You may remember that we hosted the BBC Countryfile cameras a few weeks ago when Ellie Harrison helped children from Middleton Primary School to build dens at Minsmere.

Now, the lovely folk at BBC Countryfile Magazine have short-listed Minsmere as one of the UK's favourite nature reserves in their annual Countryfile Magazine awards.

Time is short to help us to win this prestigious award, as the deadline for voting is 1 June. I know you all love Minsmere, so please help by clicking here to vote.

Thanks for your support.

In my absence on holiday there have been a few notable birds at Minsmere. Typically, some have been more obliging than others, and few people will have been able catch up with all the goodies.

For many, the stars of the show have been a pair of stone-curlews that have set up home in the field behind the visitor centre. These enigmatic noctunal wading birds, affectionately known as goggle-eyed plovers, have been nesting at Minsmere since 2003, but are usually restricted to areas that are closed to the public. Now that a pair is visible from the visitor trails we can at last alert visitors to their whereabouts. A volunteer guide is often available at the western (landward) end of North Wall with a telescope to help you to see them - ask at the visitor centre for further details.

Much harder to find, but equally popular were two golden orioles. The male arrived on Sunday and could be heard singing between the work centre and Canopy Hide. On Monday it settled into the Canopy Hide/Woodland Trail area, where it was again heard several times. On Tuesday morning, wardens and volunteers were surprised to see not just the male but also a female flitting among the trees in this area. Although they are annual visitors, golden orioles very rarely linger for more than a few minutes at Minsmere, so hopes were briefly raised of a possible breeding attempt, but sadly there have been no reports of either bird today. The only place to see these shy birds breeding in the UK is RSPB Lakenheath Fen.

Owls are always popular and a late short-eared owl was still in the dunes over the weekend - one of several lingering later than usual on the East Anglian coast this spring. A very obliging tawny owl was located in South Belt today, perched only about eight feet above the ground midway between South Belt Crossroads and Bittern Hide. This understandably proved popular. Barn owls are seen most evenings at Eastbridge. Little owls are difficult to find at Minsmere, but the rarest of our five owls is definity long-eared owl, so it was a major surprise when one was spotted on Westleton Heath this week. Nightjars are back churring on the heath too.

Other highlights this week have included two red kites yesterday, a ringtail (female) Montagu's harrier today, a few little gulls on the Scrape, a stunning summer-plumage great northern diver offshore on Monday, and two red-rumped swallows early last week.

Elsewhere, bitterns continue to boom and have been seen regularly at Bittern and Island Mere Hides, hobbies are showing well, cuckoos can be heard around the reserve, avocets and terns are beginning to nest again on the Scrape. There were several sightings of adders today, and insects are becoming much more visible with the belated arrival of warm spring weather - brimstone, small copper, and orange tip butterflies, hairy dragonflies and four-spotted chasers and swarms of St Mark's flies on which the hobbies are feeding.

...You'll find our conservation staff! It's that time of year again for them: Survey season! And no, it's not just an excuse to go birdwatching. We need evidence to prove we're doing our habitat management work well, and for that we need to monitor certain bird species. Here's what our conservation team have been up to over the past week.

Hannah, Zoe, Katy on tractors and Sue in hides began Monday with a bearded tit survey in the main reedbed. Following this the land girls checked, and repaired the scrape fence. The scrape is fenced off to prevent predators (foxes) from eating birds' eggs.

On Tuesday morning Zoe and Hannah joined Paul at Dingle Marshes, another Suffolk reserve, for the first bittern watch. Unfortunately Zoe was the only one to see a bittern, but there were plenty of swifts and marsh harriers to see.

The whole of Wednesday and Thursday was spent on a pesticide course with Sue and Gareth, the intern currently at Old Hall Marshes in Essex. The test part of the course will be completed shortly.

Early Friday morning the land girls carried out the remaining wildfowl surveys in North Marsh and Meadow Marsh. Unfortunately Zoe had an altercation with a bank and ditch which left her waterlogged in both waders! Luckily she was able to get out of this sticky situation and complete the survey with squelchy waders. Later Hannah and Zoe helped with the bearded tit survey, Zoe went to South Hide and Hannah to Hawkin’s Bund and West Hide.

What else has been seen this week? We've had: Lesser whitethroat, little gull, little stint, garden warbler, common sandpiper, kittiwake, knot, stone-curlew, harbour porpoises, and a hairy dragonfly. And just in time to coincide with Operation Turtle Dove, there was at least one turtle dove! There are still lots of swallows, swifts, sand martins and house martins about, and I can hear a cuckoo pretty much daily while cycling my way to work.

And if you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you've probably already seen these beautiful pictures of a male bittern!

 [edit: due to technical issues this should've been posted last Friday, but I hope you still enjoyed reading it!]   

We’ve had a busy time in the Discovery Centre at Minsmere since we opened a few weeks ago.  There have been university visits, GCSE groups and colleges carrying out beach surveys and birdsong surveys, plus lots of happy primary schools enjoying our play activities that link their learning to the reserve and teach through having fun.  We’re now looking forward to the other end of the age range as we have some very young primary and pre-school groups coming to experience nature and be inspired to get involved in outdoor activities – really important when a government report found that fewer than 10% of children ever play in natural areas outside.  We’re hoping for some happy campers too when another primary school joins us overnight for star-gazing and will then get up early for the glorious chorus at dawn.

Water levels are at last returning to normal, and while some parts of the visitor trails still have a few puddles, they are almost all completely accessible now. I say almost all, because a short section between South Belt crossroads and the Wildlife Lookout (West Hide) remains flooded and is accessible with wellies only. With the forecast for a  few days of mild dry weather, I'm sure even this section will be passable again within a couple of days.

The flooding has had a big impact on the Scrape. With so many black-headed gulls having lost their nests, the familiar sound of their raucous calls is much quieter than usual for mid May. Many of those that remain are now sitting on tower nests, having frantically built them higher as the water levels rose.

Having lost their nests, many of the avocets have deserted Minsmere for now, but they should return as the islands reappear. There were 12 on the Scrape today. The lack of islands has reduced feeding opportunities for passage waders on the Scrape, with just a few knots, bar-tailed godwits, dunlins and whimbrels stopping off, plus a couple of common sandpipers.

In contrast, the flooding has made the Levels very appealing to passage waders, including whimbrels, greenshanks and ruffs. The undoubted stars of the show, though, were the pair of black-winged stilts that were found on Monday. Initially showing well on the Konik Field, they spent most of the day on the Levels, but had sadly gone by Tuesday morning. This was a long overdue species at Minsmere, as the last record was way back in 1993.

Another wader has been stealing the show today. A pair of stone-curlews have been showing well from the Whin Hill Watchpoint. While several pairs of stone-curlews nest at Minsmere, they are such shy birds that we can't usually show them to visitors until the autumn, so this pair has proven very popular. It's unlikely they'll choose to nest in such a busy area.

Stone-curlews are shy and rarely seen from the visitor trails. Photo by Jon Evans

There's been a steady passage of some of our later migrants too. Wheatears have been seen most days, yellow wagtails and black redstarts on several days, and the odd whinchat has passed through this week. The wryneck finally departed on Monday, as did the male redstart in North Bushes. Warbler numbers have finally increased with several garden warblers now present, but nightingales remain scarcer than usual. At least a couple of cuckoos can be heard around the trails too.

In the reedbed, bitterns are still seen every day, but there's no sign of any feeding flights yet. Bearded tits are showing well at Bittern Hide and Island Mere. Marsh harriers are very busy and hobbies are regularly seen from Whin Hill, Island Mere and Bittern Hide. Two scarce raptors were reported today. A red kite flew over Whin Hill, but more surprising was a honey-buzzard reported over the visitor centre.

After the cold wet April, the first large red damselflies are finally on the wing. A brimstone butterfly was outside the visitor centre this morning and an early silver Y moth was spotted. The acid grassland fields are now awash with colour: red sheep's sorrel, sky-blue cornsalad, pale pink storksbill and darker pink cranesbills.

I'm away next week, but have asked some of my colleagues to keep you updated in my absence.