With the extreme drought conditions we are facing (there hasn't been any significant rainfall this year) everywhere is drying up and wet places are hard to come by. In the nearly thirty years I have visited Minsmere I have never seen the reserve so dry. East Scrape has completely dried out, and there were only large puddles left on West Scrape. This really bodes ill, as if there is no rainfall soon, places may never recover, our green and pleasant land turned to a desert.
With the Scrape mainly dried out, water birds were hard to come by. Most of the water had been pumped into South Scrape, and the levels were still high there, with some TEAL and SHOVELLER there, and a few lingering AVOCET. WADER wise it was very quiet, six SNIPE and four DUNLIN on West Scrape was paltry numbers. A flock of twelve SANDERLING were disturbed from the beach and flew down the coast.
A few lingering MARSH HARRIER were around the reedbeds, while a GREAT WHITE EGRET was seen to fly around the reeds before going down again. On Island Mere there were more ducks GADWALL, TEAL, SHOVELLER and TUFTED DUCK, with a few GREAT CRESTED GREBES as well.
Near the Konik Fields a flock of five BEARDED TITS erupted from the reedbeds and flew across the path, with another one lingering in the reeds. Only one STONECHAT was in the Dunes, a juvenile, the nesting birds have moved on and migrant birds have yet to arrive. Other wise small birds were keeping very quiet.
So probably the quietest day's birdwacthing I have ever experienced at Minsmere, there was just so little about. Water is the source of life and with so little of it about there were so few birds. If it doesn't rain, where does the water come from? A climate emergency is happening now, right in front of our eyes, yet nothing is being done to address it. Things have been started but not enough is being done now. What we need now is a deeper connection with our environment so we can understand just what is going so wrong with our world.
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