Print

Recent sightings

• 7 February 2012

  A winter wonderland

  The weekend snow has left Minsmere looking even more picturesque than ever. The snow is criss-crossed by the trails of rabbits, muntjacs, red deer, foxes, pheasants, moorhens and a variety of smaller birds. There is a clear patch around each low bush, especailly gorse, where the rabbits have been busy browsing, with the grass remaining innaccessible below the snow.

  The feeders around the visitor centre have been a hive of activity, with large flocks of tits, finches and blackbirds vying with the robins, pheasants and grey squirrels for access to the seeds. In the woods, flocks of redwings, fieldfares and other thrushes are searching among the leafl litter for any tasty morsels. There have also been several sightings of a typical bird of snowy conditions, the woodcock.

  Although much of the Scrape is frozen, there are open water patches on both East and South Scrapes, where the water is more salty. At least 11 smews have been there today, among good numbers of the common ducks. Waders have, predictably, mostly headed to the unfrozen stretches of nearby estuaries, but a few lapwings, dunlins and curlews remain. So, too, does Fiona. It seems very strange to be watching a flamingo wading along the edge of the ice, but she seems to be feeding well so let's hope she survives the cold.

  With the cold weather, our flock of tundra bean geese has returned to the Levels, while the Bewick's swans move between Island Mere and their favoured field alongside the Westleton to Dunwich road, where they are feeding on sugar beet tops.

  With the cold weather set to continue, Minsmere may remain a snowy winter wonderland for a few more days yet.

  

  Fox, rabbit and muntjac tracks in the snow

  Posted by Ian Barthorpe

• 7 February 2012

  Who's looking at smew

  Plunging temperatures have caused havoc for visitors to Minsmere. Our entrance road remains very slippy following the weekend's snow, while both the toilets and cafe had to be closed yesterday as the water supply froze. Fortunately we've been able to open them again today.

  But it's not all bad news. As temperatures plummet across Europe, hundreds of ducks have been forced further west, and with them have come a small flock of smews. I've been mentioning smew since the first drake arrived on 6 January - about a month later than usual. The flock has slowly increased, and today peaked at an impressive two drakes and nine females - maybe even more. They favour the remaining open areas of East and South Scrapes, but also visit Island Mere or other reedbed pools when they are ice-free.

  Smews are always great birds to see. Although a few visit Minsmere every winter, we’re really pleased to see so many this year. Male smews, often nicknamed white nuns, are gorgeous white ducks with intricate black and grey markings and a bandit-like black mask around the eye. The females are grey with a white face and chestnut crown, earning them the nickname of redheads. Although seen at Minsmere every winter, smews are rare enough to always be a bonus sighting. They can be tricky to locate though, as they spend most of their time underwater, catching fish in their serrated beaks.

  Smews breed across Scandinavia and the Russian Arctic. They migrate south in winter when thousands gather in shallow waters around the coasts of Denmark and Holland. In most years only a few hundred arrive in the UK, but freezing weather in Europe can force greater numbers to head west. Very few have been seen in Suffolk this winter, apart from the Minsmere flock.

  

  Male (right) and female smews coming in to land. Photo by Jon Evans

  Posted by Ian Barthorpe

• 3 February 2012

  Expect the unexpected

  Yesterday was one of those strange days where I had several interesting sightings, despite not actually heading out onto the reserve.

  The excitement began when driving out of the reserve on route to a meeting at our Orford office. As I drove past Scotts Hall Cottage, my eyes were drawn to a stunning patch of red on top of a bush. It was a male bullfinch, looking respendent in the full sun. Bullfinches are not always easy birds to see, although Minsmere is a good place to look, but this one was clearly soaking up a few rays on a bitterfly cold day.

  The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful, save for a buzzard soaring above a wood between Snape and Sudborne. Not so many years ago this was a very rare bird in Suffolk, but buzzards now breed widely in the county and the Orford area is one of the best places to look.

  The return journey was equally exciting. First a brown hare ran across a field just Orford - a good area to look for these popular mammals. Then, just after spotting the third kestrel of the short journey, we saw a little owl hovering low over the middle of the A1094. Now I've seen many little owls - although they can be tricky to find locally - but this is the first time I've watched one hunting in this way. Kestrels and barn owls regularly hover over roads, but not little owls. I'm more used to seeing them sat on top of a roadside telegraph post or old oak tree.

  But these were just the warm up acts. The best was yet to come.

  As I drove out of Minsmere for the second time to head for home at 5.30 pm, in the semi-darkness of the post-dusk evening, I had one of the most unexpected sightings I can ever recall at Minsmere. Just beyond Canopy Hide, a large, sleek, dark mammal lolloped across the road right in front of the car, and disappeared into the woods. My first thought - for a split second - was fox or badger, as both are often seen in this part of the reserve. But there was something different about this mammal. It was much too slim for a badger - and lacked any white patches. It was also much too sleek and dark for a fox - and completely the wrong shape. No, only one thing could possibly fit the profile of the mammal I had just seen: an otter!

  Of course, we've been seeing some incredible views of otters so far this year, but they've been in the reedbed from Bittern and Island Mere Hides. But this otter was running from an open grassy area (Whin Hill) into deep oak woodland. It was already at least 300 metres from water, and the next water in the driection it was heading was even further away. I know that otters often travel over land (i remember some incredible descriptions from one of my favourite books, Tarka the otter) but I still didn't expect to see an otter disappearing into Minsmere's woods!

  

  An otter at Island Mere by Ian Clarke - possibly the one I saw?

  Posted by Ian Barthorpe

• 19 January 2012

  Winter wildfowl wonders

  Mid winter at Minsmere means wildfowl taking centre stage. And this year is no exception - although the otters are doing a great job of upstaging them at Island Mere.

  On Tuesday I led the first of the winter wildfowl guided walks at Minsmere, and enjoyed some great sightings. If you missed it, you can join John Grant on 2 Feb or me on 15 Feb for the remaining walks. I'm also leading wildfowl walks at North Warren on Saturday, and again on 4 and 18 Feb. All walsk start at 9.30 am and last about three hours. Places are limited, so please call 01728 648281 to book your place.

  So, what were the highlights? For most of the group it would have to be the drake and redhead smew on South Scrape. These gorgeous ducks were late arriving this year, and remain in lower than usual numbers, probably due to the mild winter so far. They can be tricky to locate thoguh as they move between Island Mere and the Scrape.

  

  A drake and redhead smew in flight by Jon Evans

  Another sawbill has been present early in the year, with a female goosander on Island Mere, although this bird may now have moved on. There are also two female goldeneyes on Island Mere.

  Another highlight is the wild swans. A flock up to 32 Bewick's swans is frequenting the Minsmere area, feeding by day in fields near the Westleton to Dunwich road and returning to Island Mere at dusk. They are often joined by a lone whooper swan, with another two whoopers favouring the Scrape or reedbed pools.

  Out on the Levels, geese are the star attractions. Up to 16 tundra bean geese have been present for several weeks, though they can be difficult to spot at times. Our white-fronted goose flock peaked at an impressive 335 before moving to North Warren, but some white-fronts appear to be roosting on the levels as we can hear them calling after dark.

  The Scrape is literally teeming with ducks, and in Tuesday's sunshine they looked absolutely stunning. It was a great chance to compare the plumage differences between the females alongside the more attractive male wigeons, teals, gadwalls, shovelers and mallards. Waders were more elusive on Tuesday due to the frost, being limited to a few lapwings and four turnstones, plus a redshank on the Levels, but there are several black-tailed godwits present most days.

  Winter is also a good time for raptors. Star attraction this week was a red kite over Island Mere today, but marsh harriers are much more reliable and both sparrowhawk and peregrine may be spotted.

  Among the small birds, the great spotted woodpeckers are now drumming, marsh tits and coal tits have discovered the feeders outside the temporary visitor centre, nuthatches are often seen or heard near the wardens' office, bearded tits are showing well on the reedbed trail, and flocks of siskins remain in South Belt.

  Then, of course, there are the otters. This is possibly the best chance you'll ever have of seeing  one at Minsmere, with regular sightings at Island Mere (see yesterday's blog for more details).

  Posted by Ian Barthorpe

• 18 January 2012

  Otterly fabulous

  One of Minsmere's most enigmatic mammals has been stealing the show from our birds for the last few weeks.

  Otters are usually thought to be shy, elusive creatures, but not at present. Mid winter is always the best time to see otters as water levels are lowered to allow reedbed management work to be done, but this year has seen an unprecidented number of sightings.

  A family of three otters has been seen regularly at Island Mere, with the larger dog (male) otter also showing well at times. Sightings have been most reliable in the early morning, but you can see one at any time. I popped into Island Mere Hide briefly at lunch time one day last week and saw an otter swimming across the mere  as I entered the hide. On some days, there have been multiple sightings, and the otters have even come out onto the bank right in front of the hide.

  It's not just at Island Mere either. Otters have also been seen regularly at Bittern Hide and occasionally elsewhere in the reedbed.

  One of our regular visitors, Ian Clarke, was lucky enough to take some pictures recently. Here's a selection of them. I'm sure you'll agree, these are otterly fabulous.

  

  Posted by Ian Barthorpe

• 31 December 2011

  Happy New Year

  So another year ends. It's been an exciting one. Here's just a few of the highlights (I'm bound to have missed a few):

  • funding received from Heritage Lottery Fund to allow us to start work on the Minsmere Discover Nature Project. For details of the other funders for this excting project, see here.
  • car park resurfaced and enlarged in March
  • Island Mere Hide replaced - new hide opened 25 November
  • successful family days in the summer to trial new activities for next year
  • Environment Agency rebuilt North Wall - opened 24 December (though will close again for a couple of weeks in January)
  • best seawatching ever in Suffolk in September
  • red-flanked bluetail, several short-eared owls and long-eared owl all on same day in mid October, plus isabelline shrike on Dunwich Heath at same time
  • Suffolk's first sandhill crane missed Minsmere before being seen at North Warren and settling for a week at Boyton Marshes
  • second highest number of birds seen in any one year
  • bitterns passed 100 booming males in the UK
  • seven pairs of stone-curlews nested at Minsmere
  • lots of waxwings at both ends of the year
  • Fiona, the escaped greater flamingo became a media star and kept returning to Minsmere after travels elsewhere.
  • several sightings of purple emperor in summer
  • our new Area manager, Ben McFarland arrived
  • The RSPB launched it's exciting new campaign - Stepping up for Nature - and corporate strategy - Saving Nature

  Of course, not everything went well. No sand martins or little terns nested this year, avocets had a mixed season and the woodlark population locally is in decline, but overall, 2011 should be considered to be a good year for the RSPB in Suffolk.

  It finished in style too, with some excellent seawatching today, including minimum counts of 1500 red-throated divers, 700 great crested grebes and two gannets, plus a red-necked grebe yesterday. Bewick's swans remain (30 were counted on Thursday) along with two whooper swans. There was no sign of the tundra bean geese today, but they return. Likewise, white-fronts were down from 117 to about 15. Three otters showed well on island Mere this morning. On the Scrape, highlights were a golden plover, avocet, dunlin, snipe and four pintails.

  Which just leaves me to say "Happy New Year to you all." Here's to another busy year and some excellent wildlife sightings in 2012.

  And finally, a humerous picture to finish the year. I couldn't resist taking this shot on Tuesday - Minsmere's previously unknown eight-legged red deer!

  

  Posted by Ian Barthorpe

• 23 December 2011

  Happy Christmas

  As another year slowly draws to a close, it's time for my final sightings update of the year.

  The main news is not much change over the last few weeks. That;s not to say that it's quiet. Far from it. Just that as is usual in mid winter, most of the birds are staying put.

  An exception was the two common cranes reported flying over today. Were they two of the seven that have been at RSPB Boyton Marshes since flying over Minsmere in late November? Or perhaps the two that settled here briefly the following day? Or were they two different cranes wandering from the Norfolk population?

  A highlight for many people in mid winter is watching the wild swans. There are still a varying number of Bewick's swans around (maximum 24 so far this year), and up to three whooper swans, but they can be elusive if feeding in hidden parts of the reedbed or levels. Geese have put on a good display on the Levels too, with up to 65 white-fronted geese and 10 tundra bean geese seen ddaily for the last three weeks or so. There were a couple of Egyptian geese on Island Mere for a few days too this week. The Scrape is teeming with ducks, but we're yet to see the first smew of the winter.

  

  White-fronted goose by Jon Evans

  Raptor highlights recently have been the peregrine(s) that have regularly caused chaos among the wildfowl. I watched one make several attempts at taking a goose from the flock on the Levels yesterday - optimistic, but unsuccessful. There are several marsh harriers still around (mostly females), but no recent sightings of any hen harriers.

  While Minsmere is never a top site for winter waders, there has been a good variety of species seen recently. Lapwings dominate, and curlews are regularly feeding on the heath and surrounding fields by day, but recent sightings have included low counts of dunlins, redshanks, turnstones (especially on the sluice outfall), black-tailed godwits and snipe, plus the odd spotted redshank, grey plover or ruff. Gull experts can regularly pick out a Caspian or yellow-leeged gull, especially towards dusk.

  Bitterns, bearded tits, water rails, kingfishers and otters are regular around the reedbed, including at Island Mere and Bittern Hides.

  Among the smaller birds, our waxwings seem to have left, but small flocks of redwings, fieldfares and siskins continue to be seen, a nuthatch is often around the car park entrance, green woodpeckers and marsh tits are reliably seen, and the North Bushes trail has been good for bullfinches.

  All in all, not a bad list of birds to tempt you out for a post Christmas walk. Don't forget, we are closed on 25 and 26 December, but open as usual after that. And we've temporarily re-opened the North Wall to make your visit even more enjoyable.

  I won't be around to blog again until the New Year, so have a great Christmas and a bird filled start to 2012. 

  PS: You can keep in touch with news from Minsmere via Facebook and Twitter over the holiday. 

  Posted by Ian Barthorpe

• 10 December 2011

  Autumn gales and winter frosts

  It's been a week of contrasts, though here in Suffolk we have certainly not experienced the full force of the UK's week of wild weather.

  The week began with the first real chill in the air, but no sign of the snow afflicting northern counties. By midweek, we caught the tail end of the damaging gales that brought severe disruption to Scotland, and the week has finished with a heavy frost and crystal clear skies today.

  But what impacts have this weather had on our wildlife? The most significant is the coastal flooding that has affected various low lying coastal areas, especially at RSPB Dingle Marshes, a few miles to the north of us. There, the shingle bank has once again been breached by a huge surge tide, with saltwater now covering all of the saltmarsh, coastal lagoon and most of the grazing marshes. Fortunately, the freshwater reedbeds have survived with only very minimal saltwater intrusion and with the wind falling the tide is at last dropping. All footpaths across the marshes are currently accessible, if very wet in places, but the shingle ridge remains breached in two places. Wardens spent most of yesterday moving livestock to higher ground and checking sluices.

  The long overdue arrival of winter today brings with it promise of some real winter birds such as smew and wild swans. The former are yet to arrive, and swan numbers remain low, but there were nine Bewick's swans at Island Mere this morning, and two whooper swans were present earlier in the week. A black swan is on Island Mere too. There has been an inlux of tundra bean geese in to Suffolk in recent weeks, with a small flock on the Minsmere Levels since 24 November. Yesterday this flock peaked at ten birds, alongside 16 European white-fronts. Both species are usually easer to find at RSPB North Warren, but water levels remain low there until we can arrange for the last cattle to be removed from the marshes.

  

  Tundra bean goose by Jon Evans

  There was an influx of fieldfares last night, with large numbers in the North Bushes, feeding on hawthorn berries and bullace. There's a few song thrushes and blackbirds with them, which are probably also arrivals from Scandinavia. However, the waxwings that have been present for the last couple of weeks seem to have moved on. The peak counts were 100 in Eastbridge, 40 in the North Bushes and small flocks elsewhere. The last sighting on the reserve was Thursday, but 40 were seen on Westleton Heath yesterday.

  Other recent sightings include big flocks of the common duck species and lapwings on the Scrape, black-tailed godwits and the odd spotted redshank on the Scrape, small flocks of crossbills flying over, Fiona the flamingo on Monday (on a brief visit from her current home on RSPB Havergate Island), three spoonbills on Monday (probably also disturbed by construction work on Havergate), the female red-crested pochard still on Island Mere, and a red kite over Whin Hill last Saturday afternoon. Marsh harriers, otters and bitterns are regularly seen form the new Island Mere Hide, and kingfishers and water rails are regular at Bittern Hide. Who said winter is quiet?

  Finally, look out for the aquatic reedcutting machine, the Truxor, in the reedbed - we've cleared a bigger area near Island mere Hide this week. And if you want to see roosting starlings, I suggest a visit to North Warren at dusk - there were at least 5000 last night despite the wind.

  Posted by Ian Barthorpe

• 1 December 2011

  Let the magic begin

  I had another stroll down to the new Island Mere Hide this afternoon to look at the newly installed interpretation, and in the hope of seeing a few good birds. I wasn’t disappointed.

  As I’ve said previously, I loved the old hide, despite it’s shortcomings, and while I knew its replacement would be fantastic, I expected it to take time for me to fall in love with it in the same way. How wrong can you be?

  The new hide weaves its magic even before you enter, as the views across the reedbed from the ramped boardwalk are amazing. You get a sense of what to expect before you even reach the hide as you can see through the glass door to the mere beyond.

  Entering the hide, the views really are outstanding. I can’t wait till the spring for the bitterns to start wandering around in front, or snipe and jack snipe to hide amongst the cut reeds.

  But, of course, it’s the wildlife watching opportunities from the hide that determine the true success of a hide, and this is where Island Mere has always been so popular. Although this is not a good time of year to see bitterns on the ground, I did see one flying across the mere – on only my second brief visit to the new hide. The magic was taking hold again.

  Despite our big starling roost having deserted us, the evening flying display was impressive. A small flock of 200 starlings put on a valiant display, while at least marsh harriers quartered low over the reeds, often hassling the starlings or disturbing the ducks. More magic.

  On the mere itself, a large flock of gadwalls fed among about 30 mute swans. Beyond, our now resident black swan flew past with three mutes, while two young Bewick’s left their parents and flew in alone to the mere.

  Several good birds have already been seen from the hide in its first week. Best of all was a glossy ibis that flew over on Sunday, when seven common cranes also flew over Minsmere. Two more cranes were beyond the mere on Monday, with the original seven at RSPB Boyton Marshes.

  There have also been eight tundra bean geese on the Levels for a couple of days, alongside a few European white-fronted geese.

  Elsewhere at Minsmere, waxwings have been stealing the show for a couple of days. A flock of 70 is feeding near the reserve boundary, beside the road bridge in Eastbridge. I detoured this morning to see and hear these wonderful birds. There were also 12 in the North Bushes today, which rather than feeding on berries were actually fly-catching as they do when breeding. A sure sign of how mild the weather remains!

  

  The magic begins before you even reach the hide

  Posted by Ian Barthorpe

Minsmere

• About Minsmere
• Star species
• Seasonal highlights
• Recent sightings
• Events
• Facilities
• Accessibility
• Guides and safaris
• How to get here
• Archaeology and history
• Cycling at Minsmere
• Stay at Scotts Hall Cottage
• Our work here
• Visitor book