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Whether you're watchng garden wildlfie or visiting the best wildlife locations in the world, watching wildlife is always unpredictable. Even at soemwhere with as many eyes watching as we have at Minsmere, smething unexpected is just around the corner.

This month the surprise as come from butterflies and moths. After the huge influx int he spring, it's perhaps not surprising that there are thousands of painted ladies around now. And peacocks. Red admirals have been well and truly outnumbered, but it's been good to see a few small tortoiseshells after last year's dismal showing. Perhaps the commonest butterfly recently though is the familiar, and to gardeners perhaps unwelcome, large white. There was an incredible influx last week. It's amazing to think that many of these butterflies have flown all the way form Africa!

Among the flocks of butterflies have been a few notable moths. We've been watching broad-bordered bee-hawkmoths and hummingbird hawkmoths on the buddlieias. These impressive insects are always a joy to see.

The biggest surprise, though, has been the arrival of a purple emperor butterfly at Canopy Hide. They've never been seen at Minsmere before. These large butterflies love to stay in the tops of the oak canopy, joining our regular purple hairstreaks, so Canopy Hide offers a rare chance to get close views at eye-level. It's likely that the purple emperor originated form a recently introduced local population, but it's still a treat to see it.

I had my own surprise a couple of weeks ago at our Snape Maltings Information Centre. Looking upstream from the tidal sluice, I noticed a movement at the base of reeds. As I stood, an otter swam out from almost beneath my feet and played int he weed for five minutes! As I left, elated, a barn owl fluttered over the adjacent field. All this at 10 am.

Returning to the centre, my colleague was annoyed to have missed the otter. His frustration grew when a visitor reported one walking across the path later that day. Otters are so elusive, so it really was a lucky day for both of us.

Why not visit us during August for our busy programme of events for all ages and abilities. Look at the events pages for details.

Did you enjoy Springwatch? Our event was very successful, despite the rain. Typically, it started raining about five minutes before Chris Packham arrived, and stopped shortly before he left. Despite thios, the crowds gathered to meet Chris, who chatted to them from the BBC marquee, pointed out warblers and nightingales in song, then had a go at pond dipping wit the many families who visited that day.

I had my own Springwatch moment that weekend, when a female badger and two half grown cubs trotted across the path just ten metres in front of me in the middle of the afternoon! Wow! I've only once before seen a badger in broad daylight, have only once got closer to wild badgers, and have never seen such small cubs before. The frustrating part of this experience was that I had my camera with me but didn't react quickly enough to take any shots, and it all happened away from the visitor paths so no-one else could see them!

The following weekend, while taking my wife, baby son, sister-in-law and her husband on a Minsmere safari, we had a couple more Springwatch Minsmere moments. While on the heath we watched a large herd of red deer as close as 20 metres away, complete with several tiny calves. (Look out for details of this year's deer rut watching events that will take place in October.) Later, just outside the office, we watched a stoat carrying an entire family of baby rabbits, presumably to cache them soemwhere to eat later. If you watched Springwatch, you'll have seen the Pensthorpe stoat doing exactly the same thing. It was a great way to finish the day.

After all the hard work organising all the Springwatch activities, it was great to take a short holiday, during which we got as close to wildlife as it's possible to get in England, being literally pecked by defensive arctic terns on the Farne Islands. Nothing beats getting a huge seabird colony for the spectacle of noise, smell and constant bustle, so it was with both surprise and pleasure that I returned to Minsmere to discover our very own huge tern colony.

In my absence, Minsmere had become home to an incredible 1000+ Sandwich terns, with about 400 pairs nesting on the Scrape. This is the first time since 1978 that more than a handful of Sandwich terns have nested here. As they arrived late in the season, we assume they have deserted a colony elsewhere, presumably in North Norfolk, and have been attracted to Minsmere by the record numbers of breeding black-headed gulls. We also the most common tern nests since 1974.

The Scrape is looking pretty impressive with all these gulls and terns, yet there is very little water remaining. The last significant rainful we had was while Chris Packham was here, almost four weeks ago, so the Scrape is looking a little dry. Even with the dwindling pools, the terns look at home, and have been joined by migrant wading birds, returning south from their Arctic breeding grounds. The stars are the spotted redshanks, looking especially dapper in their spangly black breeding dress. These will be females, returning early having left the males in charge of the family. There are a few early ruffs and increasing numbers of black-tailed godwits too, so why not visit Minsmere this month to see the amazing wildlife on offer?