons now sporting their finest plumage after the autumn moult. The first white-fronted geese were seen recently, while there's been a steady passage of brent geese heading south offshore for a couple of weeks.
Among the smaller birds, fieldfares have been notable today, and the redwings have finally started to arrive (though I'm yet to see one myself this autumn). A snow bunting has taken up residence in the dunes near the public hide and the odd brambling has been reported. There been an excellent passage of finches recently: siskins, lesser redpolls and crossbills have been reported daily, with a crossbill drinking from a puddle outside the office this morning.
One bird I always associate with October is the goldcrest. Our smallest bird at just 9 cm (3.5 inches) long, many of these tiny birds arrive from Scandinavia and can be spotted (and heard) throughout Minsmere's woodlands and scrub. I even saw one in my garden this morning. Gorgeous.
Among the flocks of goldcrests and tits, a few lucky staff and visitors have managed to spot a yellow-browed warbler this week. This is a scarce but annual visitor in autumn. Breeding in Siberia, they usually migrate SE to spend the winter in SE Asia, but a few choose to head in the opposite direction and arrive on the East coast. Our bird is very mobile and has so far eluded me, but I'll keep looking.
Other migrants to have arrived in the last week include short-eared owls (seen daily), a long-eared owl (last Friday) and water pipits. A glossy ibis that flew over today may be one of the birds from earlier in the month, and has arrived from Spain or southern France. Two red kites lingered on the reserve earlier in the week, with another soaring high alongside four common buzzards this morning. Migrants from Europe, birds dispersing form the east Midlands, or local breeding birds (the buzzards anyway)? I guess we'll never really know.
Goldcrest eating a spider by Jon Evans
In earlier blogs you'll have read that the much loved old Island Mere Hide and boardwalk are no more. Consigned to the great recycled wood pile so that we can reuse any suitable planks. Gone, but not forgotten.
For those who recall treasured memories of incredible wildlife views from Island Mere Hide, there is good news. Progress on building the new Island Mere Hide is going really well. Ron Gilliard and his team have erected the walls and the frame of the roof this week and the new structure is clearly visible from the Whin Hill viewpoint and the sluice.
From the photos I've seen, I'm really excited about the new hide. The views across Island Mere and the reedbed will be even better, especially once we've opened up an old ditch to the right of the hide. This will once again become the best place in the UK to sit and watch reedbed wildlife: bitterns fishing silently in front of the hide or flapping lazily in search of new feeding areas; marsh harriers quartering on raised wings or swooping through the skies in their roller-coaster like display flight; Bewick's swans arriving at dusk to roost among flocks of coots and ducks; a water pipit, snipe or even jack snipe hiding in the cut reed; perhaps even the telltale wake behind an otter as it swims stealthily after prey, submerged bar its head, or arching its back pre dive. The extended boardwalk will be an excellent spot for watching bearded tits and Cetti's warblers flitting among the reeds, or glimpsing hobbies scything through the sky after dragonflies.
Work is going to schedule with the fine weather and the new hide should be opening in mid to late November. The path to Island Mere will remain closed while the works take place but the circular route from Bittern Hide and Scott’s Hall will be open at weekends.
Inside the frame of the new hide looking out to the mere
The new hide with the construction team from Gilliards (above)
The hide rises from the reedbed (all photos by Adam Rowlands)