At around 13:15z a combination of LiveMUF showing some patches of high MUF and a couple of cluster spots of brief Es contacts on 2m alerted me to the possibility of an opening here: I put out a few calls on 144.300MHz and after a few minutes I was pleasantly surprised to be answered by I1DMP at 59! A few more calls also brought in IW1BCV and I1JTQ:

17/05/2013 13:25 I1DMP JN34XU 59 59 SSB 1425km
17/05/2013 13:26 IW1BCV JN44FS 59 59 SSB 1461km
17/05/2013 13:27 I1JTQ JN35UB 59 59 SSB 1395km

All signals were strong and definitely via Es, with the last signal heard about 15 minutes after the opening began. After working I1JTQ I also heard EA6SA for about 20 seconds on 144.300MHz, which could have been an Es “blip” or more likely a meteor scatter burst.

Unfortunately I was too rushed at the start to have the audio recorder running, but did capture a couple of signals towards the end of the opening:

NB. It must be Es season because, as you may notice on the recording, my local powerline noise bursts have started!