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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...

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...

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...

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...

This week has seen the return of one of our most popular birds: waxwings ! Jon Gibbs spotted a flock of about 20 outside the visitor centre on Wednesday afternoon, and they were seen later that day in North Bushes. About 30 were in North Bushes yesterday too. I've not had any news of them yet today...

After the excitement of New Year, the pace of the birding has slowed a little at Minsmere recently, but there's still loads to be seen. Ducks are everywhere, especially wigeons and teals , but the smews continue to steal the show. Up to nine birds have been present over the last week, including...

Wow! What a way to start the new year! Here's a few of the highlights from the first three days of the year: seawatching on 1st - slavonian grebe (very rare at Minsmere), velvet scoter , three eiders , 200+ red-throated divers , 50 great crested grebes geese on 1st included 12 tundra beans...