It certainly feels like Spring is finally on its way at Minsmere this week. Patches of ice left over from the infamous ‘beast from the east’ are slowly thawing, giving way to flowering daffodils scattered on the grass around the visitor centre. An assortment of waders such as avocet, black-tailed godwit and oyster catcher have been showing well this week on the scrape too, to add to the large numbers of wonderful wildfowl.
Having said that, I’ve been pretty fond of winter this year and have had many magical wildlife moments so far in 2018. Highlights include discovering large numbers of redwing hopping around in the woodland leaf litter, and watching flocks of long-tailed tits squeakily chattering away in the canopy.
Long-tailed tit by John Bridges
I’ve also never seen as many Goldcrest as I have yet this year, flitting quietly among the branches, and I can now confidently tell a greenfinch from a siskin as they pull out some amazing acrobatic moves to get to those alder seeds in the tree tops. Not to mention the obvious highlight… did someone say something about a murmuration?
The visitor team has been working hard over the last few months to inspire families and youth groups, with a whole calendar of hands-on activities to help them give nature a home through the chilly season.
In January our Big Bird Cake Off returned in aid of the Big Garden Birdwatch, and armed families with the most delicious seed based treats our garden birds could ever dream of. We made nearly 50 feeders over the course of the weekend, and even had a visit by BBC Radio Suffolk. What’s more, our volunteers left with remarkably soft hands after a bespoke (and highly recommended) lard treatment!
Beatrice and Barnaby showcasing their homemade bird cakes
Meanwhile, our Reedlings group have been busy exploring the wonder of mud, hugging trees making birds’ nests and discovering the 101 things you can do with a stick (I’m sure there’s more than that…). These monthly sessions for under 5’s have been so popular we have been fully booked throughout the Winter months!
National Nextbox Week arrived in February, and we celebrated as usual by grabbing the nearest hammer and seeing what we could rustle up over half-term week. Turns out that with a little help from our superstar volunteer Stan and the rest of the wonderful events team, by the end of the week 161 nest boxes were built by visiting families and taken away with them. This means that we’ve now helped to create safe, comfy places for birds such as robins, blue tits and great tits to raise their brood this coming spring.
Lily hammering her blue/great tit nest box together
The beginning of March now marks the start of a very busy season welcoming even more families and hordes of excitable school children to release their inner wildthing and enjoy what Mother Nature has to offer. There’s lots to look forward to in the next few months, with the pond dipping and bird ringing season on the horizon, followed by our Big Wild Sleepout.
Big Wild Sleepout by Rahul Thanki
And of course, there are always plenty of ideas of how to stay wild and get close to nature all year round on our Wild Challenge pages. Why not have a look at our website to find out more?