On Saturday night I once again had the opportunity to experience Minsmere from a different perspective by camping overnight on the reserve. This is something that can be only be done on two weekends a year as part of our special camp nights. The first, that I was part of, was exclusively for the Minsmere Wildlife Explorers group, as their end of season celebration. The second, this weekend, is our public Big Wild Sleepout weekend. This event is now fully booked for this year, but if you'd like to join us next year then plan early and book as soon as the event appears on our website in the spring. You can also enjoy your own wild sleepout at home or as part of a bigger holiday - and remember that is just of the activities that can make up your Wild Challenge.
There is always one downside to camping at Minsmere in July, and that's the biting insects that plague many visitors, especially in the woods, but liberal applications of insect repellents seemed to do the trick and reduce the number of bites.
The camp started mid afternoon as families arrived to set up their tents in the designated area close to the Discovery Centre, which was to be our base for the night. We all met up with Hannah, Annie and Tarra, our leaders for the weekend, then had great fun making a variety of nature-based crafts - decorated wooden medallions, clothes peg bats and dragonflies, rope dragonflies and more. This was great fun for everyone, with the adults getting just as involved as the kids.
Next up was an early evening stroll down to the beach. Some of us paused long enough to spot some wildlife on the way, with sand martins dashing overhead, and butterflies flitting among the flowers. For me, the highlights were the juvenile water rail in its usual pool in North Marsh and this beautiful female dark bush cricket that somehow avoided being trampled.
The cooling breeze was very welcome on the beach, where Hannah set us the challenge of making some nature-inspired beach art. Here's Thomas with our family's creation. Can you identify the species?
Before we left the beach, I was distracted by the large flocks of, mostly juvenile, sand martins that were resting either on the sand or on a wire fence along the side of the path. There were up to 200 birds present, and they were quite a spectacle.
Most of us paused in the North Bushes to enjoy the gentle purring song of a turtle dove. It even posed obligingly to allow the children to spot this increasingly rare bird - though the call of the fish and chips that had just been delivered for dinner was more a draw than the bird!
Chips devoured, it was time for a game of Rapido, with families competing to make clay models of nature- or camping-inspired objects as other family members guessed what they were supposed to be. As ever, there was much hilarity, some serious competition, and probably a little bit of cheating, but it was all great fun.
No camp night is complete without a night walk, but before we could do ours we were challenged to make models that could hold and protect an egg as it was thrown from the steps of Canopy Hide. Various different designs were used, and no eggs were broken, which is a surprise. It was also not a surprise that we failed to find any badgers on our night walk - the chattering of excited children would have scared them away long before we saw them. We did, however, enjoy locating several soprano pipistrelle bats using our bat detectors. Finally it was time for hot chocolate, marshmallows (if you were quick enough) and bed.
The early risers the next morning were treated to the turtle dove singing in camp, with one family heading down to Island Mere where they spotted three otters, a kingfisher and a bittern - a great reward for the early start. For the rest of us it was breakfast in the Discovery Centre before we were joined by Jon Evans to help us to empty the moth trap. We were treated a great variety of species, including some very attractive ones.
Thomas admiring an elephant hawkmoth - we also saw both pine and poplar hawkmoths
A garden tiger moth (above). We also saw a leopard moth - the big cats of the title
Buff tips are always popular with children, looking like tiny broken birch twigs
There was still time for one final activity before we took down our tents and bade farewell to Hannah and the team: the obligatory walk to Digger Alley with Steve and Davene. First though, we headed to Wildlife Lookout where Peter (another of our volunteer guides) helped us to find some interesting waders - spotted redshank, snipe, ruff - as well as this lovely juvenile little grebe.
Of course, the beewolves, pantaloon bees and ruby-tailed wasps were as popular as ever too.
A beewolf disappearing below ground with its bee
As if a night under canvas wasn't enough, Lindsey, Thomas and I then headed to the cafe for lunch - yes, cheese scones included, of course - then headed out again around the Scrape, hoping to find some of the rare terns that had been reported. We eventually found a roseate tern on South Scrape, but both the Arctic and black terns seen earlier in the day had moved on. We also spotted a curlew sandpiper alongside dunlins and knots, a little ringed plover, green and common sandpipers and lots of avocets, common and Sandwich terns on the Scrape, plus linnets and stonechats in the dunes. Then, home for a well earned rest!
If anyone would like more information about our Wildlife Explorers group, please email minsmere@rspb.org.uk