Welcome back

It's great to see many familiar faces visiting us again, and even better to welcome so many new visitors to Minsmere in this most difficult of years. It's also heartening to hear how you've missed our regular blogs. I will try to post one blog per week, but can't always promise to be able to as most of our time is taken up with welcoming you all back to Minsmere and explaining the changes to our previous visiting arrangements.

Before I get to a summary of this week's sightings, here's a reminder of what is open, and what restrictions are in place.

Visitor centre

Revised opening hours are 10 am to 4 pm. Face coverings are essential in the building, including the toilets. The cafe remains open on a take away basis only, with only outdoor seating available. The shop still has a great range of products, with Christmas stock now in, but we are not able to offer binoculars for hire - you can still buy them though. A one-way system is in operation around the buildings.

Toilets

Open 9 am to 5 pm only. Face coverings are essential

Nature trails, hides and car park.

These are now all open from dawn til dusk, except for North Hide and Canopy Hide. Face coverings are essential in the hides at all times, so please do not eat or drink in the hides. To allow for social distancing, space is limited in the hides, so please respect other users and spend as little time as possible in the hides, moving on if they become busy.

Entry fees

Full entry fees apply for non members. Members visit free. Please ask about RSPB membership on arrival. A huge thanks, too, to our amazing members who have continued to support us throughout the lockdown period.

Sightings

The North Bushes, Sluice Bushes and dunes continue to attract a good variety of migrant warblers, chats and flycatchers, with highlights this week including whinchats, wheatears, spotted and pied flycatchers, common and lesser whitethroats and garden warbler. Dartford warblers and stonechats are also showing well in the dunes, especially around the sluice.

Photo: whinchat by Jon Evans

There's been a bit of lull in wader migration this week, but that hasn't stopped visitors from finding birds such as common, green and curlew sandpipers, greenshank, knot, ringed plovers and turnstones alongside the dunlins, while a whimbrel popped in this week, too.

It's definitely bearded tit season in the reedbed, with regular sightings at North Wall, East Hide and Island Mere, and it's also really pleasing to hear so many Cetti's warblers singing around the reserve.

September is also a good month to watch hobbies hunting dragonflies, with birds seen over Whin Hill, Island Mere, the car park and the South Levels. Other birds of prey this week have included marsh harriers, sparrowhawks, kestrels, buzzards and occasional peregrine and red kite.

There have been several reports each day of bitterns in flight, and up to three great white egrets remain in the Island Mere area. Grey herons and little egrets are also frequently seen, while there was exciting news this week from RSPB Havergate Island, where spoonbills nested successfully in Suffolk for the first time in 300 years!

Insects are still attracting a lot of attention, too, with regular sightings of hummingbird hawkmoth at the visitor centre, as well as both painted lady and grayling butterflies. Willow emerald damselflies, great green bush-crickets and devil's coach horse beetles have been among the other highlights.

There have also been reports of badger and fox during daytime this week, and red deer are often seen from the North Wall. Please note that, unfortunately, we will not be able to run any deer safaris this year.