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We are very excited that the avocet count on the saltmarsh pools has risen to 54! Given the success we had last season with 48 young ones fledged from 19 pairs of adults, we look set for similar this year. Pop down to the Eric Morecambe and Allen hides to get close up views of this iconic emblem of the...

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...

Last Wednesday when I had a look on the Scrape at lunchtime there was still a very wintry theme with ducks dominating include a cracking drake smew with two females. The only waders in sight were a few lapwings and a couple of redshanks. Today the scene was very different. I could tell even before...

It seems hard to believe that little over a week ago we had several centimetres of snow and nightime tempertures plummeting below minus five. Daytime temperatures are now exceeding ten degrees - it was a positively balmy 13 degrees Centigrade yesterday, although the gale force wind made it feel cooler...

After the closure due to snow, it's been great to be back at Minsmere and enjoying some of the wonderful winter wildlife on show over the last couple of days. The ice and snow can be a hardship for some species. We try to give some of our reedbed species a helping hand in these conditions by putting...

Sorry for the atrocious pun! I've got a cold today and my head is a little fuzzy! It is very cold here today, and much of the reserve is frozen over (though thankfully, no snow). When we go through a cold snap, it often brings out some of our more secretive wildlife. One of our otters treated...

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...

Despite some flooding on parts of the trails, it's been quite a good end to the year at Minsmere. Here's a few of the highlights since Christmas. The first smews have finally arrived, with a redhead and a drake both seen on the Scrape for the last couple of days. If we finally get some cold...

With Christmas just around the corner, it's looking increasingly unlikely that we'll be experience a white Christmas this year. At least, not in the sense of the falling snow on Christmas Day. It looks like the best chance of white Christmas will be watching white wildlife. In Suffolk in winter...