We have a couple of exciting weekends planned this month, starting this coming Saturday, 14 November, when families are invited to join two local artists for the first of four workshops titled Tidal Margins. Funded by Touching the Tide, a Heritage Lottery Fund landscape project on Suffolk's Heritage Coast, these workshops bring together families and artists to have fun and learn new art techniques. They are ideal for beginners and cost just £3 per person.
Saturday's workshop is led by Margaret Wyllie and Jennifer Hall who will creating wire sculptures and drawings. There are two sessions, at 10 am or 1.30 pm. Booking is recommended, but you can also turn up on the day.
There will be three further Tidal Margins workshops at Minsmere, on Saturday 16 January, Saturday 13 February and Saturday 12 March, all using different art techniques. If, like me, you're not very artist, these will be a good opportunity to learn.
The following weekend, Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November, we host our annual Christmas Shopping Weekend. There will be a party atmosphere in the shop, with hot spiced apple juice being served, penguin racing (from our popular Christmas crackers), chocolate tasting and lots of tinsel - we already have the decorations up ready. Our staff and volunteers will be on hand to prove expert advice on choosing the right birdfood and feeders, and we'll be joined by Viking Optical for a binocular and telescope open weekend too.
The Christmas Shopping Weekend is the perfect excuse to escape the crowds of the busy High Streets, but don't forget that we're always happy to help you to choose the right products for you - as many people did today after enjoying a walk in the autumn sunshine.
As if all that wasn't enough, there's some good wildlife to see too. At least 14 Bewick's swans are now present, usually roosting on Island Mere but spending the on the Scrape or in surrounding fields. The great white egret remains elusive at Island Mere, and otters and bitterns are being seen every day too. The Scrape is heaving with ducks, and is proving to be a real treat for larophiles (birdwatchers with a love of gulls) who continue to pick out several Caspian and yellow-legged gulls among the throng of herring and black-backed gulls (both types). There are also upto seven spotted redshanks, a greenshank, a knot and several black-tailed godwits on the Scrape.
Elsewhere, stonechats are perhaps easiest to find at the time of year, both along the North Wall and in the dunes, short-eared owls may be spotted in the dunes or over the Levels, the bramblings remains outside the visitor centre, and a few swallows and house martins are still passing through, making the most of the mild weather which continues to prove attractive to insects.
Finally, although we thought our starlings may have moved on, there was a brief display from about 2000 birds over North Marsh tonight before they flew south. While this is only a fraction of the main flock, all may not yet be lost if you wish to watch a murmuration. Good luck though, as they are certainly not predictable right now.
Perhaps you'll even see a sunset like this to end your day. Photo by Ian Barthorpe