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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...

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...

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...

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...

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...