RED DEER rut at Minsmere - 12/10/2021

The first RED DEER stag

October is a standout month on the wildlife watcher's diary, as this is the season of the rut, when RED DEER stags battle for the control of the hinds. And Minsmere is one of the best places in the country to witness this rut as it contains the largest lowland deer herd in England. Usually they are best seen from Westleton Heath, in an area of heathy grassland fenced off from the public. When I was there the hinds were hiding in an area of gorse, but three stags were quite noticeable. All three were big beasts, with a good head of antlers.

The second stag came out from a clump of gorse

One of the stags appeared on cue from behind a clump of trees. As he appeared, across the heath another stag came out in the open. There was a stand off before one started calling, a low mournful sound, a sound that harkens back to our primordial roots. Then the second stag seemed to lose his nerve and ran off into the distance, casually followed by the first stag. A third stag hung back in the gorse where the hinds were hiding seeming to keep out of the way of the rut. Witnessing this standoff triggered something stoneage in myself, giving me an urge to pick up a spear and hunt those beasts.

The first stag saw the second off with no conflict

Its been an underwhelming Autumn so far, what may be considered the worst in recent history. Birds that should be passing through this island don't seem to have made it here so far. So what's up? well the right winds have just not been blowing, with heavy westerlies dominating this Autumn. Also the mild weather hasn't helped, as bad weather on the continent leads to birds being pushed to out relatively mild shores. But the thing is we just don't know. Bird migration is something poorly understood and much more complex than our science could fathom.

Two male SHOVELLER

As you could probably guess it was a quiet time at Minsmere, one of the quietest I have had at this reserve. Birds were of course present here, at this time of year wildfowl dominate with birds coming in and increasing for the winter months. A lot of the DUCKS spend the days sleeping, so the Scrape at this time of year is fairly quiet. TEAL are the most common duck here, with god numbers of SHOVELLER and GADWALL with smaller numbers of WIGEON. Three PINTAIL were a good record for this time of year and five COMMON SCOTER were seen in flight out at sea. The male ducks are now moulting out of their eclipse plumage, and are becoming more colourful to attract a mate over the winter.

Birds on Island Mere

Island Mere still had its flock of around a hundred GADWALL, sharing the water with twenty COOT and small numbers of both LITTLE and GREAT CRESTED GREBE and a few TUFTED DUCK. Outside of the Bittern Hide they were cutting back the reeds, so I saw nothing except a middle aged man forking and burning reeds which isn't a great sight to behold. The Scrape had also had a trim, with the reeds in front of North Hide having been cut back and West Scrape had also been opened up.

WIGEON, unusually for ducks feed on grass, and can be seen on the Scrape banks

GEESE dominate the scene at Minsmere, with hundreds of BARNACLE GEESE flocking, they seem to commute between here and Dingle Marshes further north, with skeins coming in and landing on the Scrape, and have become the most common goose on the reserve. These barnacles are descended from birds that escaped from some wildfowl collection on the continent and have now reached plague proportions here in Suffolk.

A large BARNACLE GEESE flock on the Scrape

Earlier in the season, WADER migration dominated the scene, but by October this migration had pretty much ground to a halt, despite some mud now being exposed. The best record was a CURLEW SANDPIPER on West Scrape, feeding on its own, October records are rather scarce so it was a good sighting, maybe the best today. Also present on West Scrape were three GREEN SANDPIPERS, whilst on East Scrape there were two RINGED PLOVER and the last AVOCET of the summer, a sign that winter is coming.

This LAPWING had a damaged wing, but there are few places better places to be stuck than the Scrape

Small bird movement is always the highlight of October and its a time to look out for a rarity, but today there just seemed to be no evidence of migration whatsoever. A STONECHAT was on the beach but there's usually some present at any time of year. A feature of October is the sight of BEARDED TITS 'erupting' from the reedbeds, when the breeding birds of the summer leave their home for the winter months. As a result they were quite noticeable today, their presence advertised by the metallic 'pinging' sound they make. They were seen at North Hide and Island Mere, they have a nice chestnut colour plumage, a long tail, and the males have this black mustache which gives them their name.

 

Pair of TEAL

When one of the best nature reserves in the country has so little bird life, something is wrong in the world of nature. The decline in bird numbers, although well documented, is finally becoming evident, there's just no birds left in our countryside, and our countryside is becoming quiet and empty. This is quite depressing to anyone with even the slightest interest in nature.