Minsmere - 26/2/2020

 

 

Its a funny old time of year, winter's almost finished, spring's not quite begun. And on top of that nature is finding diificult to adapt to this unnaturally warm winter. The ducks are leaving, heading off to their various breeding grounds, yet the birds that breed here, such as the gulls, have not arrived.

An upended PINTAIL

 

As a result the scrape was very quiet today. Just a few ducks, including around ten PINTAIL, loafing around on the water.Yet bucking this trend was a mid winter specialist, a female SMEW, staying late into the season, which was very strange. A family group of six WHOOPER SWANS, which I saw back in January, were still present, this time in the pool behind South Hide.

Pair of SHOVELLERS

 



A few LAPWING were starting to hold territory on the grassier areas of the scrape, and some AVOCET and OYSTERCATCHER had turned up, but not in any large numbers yet. There were some GODWITS and a couple of TURNSTONE, but the high water levels on the Scrape weren't attractive to waders.

Two male ADDERS

 



One sure sign of summer though was a sighting of two male ADDERS that had awoken from hibernation. In the North Bushes a mini twitch had turned up to view these incredible animals, hidden in the undergrowth. Even for an experienced nature watcher, like myself, the sighting of a poisonous snake, something  exotic that inhabits our countryside, is still a surprise. Minsmere hosts a good population of these snakes, its just most of the time they live their lives away from any human contact.

An OYSTERCATCHER on an island, East Scrape

 



At Island Mere a BITTERN gave good views as it flew in from the left, over the reeds, across the mere before settling in the reeds to the right. A GREAT CRESTED GREBE had arrived for  the breeding season, but the rest of the mere was quiet.

Male STONECHAT, North Bushes

 



A couple of BEARDED TITS were in the reeds between the beach and south hide, the odd CETTI'S WARBLER was bursting into song. A pair of STONECHATS were in North Bushes, classic early spring migrants they'll soon be on the way to their breeding grounds.
The woods were still quiet, however a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER was heard "drumming", the noise echoing through the silent trees. As usual a MARSH TIT was on the feeders outside the café, but in general things were quiet on the small bird front.

 

 

This CHAFFNCH was king of the feeders. He was twice as big as the other chaffinches.

 

A quiet day all in all, the confusion of this mild winter has meant a lot of wintering birds have left, yet the summering breeding birds have yet to arrive. Things are only going to get worse, what matters most is if the birds are going to adapt to the changing climate, or if they'll decrease even further. Climate change is here, its happening in our time, we just have to do something about it, now.