Minsmere RSPB 9th May, 2012

Minsmere RSPB 9th May, 2012

One of Suffolk’s main attractions is Minsmere RSPB reserve. Again we had not been to this site before so wee looked forward to this greatly. There seems to have been nowhere unaffected by the heavy rainfall of recent weeks and Minsmere was no exception. The footpath to Minsmere Levels and Sizewell was under water and the inland path between the visitor centre and The Sluice was also under deep water. The site is so large, however, that we easily filled in our day there  without even getting to these areas. The truth of the matter is that it would probably take two days to cover the site and do it some justice. The main impression we came away with was of the sheer size of the place.

We started out at the Bittern Hide where apparently one had been seen around 7am. but all we saw was a Marsh Harrier, a Coot or two and a Little Grebe. We remained there for around half an hour but we thought it would be better if we got going with the intention of coming back later in the afternoon.

We headed next to the Island Mere Hide which is a fantastic modern hide on stilts so you look down on the reed beds. It is a great example of how to make a hide both comfortable and usable. I mentioned previously about the problems of modern hides when I wrote about Burton Mere Wetland where the rspb have also built modern hides. Here, in contrast,all the windows open fully and are also panoramic. They have backless office chairs that can be rolled around into any position as well as traditional seats. Without going on about it too much all I would say is that it is the best modern hide I have seen.

As well as being a great hide, the fact that it has windows with about 240 degrees of vision means that the whole reed bed is open to see.  As we were scanning the reed beds for any sight of Bittern a small group of Bearded Tits showed really well for about fifteen minutes. There were also a couple of Marsh Harriers flying around and we could hear Bittern booming and even a Water Rail squealing but could not get sight of either of them.

While we were at this hide one of the other birders mentioned that he had heard a Nightingale between Scotts Hall and the Canopy Hide (a spectacular construction) so we headed off in that direction. When we got near the point suggested I quickly played an mp3 of the Nightingale’s song just to remind me what I should be listening for when suddenly I could hear it in stereo. A quick look up and there was my first ever Nightingale singing from a nearby low tree. We got our bins on it for about fifteen seconds before it disappeared into the woods. Fantastic !

We walked back round to the visitor centre and had a cup of tea before heading of in the other direction to look at the hides overlooking the scrape. At the North hide we saw Little and Great-Crested Grebes, Little Egret, Greylag, Barnacle and Canada Geese, Marsh Harrier, Redshank and best of all a pair of Garganey – our first this year. Swifts, Martins and Swallows all swooped over the scrape feeding and Common Terns were present in reasonable quantities. Again we could hear Bittern booming from the nearby reed beds.

We left here and walked around the scrape towards the Public Viewpoint to see if there was anything different to be seen from that side of the scrape. As we walked around we could hear a Cuckoo calling and as we entered the hide another birder asked us if we could train our scope on a couple of birds that he just couldn’t get good enough views of with his bins. His suspicions were correct, he had located two Little Terns – another year first for us.

By now it was getting late in the afternoon so we had one last look in the Bittern Hide and again we could hear booming but no Bittern showed itself. We live in hope. Even though we were disappointed about the Bitterns and Water Rails we had hoped to see we were happy to have seen fifty-three species and especially thrilled by the Nightingale, the Garganey and the Little Terns and also at hearing – if not seeing – a Cuckoo again.

Our impression of Minsmere was that it would take days and days to see the whole site so the flooding of parts of the site did not really impact on us at all because we could not have seen anywhere near all of the site in one day anyway and it just proved to us that we really must go back there again. As soon as possible.

Bird Sightings : Minsmere RSPB