I don't really like birdwatching in August, its just too hot and uncomfortable, the birds are keeping their heads down, and migration is only slowly getting going. The main thing of birdwatching at this period is the WADER migration that is gearing up, and where better in Suffolk to find them than Minsmere. However this reserve, like everywhere else in the country has suffered from the heavy drought that is occurring at this time, and the Scrape, the centrepiece of the reserve, was turning into a puddle.
WADER number and variety was decent without being spectacular, and nothing unusual was seen today. During Autumn the water levels on the Scrape recedes and the resulting mud is highly desirous to the type of birds that like to probe the mud for food. But with the drought we are constantly having the water had pretty much dried up with East Scrape practically empty. At least five RUFF were about across the Scrape, although most had now moulted out of their fantastic summer plumage, and were now just plain brown.
Small flocks of DUNLIN were about, RINGED PLOVERS, SNIPE, GREEN and COMMON SANDPIPERS were all standard birds for August. The fading red of a KNOT on South Scrape was nice, a bit unusual for Minsmere. Usually at this time of year a feature of the Scrape is the migrating spotted redshanks, moulting out of their black summer plumage, with double figures usually to be expected, but today there were none, which is unusual.
COMMON TERNS had all nested, reared young and left, with only a few stragglers left behind. Two LITTLE TERNS were about, an adult feeding a youngster, so breeding has been successful on the Scrape, which is good for a declining species. A moulting adult LITTLE GULL on East Scrape was dwarfed by the accompanying BLACK HEADEDS, this bird is a feature of this time of year, the birds summer here without nesting.
With water levels so low, DUCKS were virtually non-existence, a few TEAL on the Scrape, and not much on Island Mere. Two pairs of GREAT CRESTED GREBE had raised families on Island Mere, a GREAT WHITE EGRET flew over and several late nesting MARSH HARRIERS flew behind over the reeds.
The Dunes are always a good spot to see STONECHATS, there's always usually a group of birdwatchers admiring a bird perched on the top of a gorse bush. There were five birds seen today, probably local birds, the heaths of Suffolk are a national stronghold for this beautifully plumaged bird. An unusual bird for Minsmere was a KINGFISHER perched on a tree, seen from Bittern Hide, but annoyingly just in too much cover to be photographed. In all the time I have been watching at Minsmere I have had only single numbers of sightings of this beautiful bird. The SAND MARTIN colony in the old car park has really done well this year, birds were still nesting in the holes in the sandy cliffs, possibly raising a second or third brood while they can. In general though the oppressive heat of August keeps the smaller birds under cover in the sweet, sweet shade.
In the end it was a fairly poor showing at Minsmere with nothing of particular interest. Usually after each visit to this uber reserve I usually have a nice year tick, a new bird record for the year, but there was nothing today. Everything is wilting under the intense heat and there has been no prolonged rainfall this year, so the vegetation was bone dry. Nature is really feeling the brunt of this weather, everything is brown, groaning under the weight of the August heat. I pray for rain.
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