16 Waxwings sighted 25th November
Close-up of Waxwings at Minsmere
Thanks for the posting and photos. Our waxwings were much more obliging than usual, with sightings from various part sof the reserve daily from late November. Peak counts were 100 in Eastbridge, 40 in North Bushes. Not seen on reserve since 8 December, but 40 on Westleton Heath on 9 December.
Mr Barthorpe as a member for 32 years and a visitor for some 27 years please explain to me why the Island Mere Hide we loved has been replaced by a no longer Island with a mere that has a vastly impersonal wendy house that hides us no longer! Us, the birders, members of this charity and society that I have loved all my adult life.I trust you will not avoid this question as it seems to represent the majority of people that I have come to welcome as friends in these long and increasingly difficult and unfruitful years as a Minsmere regular.Perhaps instead of reminding those that forward amazing photographs to the RSPB site as to which area there voluntary input should be forwarded ( OLD MAN OF MINSMERE) you could use your time more productively to restore this reserve as the magical place it once was! BIRDS, as the magazine title states it. Birds Mr Ian Bartorpe.
Thanks for your comments. Let me try to answer them for you.
The old Island Mere Hide was more than 30 years old and showing signs of age. We have been exploring opportunities to replace it for several years, and the Minsmere Discover Nature Project finally provided the funds needed to build a new hide.
During the planning and design phase we consulted widely with visitors and volunteers, and visited many other reserves, to help us to design a hide that will continue to provide the superb birdwatching we all remember in more comfort.Among our requirements were that the new hide had to be fully accessible for wheelchair users, and welcoming to new visitors who will the birdwatchers of the future.
Having gathered everyone's comments together, we commissioned Gilleard Brothers to build the new hide as they have many years experience in building hides throughout the UK.
The result is a spacious, welcoming hide that is already proving to be very popular with the vast majority of visitors as it offers incredible views, much better visibility, and greater comfort.
I too have been a member for more than 30 years, and I've been visiting Minsmere for more than 20 years. Island Mere Hide has always been my favourite place for birdwatching, not because it was cramped dark wooden box but because the birds you see from there are so special. I have incredible memories of watching bitterns, marsh harriers, water rails, jack snipe, bearded tits and penduline tits from this hide, as well as otters, and I have absolutely no doubt that we'll continue to see such amazing wildlife approaching to within a few metres of the new hide, especially as we continue to carefully manage the habitat to benefit all these scarce species and more.
Finally, rest assured that birds and wildlife remain the most important driver to our work at Minsmere. We must, however, ensure that our visitor facilities remain the best if we are to attract the new visitors who will become the birdwatchers of the future and help to ensure we continue to have support needed to allow the RSPB to save nature.
I hope this reassures you
Ian
I genuinely hope you are correct in the assumption that the birds we came to know almost personally through such close intergration will grow to accept the new Island Mere. I however will struggle to call it a hide until I feel it does just that...hides us from the nature outside.
I respectfully look forward to being proved nothing more than a pessimist.
I'm getting a strong feeling of deja vu from reading this thread - I had an almost identical correspondence by email with another RSPB spokesperson. Dare I suggest they're all reading the Party Line prepared for them by the suits at Party HQ.
I don't know if Stubble was one of the many I spoke to in the... no, I can't call it a hide either... anyway, everyone I spoke to in there agreed it was ill-conceived and a missed opportunity. I too hope to be proved wrong, but when I visited there was no wildlife within 60 yards.
Whether the birds come back or not, it is still another symptom of how the needs of birds - and birders - is being marginalised. I agree that there is a need to "attract the new visitors who will become the birdwatchers of the future" but they won't become birdwatchers if they don't see any birds!
It will be brill honest, really. Just watch this blogg. FARCE!
join the angry Mr Kev Hasler