Yes I think so...

In my view, that qualifies as very light scale buildup. You could remove that level of buildup by drawing 6-8 ounces of ordinary white vinegar through the brew group, letting it work for 20 minutes, then flushing with fresh water. Of course this suggestion is a "lazy man's" approach to descaling instead of more thorough descaling regimes documented in multiple places (e.g., Simplified HX Descale).

That level of scale is so minor I would not bother to descale. The acid would do more harm than good to the system internals or as Dan suggests, use a very weak solution. Not worth the work IMHO. How long has it been since the machine was descaled? If it has been running for a year, I would give it another year.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I bought the machine new last April so.. 16 or 17 months? Vancouver has some of the softest water around mind you. So I will leave it another year then.

Sounds like a plan... but mineral concentration increases as steam escapes. Unless you regularly refreshed the steam boiler, waiting another year to descale the boiler may be too long. Better to do it every year or two than wait too long and need a higher concentration of descaler.

So... you're suggesting I do or not descale at the moment? I haven't refreshed the boiler ever, nor do I know what that means exactly Anyhow I read through the descale instructions in link provided earlier so in the mean time I'll try and figure out where the lever sensor is on my boiler so I know how to tip it. I know that my scale isn't bad but I just hate the thought of all the gunk on my internals.

To clarify, the photo of the mushroom from the E61 you posted confirms there's little scale buildup in the heat exchanger. As I mentioned earlier, a light descaling treatment would suffice and would take only a few minutes. Even so, there would be no great harm if you put it off.

The steam boiler may or may not have similarly light scale. If you regularly flush water out of the boiler through the water tap, the mineral concentration of the boiler would remain low thanks to your locale's soft water. However, if you don't draw water from time-to-time through the tap and you steam a lot of drinks, the mineral concentration will increase each time the boiler auto-refills because the boiled away water leaving through the steam wand is mineral free. So, if you regularly use the water tap, the steam boiler scale buildup is probably no worse than the HX; if you don't and you regularly steam drinks, then its scale buildup is probably worse, though still light enough for a "preventative" descaling treatment, again thanks to the soft water in your locale.

If it were my espresso machine, I would descale it now, but I could put it off a few months and still sleep at night. I would not wait another year. What you choose to do is a matter of how fastidious you are about such things.

Thanks for the clarification Dan. I almost never draw water through the tap and I often steam so it's probably safe to say I could do with a descale. For some reason this process intimidates me, a lot. I've read so many different instructions on the process and no two seem exactly alike. On top of that there seems to be different level of descaling. Could you point me to or explain this simple, few minute method you mention? Maybe I'll start with that.

Edit: Ok I think you're saying the "simple" method is to descale the exchanger only.

In no particular order:

Simplified HX Descale [PourOver]

How do I descale my espresso machine?

Water, Scaling and Descaling with HX machines?

For me, I found that using citric acid (insanely cheap at a local home-brewing shop) at low concentration and a few feet of vinyl tubing as a siphon (both to fill and to empty) the easiest approach for the relatively light scale in my machine. Flushing with as many changes of clean, hot water as my patience could sustain seemed like a good plan as well.

The nearly hidden nugget of not using descaler (acid) and backflush cleaner (often very alkaline) back-to-back, in either order, makes a lot of sense.