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It's beena while arriving, but we finally had the first significant snowfall of the winter yesterday. Not much compared to many places (Norwich, much of Norfolk, West Suffolk for example almost ground to a halt yesterday), but enough to turn everything white. It was glorious day here providing you...

Water levels are finally beginning to return to normal on most parts of the reserve, with all paths now fully accessible - if a little muddy near the sluice. The Levels are a still looking superb, with shallow floodwater covering the marshes. Huge flocks of ducks are gathering out there, including...

Today is apparantly the day that all zoos in the UK carry out their annual stock check. They have to count (and account for) every animal in their collections, from mighty elephants to the tiniest insects. I'm sure it can't be too hard to count the mammals, birds and repiles, but the fish and...

Despite some flooding on parts of the trails, it's been quite a good end to the year at Minsmere. Here's a few of the highlights since Christmas. The first smews have finally arrived, with a redhead and a drake both seen on the Scrape for the last couple of days. If we finally get some cold...

Christmas is a great time of year to visit Minsmere. If you are planning a trip over the festive season please bear two things in mind. Minsmere is closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day - but we are open as usual on all other days. Bring your wellies as the apth from the sluice to South...

With Christmas just around the corner, it's looking increasingly unlikely that we'll be experience a white Christmas this year. At least, not in the sense of the falling snow on Christmas Day. It looks like the best chance of white Christmas will be watching white wildlife. In Suffolk in winter...

Hot on the heals of Suffolk's first Hornemann's arctic redpoll at Aldeburgh this week (see Tuesday's North Warren blog) , one lucky birdwatcher was treated to views of another Suffolk first at Minsmere this afternoon. The bird in question was a surf scoter - a North American duck that is...

Winter wildfowl have been vying with the almost resident waxwings and regular otters for top honours this week. Bewick's swans are always a popular species at Minsmere, even though we only ever see small flocks compared to those in the Fens. Up to 17 have been present for the last month or so...

There can be no doubt from talking to visitors this week that there are two target species for most visitors to Minsmere this week: otter and waxwing. Many people are surprised that otters can be seen during the day, but that is indeed the case, and we have sightings at any of day. They have been...

The countdown has begun. It's only 32 days to Christmas - as anyone with children will know. Although advent Sunday is next weekend, we've started the celebrations a week early today with our first Christmas shopping day. The decorations have gone up in the visitor centre. There was a fabulous...

Since my last sightings update, the picture has been much the same. Waxwings have been seen in small numbers on most dates, but rarely lingering for more than a few minutes. Bewick's swan numbers have fluctuated between four and eight, and they're commuting between Island Mere and the Scrape...

This week, we welcomed guests from Belgium and the Netherlands to Minsmere for our twice yearly meeting with our Interreg partners. Interreg is an EU funding stream. Their 2 Seas programme funds various cross-border partnerships between countires bordering the North Sea and English Channel - Belgium...

With winter's arrival, some of our more exciting winter migrants are beginning to put in an appearance. Waxwings , in particular, are always popular, and there have been many reports from throughout the UK over the last few days. As usual. most are arriving on the east coast before moving inland...

As I sit here and type the sun is trying to break through the heavy black clouds that have been dumping wintry showers on us all morning. We've had reports of snow and hail in nearby villages, and with a strong northerly wind it certainly feels like winter has arrived. For me, the arrival of winter...

It's not everyday that we get a superstar visiting Minsmere, so you can imagine our excitement when we heard that Mr Bond was at Minsmere. Yes, 007 himself. Here on the Suffolk coast. OK, so this Mr Bond is not the spy who has single-handedly thwarted every international terrorist for the last...

The weekend snow has left Minsmere looking even more picturesque than ever. The snow is criss-crossed by the trails of rabbits, muntjacs, red deer, foxes, pheasants, moorhens and a variety of smaller birds. There is a clear patch around each low bush, especailly gorse, where the rabbits have been busy...

More than one year after she escaped from Marwell Zoo, and almost ten months after her visit to Minsmere, Fiona the wandering greater flamingo returned to the Scrape for at least her fifth visit on Tuesday. After so long in the wild, without access to food supplements to enhance her colour, she's...

Mid winter at Minsmere means wildfowl taking centre stage. And this year is no exception - although the otters are doing a great job of upstaging them at Island Mere. On Tuesday I led the first of the winter wildfowl guided walks at Minsmere, and enjoyed some great sightings. If you missed it, you...

Last year finished with second highest bird list ever at Minsmere - an impressive 238 species. This year has started in a similar vien, with 101 species recorded on 1 January alone. Here's a few of the highlights from the first week or so of 2012. Several hundred red-throated divers and great...

So another year ends. It's been an exciting one. Here's just a few of the highlights (I'm bound to have missed a few): funding received from Heritage Lottery Fund to allow us to start work on the Minsmere Discover Nature Project. For details of the other funders for this excting project...

As another year slowly draws to a close, it's time for my final sightings update of the year. The main news is not much change over the last few weeks. That;s not to say that it's quiet. Far from it. Just that as is usual in mid winter, most of the birds are staying put. An exception was...

It's been a week of contrasts, though here in Suffolk we have certainly not experienced the full force of the UK's week of wild weather. The week began with the first real chill in the air, but no sign of the snow afflicting northern counties. By midweek, we caught the tail end of the damaging...

I had another stroll down to the new Island Mere Hide this afternoon to look at the newly installed interpretation, and in the hope of seeing a few good birds. I wasn’t disappointed. As I’ve said previously, I loved the old hide, despite it’s shortcomings, and while I knew its replacement...

I was walking through the office this morning when something bright caught my eye. A moth, on the carpet, near the door. I just managed to stop a colleague standing on it before it flew to the window and allowed me to take this photo . Now, I'm no moth expert, and our number one moth man is on annual...

What a great way to end a busy day in the visitor centre. At 3.45 pm I headed down to North Hide to check out the growing starling roost. After a gorgeous sunny late autumn day, it was becoming a bit overcast and misty, but the sunset was still impressive, if short-lived. Small flocks of starlings...