#30DaysWild - Days 11&12 - RSPB Minsmere and allotmenting

Well, it's certainly been a wild weekend. The photos I managed to take at Minsmere don't do justice to the phenomenal amount of wildlife we actually saw...

We arrived at RSPB Minsmere in early afternoon, so headed straight to the Discovery Centre for the picnic area. It was far quieter than we imagined for a weekend during #Springwatch, and genuinely debated eating our lunch on the play area, in the mock-up sand martin bank... but as a group of teachers, we decided to be sensible and use the picnic table instead. As we sat next to the swaying oak trees, we were joined by a single robin and a bushy tailed squirrel, and we sweltered in the warm humidity of the surrounding air. A female black cap made her presence known at the top of a small tree.

Walking through the cool woodland, we were surprised to find great tits nesting in a number of the brightly coloured bird boxes directly next to the visitor trails. We could hear them calling to the parent birds for food as we passed, but did not linger to avoid disturbing them. My attention was also caught by the calls of a great spotted woodpecker. We looked up to be greeted by the face of a woodpecker chick poking out of its tree stump home. Soon, the adult visited to feed its young and the chick retreated back in, with only a shadow of its bill visible.


We headed to bittern hide. It was packed and we had to stand, but that did not spoil the beautiful landscape sprawling in front of us. A huge marsh harrier made a close pass to the hide, a beautiful and majestic bird, it's dark 'fingers' clearly visible at the end of its wings. Bursts of the babble of Cetti's warbler surrounded us, but there seemed little to see in the afternoon heat. A water rail made a run for it across a small open inlet, its long legs carrying it quickly across. A hobby graced the sky, flying directly towards the hide, before scything off to one side and disappearing over the trees. Then, a bird which I always try and fail to see at Minsmere appeared. A bittern flew out from almost directly underneath the hide and landed in the reeds a few metres away. The sun caught its wings beautifully, each feather showing in exquisite detail. Almost as suddenly as it appeared, it vanished again, leaving me wondering if we'd all just imagined this other-worldly encounter. However, it began booming and eventually showed movement, reeds flattening in its wake and an almost imperceptible bill and head, with those dark bars near the eyes, moved up and remained vertical for some time, before it slunk further into the reeds and disappeared.

On our way to the next hide, we noticed cameras set up on a number of stickleback nests. Maybe this will be another 'Spineless Si' on Springwatch?

Looking over the side of the boardwalk, which was flanked with early marsh orchids, we noticed a small, long-tailed, auburn coloured bird flitting back and forth - there were bearded tits!!! None were close or still enough to photograph, but watching them through binoculars was treat enough for me today, with their blue heads and ridiculous moustaches, they were impressively agile flyers and disappearing artists. As soon as they landed, they were gone from sight.

In the hide, we watched a pair of reed warblers either squabbling or courting, it was hard to tell, right next to the windows. An otter made an appearance, bobbing along at the very back of the water body. Marsh harriers graced the sky here too, gliding across the fenland.

Walking back, we tried the adder trail, but rather than adders, it was full of rabbits and dragonflies (mainly four-spotted chasers), as well as a young scurry of squirrels. I have to love the common British wildlife as much as the rare!

Wildlife at the allotment is my focus of today. I have to admit that I haven't visited in a while, but I was pleased by the wildlife we saw in the brief spell we had whilst the sun was still shining. Digging over a patch of soil, I came across ladybird larvae, which I tried my best to save. Poppies which had self seeded over some of ours and the surrounding patches were humming with bees and the larkspur I diligently tried to raise indoors last year were thriving in the great outdoors. A robin joined us to hoover up grubs we were unearthing and a blackbird was chinking from nearby trees. Swifts screamed overhead and gradually got lower and lower with the changing air pressure, until the heavens opened and we got a proper basking (drenched in a heavy rain shower).

#30DaysWild - Day 1 - Wagtail fledglings

This is my first 'official' 30 Days Wild, and I'm hoping to write something every day about my random acts of wildness. Birds are where most of my knowledge lies at present, but I would like to use this month as an opportunity to develop my invertebrate and plant skills. I've always been obsessed with dragonflies, but have never mastered the art of identification. I also really want to teach myself more wildflower names and to identify at least a few species of bees. I do not think I will become an expert in only 30 days, but I'm hoping to make a good start. Saying that, Day 1 has begun with my comfort zone, although I am going to blame the weather for that!

The very un-June-like weather caused us to abandon our grand wildlife plans of venturing to Lakenheath Fen today, but our developing wildlife garden did not disappoint. As I've mentioned previously on my blog, we have recently moved house and now have a garden. Gradually, we are hoping to transform this into a wildlife haven. So far, we have several bird feeders which we brought along from our old flat, and a newly added bird bath. The shrubs and plants I am growing and planting should attract lots of beneficial insects eventually. Birds are our main visitors at present, with some new additions today. Even if the weather has not been spring-like, the bird behaviour certainly has been. We've had two pied wagtail fledglings in our garden for most of the day, either foraging themselves, or chasing one of the parent birds for food. They've been wonderful to watch and have been fairly trusting when we've needed to be outside. They're even more welcome if they are, as it appears from the photo below, feeding on slugs. I'm hoping we'll see more fledgling birds in our garden as the month develops.

Pied wagtail parent feeding a fledgling what appears to be a slug.

RSPB Minsmere #Springwatch

I haven't been to Minsmere in a long time, but since Springwatch was on, some friends and I decided to make the trip last weekend. It was so busy; great to see so many people out enjoying wildlife! Before I get started with what we saw where, here's a species list from my nature journal:

Our first sightings of the day were the many sand martins gliding to and fro from the sand bank where their young were snuggled in their nest holes. I lost count as were sitting in the cafe, fueling up before our long afternoon. After we had made our way round to look properly at this bank, we also noticed a large dragonfly in the pond next to the platform, which I tentatively identified as a four spotted chaser. I love dragonflies, but struggle to identify them, so I was very pleased when I later verified my initial id.

In the first hide we got to, we had wonderful views of young, long legged and large footed avocets patrolling the shore line of the small islands and skimming the surface. We watched the adult avocets aggressively chasing away other birds, even a befuddled barnacle goose who didn't seem to quite work out what was happening. A little egret also performed its stalking and fishing techniques right in front of the viewing window. There were black-tailed godwits a plenty and we heard the occasional explosion of a cetti's warbler around the reserve.


On our walk to the next hide, I was very excited to get views of both male and female bearded tits, despite the strong gusts of wind. They were keeping low, but were still visible from time to time, they were too quick for my camera though. Fantastic to see them, this is the first time I have had proper views of them, and only the second time I have seen them at all (the first was one week earlier at Lakenheath Fen). My next aim will have to be to photograph them in the wild! Also on our walk we came across a shallow stretch of water, where we could see male, female and the fry of stickleback, as well as males fanning their nests. The photo I took through water in bright sunlight isn't great, but hopefully is a token to 'Spineless Si' from Springwatch! On the same stretch of water, I spotted my second Odonata species of the day; a blue-tailed damselfly.

On another walk between hides, we also heard the calls of a young great-spotted woodpecker and were lucky enough to spot it with its head poking out of its tree hole nest. We also saw the adult visit and feed a couple of times too. Another bird that decided to be photogenic was a male chaffinch who appeared in very good condition and voice on a low branch above us.

After these two encounters, we acquainted ourselves with a reptilian, a tagged adder, protected by fencing and well camouflaged until it decided to move to a (perhaps) warmer spot.


At our final hide of the day, we saw more waders and a graceful mute swan with her four young cygnets. A very peaceful end to a packed afternoon of great wildlife. Thank you RSPB Minsmere, we'll certainly be back again!