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This week at Minsmere we’ve been bittern and marsh harrier watching, as well as carrying out our first bearded tit survey of the year (as well as my first ever!). The bittern watch revealed slightly more activity than in previous weeks with a few chases of females by males being seen but no...

Minsmere has had a bit of purple patch in the last week or so, although you had to be quick to catcha glimpse of all our unusual visitors. Typically, I missed them all. The first week of May saw sightings of two rare herons in the reedbed: purple heron and two great white egrets. Typically, they were...

by Lana Blakely, conservation intern It’s been quite varied this week with a variety of survey and practical tasks being carried out, as well as a few college visits. At the beginning of the week we had Eastern College come in to assist with cutting pines near a footpath that were smothering...

Early on Saturday morning I arrived at Minsmere to lead the first of our regular spring dawn chorus guided walks. It was crystal clear night with a huge full moon casting shadows over the reserve. As we met at 4 am the nightingale at the car park entrance could already be heard, and the first bittern...

It's been lovely to have a couple of short strolls around parts of Minsmere this week. The warm sunshine has put a real spring in my step, and it really feels like the seasons have changed at last (especially after a week in up to a foot of snow in Estonia earlier this month!) The bumblebees have...

by Lana Blakely, conservation intern We’ve been listening for bitterns this week, with the aim being to try and determine potential territories. Listening for bitterns requires a very early start! More specifically it’s ideal if you can start listening an hour before dawn, which means...

by Lana Blakely, conservation intern This week started with the last of the water rail surveys being completed for the season and the first of the butterfly transects being undertaken. Unsurprisingly we didn’t see much in the way of butterflies! We’ve also been doing a bit of marsh...

by Lana Blakely, conservation intern Last week began with a check of the Scrape's anti-predator fence. We checked that the voltage was at the correct level and whether any trees had fallen onto the fence in the strong wind we have been having, as well as checking for any holes which had been dug...

After one of the slowest starts to spring migration on record, we finally heard our first chiffchaff of the spring yesterday. This is almost three weeks later than the usual first arrival date. Given the cold weather that's probably not a surprise, and providing they start to flood in over the next...

Two species of duck are stealing the show at present: two species that are rarely seen on the same day in the UK. Smews have featured heavily in our sightings blogs for the last three months. We'd usually expect the last ones to be leaving Minsmere in mid March, but the continued cold weather...

by Lana Blakely, conservation intern We have got off to a good start regarding surveying, with two water rail and a harrier survey being undertaken this week. Water rail surveys involve two people, tape playback, and getting up just before dawn! This was my first survey so with much anticipation...

It's been a real cornucopia of weather since my last blog, with few signs of the coming spring. The weekend saw some of the wettest weather we've had for may years, followed by a couple of days of snow, more rain, strong north-easterly winds and eventually a little bit of sunshine today. The...

Last Wednesday when I had a look on the Scrape at lunchtime there was still a very wintry theme with ducks dominating include a cracking drake smew with two females. The only waders in sight were a few lapwings and a couple of redshanks. Today the scene was very different. I could tell even before...

Half term has been really busy so far! This Saturday you can test your nest building skills, and make a hearing trumpet with our artist in residence Liz McGowan. Can you make a better nest than a long-tailed tit?! Now to the sightings. The Bewick's swans have been rather mobile this week, and...

Next week is half term! We hope lots of you will bring their (grand)kids and join in with some of the activiities we're putting on: corn dolly feeder making, nextbox building, and much more. Have a look at the events listings here . Spring is also nearly here! But let's enjoy the winter for...

It was a very good week for Tundra been geese, otters, kingfishers and smew. Here's a list of what our guides have spotted since last Saturday: South Belt woods : several redwing, several goldcrest. Bittern Hide : 1 red kite flyover, 1 barnowl perched, 1 red fox, bitterns pretty much every...

It seems hard to believe that little over a week ago we had several centimetres of snow and nightime tempertures plummeting below minus five. Daytime temperatures are now exceeding ten degrees - it was a positively balmy 13 degrees Centigrade yesterday, although the gale force wind made it feel cooler...

After the closure due to snow, it's been great to be back at Minsmere and enjoying some of the wonderful winter wildlife on show over the last couple of days. The ice and snow can be a hardship for some species. We try to give some of our reedbed species a helping hand in these conditions by putting...

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...