Wow, it's been great to welcome so many of you Minsmere this week - both new faces and familiar, regular guests. The weather has certainly been kind too, with almost unbroken sunshine (bar a couple of very light showers yesterday) and autumnal warmth - providing you found a bit of shelter from today's easterly wind.
It's also great that everyone is so understanding of the changes that are necessary in these challenging times and has come prepared with their masks hand gel at the ready.
Just a quick reminder that face coverings are required at all times in the buildings, including toilets and hides. If, for any reason, you forget yours, then we do sell them in the shop and will be happy to bring one out to you.
A reminder, too, that the visitor centre is operating on shorter hours, and is currently open 10 am to 4 pm only, with the cafe closing a little earlier at 3.45 pm. We are also locking toilets at 5 pm, and only opening them again at 9 am. The hides, nature trails and car parks, are, however, open at all times (only North Hide and Canopy Hide remain closed).
There were high hopes that last night's northerly wind would bring in a few migrants, and there were certainly a few interesting seabirds seen offshore by those dedicated and patient enough to spend hours staring at the sea through telescopes: sooty, Manx and Balearic shearwaters, Arctic skuas and red-throated divers were the highlights.
A redstart in the North Bushes was perhaps the pick of the smaller migrants, while others seen in the North Bushes included spotted flycatcher, whitethroat, lesser whitethroat and blackcap. Both whinchat and wheatear remain in the dunes, too, where Dartford warblers continue to show well.
Redstart by Jon Evans
The best of the waders of the Scrape are a couple of lovely little stints among the dunlin flock, and one or two green sandpipers, but other sightings this week have included knot, turnstone and common sandpiper, and about a dozen avocets remain. Two Caspian gulls graced the Scrape midweek, and water rails and bearded tits have also been seen from the Scrape hides.
Bearded tits have also been showing well near South Hide, along the North Wall and at Island Mere. Hobbies, too, can be spotted anywhere over the reedbed or along the edge of the woods as they hunt migrant hawker and common darter dragonflies. There were sightings of both osprey and red kite passing through yesterday.
Elsewhere in the reedbed, an impressive five great white egrets roosted a couple of nights ago, bitterns are seen regularly and there have been sightings of both otter and water vole this week.
In the woods, the star birds today were treecreepers, with multiple reports around the reserve, while I encountered several long-tailed tit flocks and green woodpeckers on my wanders yesterday. It's also good to see several fungi popping up in the woods to add a bit more of an autumnal feel to the reserve.
Treecreeper by Jon Evans
Finally, talking of autumn, a reminder that we will, unfortunately, not be able to offer any red deer rut viewing opportunities this year, although you can still usually see them from the Westleton heath footpaths.