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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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Guest blog by Robin Harvey, Sites Manager, North Suffolk Reserves. The awful spring and summer weather in 2012 has had a knock on effect on invertebrates. In general it has been a poor year for moths and the lack of activity has meant a reduction in the amount of effort staff and volunteers have been...

It was bound to happen. No sooner had I blogged about migrants finally flooding in then the wind swung back to the west, the showers set in, and migration slowed down again. Typical. The main consequence of this has been a relative status quo for the last week. The red-crested pochard remains on Island...

After days of moaning about the westerly winds, many Suffolk birdwatchers have been getting excited about the prospects offered by a couple of days of easterlies. Sure enough, elsewhere along the coast there have been reports over the last couple of days of yellow-browed warblers , firecrests and a red...

After a relatively quiet week for birds during the spell of westerly winds, there's definitely been evidence of autumn migration beginning to hit full swing in the last few days. Perhaps the most obvious movements were at sea on Monday, when counts included minima of 575+ gannets , seven great...

We're hosting a special celebration event on Saturday to thank our funders, contractors and consultants for their fantastic support during the recent redevelopment work at Minsmere. This event, which will be in the Discovery Centre, is for invited guests and their families. They will all be arriving...

It's been a great week for birdwatching at Minsmere, with an excellent passage of waders and some other great surprises, as you'll see from this guest blog by Jon Gibbs, Minsmere Catering Assistant. As the sun rose over the North Sea on September 15th Robin, Paul, Ian and I gathered at...

Lots of migrants are still coming through this week. Only today there was a pectoral sandpiper near Lucky Pool, stopping off on its long journey from Siberia to Southern Africa. It could also have been a bit lost on its way from the eastern coast of North America, as they're sometimes blown over...

With the breeding season over, it's that time of year again when we open our seasonal trails to give visitors the chance to discover new areas of Minsmere and maybe spot some of our more elusive species. Over the next couple of weeks we'll once again be opening the North Bushes trail to look...

We’ve still got spoonbills aplenty this week! Up to seven have been moving between Island Mere, West Scrape and the South Levels. This is a great photo by Jon Evans . Don't forget that we use your photos for the blog - you can add yours to the community after you’ve registered ...

White herons continue to dominate the sightings this week. Although not quite reaching last week's record numbers, there are still more than 25 little egrets scattered around the reserve. They particularly favour West Scrape and the Konik Field, but many are also hiding out on the Levels. The shallow...

With no computers or phones, I took the chance to enjoy a quick stroll around the Scrape this morning - for the first time in several weeks. After the rain, water levels were a little higher, but South Scrape remains the place to be. Counts today included six little gulls, 17 Sandwich, one little...

The last few weeks have seen almost unprecidented levels of rainfall in Suffolk. In a month known for its showers, April has been one of the wettest on record. Here at Minsmere, we recorded an incredible 121 mm (about 8 inches) of rain during the month. Compare that to about 12 mm from early March to...

Mid April means the start of our popular dawn chorus guided walks at Minsmere. Now, you may wander why anyone would want to get up before the lark in time to arrive at a nature reserve while it's still dark, but that's probably the best time to visit Minsmere. Just ask the 16 eager souls who...

After the exceptionally dry weather of late, it's been a welcome to experience a more typical spell of weather during April. In a month known for it's April showers, the weather has been changeable to say the least in recent days. One minute you look out of the window at bright sunshine, the...

After the incredibly warm dry early spring, April has been typically damp, cool and windy. This has delayed the arrival of some of our earlier migrants. Sand martins are now being seen daily above the reedbeds, but still in small numbers, and several swallows are now present too. The first house martin...

It's mid March, so bitterns have finally started to steal the show back from otters in Minsmere's reedbeds. During the first early morning survey work last week wardens heard at least eight grunting bitterns. Grunting is the precurso to booming. A kind of tuning up. Although they were less vocal...

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...