22 years ago today

Can you remember what you were doing in early January 2003? I know, 22 years is a long time ago, so I'll forgive you if you can't. However, the date, 3 January 2003, is firmly etched in my brain. Why? Because that was the day that I started my dream job as Marketing and Publicity Officer here at Minsmere.

It's hard to believe that 22 years later I'm still doing more or less the same job, though my job title changed to Visitor Experience Officer in 2015.

This wasn't my first job with the RSPB as I had already completed almost three and a half years as a Membership Recruitment Officer, covering five counties from Lincolnshire to Essex, encouraging people to join the RSPB. I'd also volunteered at Minsmere for a few weeks on three separate occasions during the 1990s, and had visited regularly since October 1986, so though I knew the reserve pretty well.

I vividly remember that during my first week here at Minsmere I was taken on a 4x4 tour by our then Site Manager, Geoff Welch, giving me the opportunity to discover some of the hidden parts of the reserve that I had never visited before. As we headed out towards Eastbridge, a male Pheasant strode across the marsh and came face to face with a Bittern! after a brief stand off, with both birds fluffing up their feathers, the Bittern thought better of picking a fight and slunk quietly back into the reeds.

One of my favourite Bittern photos

Back in 2003 Bitterns remained exceptionally rare birds - albeit slightly commoner than when I'd seen my first as a volunteer in June 1990. If you'd told me then that we'd have had 17 booming males at Minsmere in 2024, and the UK population would have topped 250 males, I'm not sure I'd have believed you! I certainly wouldn't have the claim back then as we do now, that, "Someone sees a Bittern every day at Minsmere." Although I can't claim responsibility for this increase, I'm immensely proud of my colleagues, both here at Minsmere and elsewhere in the RSPB, for their superb conservation efforts to aid the recover of such a special bird.

Similarly, it's been great to see the return of breeding Stone-curlews to Minsmere, as well as significant increases in populations of Marsh Harriers, Dartford Warblers and Woodlarks. Little Egrets were scarce then, and Great Egrets and Common Cranes were very rare, yet we're now anticipating the prospect of these birds breeding one say. Other new arrivals have included Norfolk Hawker dragonflies, Willow Emerald Damselflies, Silver-washed Fritillary butterflies, and even Polecats.

Great Egret and Little Egret together - a sight that was almost unheard of at Minsmere in 2003

Of course, it's not been all good news, as we have also lost breeding Turtle Doves, Spotted Flycatchers and Wall Brown butterflies in the same period, despite the best efforts of our wardens.

What have been my personal wildlife highlights of the last 22 years? Of course there have been many, so here's just a few:

• watching a Humpback breaching offshore - I was stood on the hill behind the Visitor Centre at the time, about a quarter of a mile inland;
• seeing the UK's first ever Western Swamphen, affectionately known as both Swampy and a Big Purple Chicken, on the pool behind the South Hide (which partly made up for missing the Black-browed Albatross on the same pool the previous year);
• being in the hide when a Marsh Sandpiper was found and helping to identify this scarce visitor;
• photographing Bitterns and Otters just a few metres in front of Island Mere Hide;
• watching a White-tailed Eagle soaring low over the Visitor Centre;
• Watching a dozen or more Hobbies catching dragonflies;
• the spectacle of 60000 Starlings twisting and turning above the heads of more than 100 visitors during the bitterly cold weather of the Beast from the East;
• helping with the identification of Suffolk's first ever Yellow-legged Tortoiseshell butterfly during a mini-influx of the this rare visitor.

White-tailed Eagle over the Visitor Centre

While the wildlife is reason enough to stay at Minsmere for so long, it's the people that make my job so enjoyable. I have been fortunate enough to work with some amazing colleagues, and incredibly enthusiastic volunteers. Even more importantly, it's you, of our visitors, who have made my time at Minsmere so special. I have had so many fabulous conversations with visitors about what they've seen at Minsmere, seen the excitement in people's faces when a Bittern walks into view, or the whoops of joy as a Starling murmurations wheels and twists above our heads, helped families to spot the elusive Water Voles or shared in the buzz of spotting something rare. Not forgetting, of course, the amazing three years that Springwatch was filmed at Minsmere.

As well as celebrating 22 years at Minsmere today, last summer I was presented with a fabulous painting of Island Mere at dusk as a thank for you for 25 years service with the RSPB.

Here's to the next 25 years, and the many people I'll share wildlife memories with in the future.