Accessibility We have made a few changes to Minsmere in order to provide as safe an environment as possible for visitors, staff and our wildlife. You can view and save our map showing our restrictions and routes attached to the bottom of this blog. W...

After a lot of work we have re-opened Minsmere as of last Monday 8th June 2020, but it will be a little different for a while. If you haven't already seen the video about the changes we have made you can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=665074787674502

Thinking of visiting us? To enjoy and help us protect this special place please follow our instructions. If at any point we feel the safety of staff,…

Volunteer Philip Riley shares with us his the story of his first visit to Minsmere, back in the summer of 1977.

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. Vicky shares with us her thoughts and feelings during her daily exercise down to the stream, where shes greeted with fledglings, damselflies and swimming grass snakes.

For #WorldBeeDay Philip Riley, Minsmere volunteer, takes us through how his been learning a new skill in lockdown. Identifying bees! Philip shares with us some of the bees found in his garden.

Tom Williams, our Conservation Intern at Minsmere, is currently living on site aiding our team with essential work. During his daily exercise and while carrying out essential livestock checks, Tom has been catching up with the nature on the reserve, from sedge warbler to orange tips.

Hi all

Just a quick note to say that under the government's employee retention scheme i will no longer be posting either here or on our social media accounts for the foreseeable future. I'm really sorry that I will not be able to continue sharing news from my garden and daily walks, or from the wonderful Minsmere staff and volunteers. 

We will, of course, be back once current restrictions are lifted and Minsmere…

Guest blog by Linda Hammond, Minsmere volunteer

Ours is a small garden with a (disproportionally) large pond. Although there aren’t many trees in the immediate vicinity we have a long hedge along one side which is ‘home’ to a lovely gang of noisy house sparrows. Although we don’t get any particularly exotic wildlife here there’s always something interesting going on. 

We were adopted by a…

In these unusual and difficult times where even most of the staff are unable to visit our wonderful nature reserves, many of us are, at least, still able to find nature around our local area. As you'll have seen from some our recent guest blogs, our staff and volunteers have been enjoying some unexpected sightings on their daily walks and in their gardens.

I thought it was about time I posted about some of my own…

Guest blog by Vicky Bolton, RSPB Minsmere Learning Assistant

In January of this year I relocated to the rural town of Halesworth, only a stone's throw from my childhood home near Lowestoft. Being busy with two jobs, I barely spent any time in my new home, let alone in its green spaces. Well, now is my chance to discover what wildlife awaits me in my local patch.

I’d given myself the challenge to develop my bird I…

Guest blog by Phil Riley, Minsmere visitor centre volunteer

Its Friday 3 April 2020, my alarm has just gone off on my phone to tell me time to go to Minsmere for duty on reception. Three weeks of social isolation and nearly two in lockdown has passed and the garden has become a haven for humans as much as wildlife. I am fortunate to have a bit of garden for the family of five and dog to share.

We have two feeder stations…

As you may have read in yesterday's blog, our volunteers have been busy in their gardens, watching some of the amazing wildlife that we can find close to home.

If there's one good thing to come from the current closure of our reserves, it's the opportunity to spend more time at home and exploring our local area properly. I know that I've already discovered some new footpaths and unearthed a few potentially productive…

Guest blog by Peter Phillips, RSPB Minsmere volunteer guide 

My garden abuts open fields at the back and is edged by a good variety of larger trees, although primarily oak and ash, and a mixture of well established deciduous and evergreen hedges.

I am lucky enough to get a reasonable variety of birds and this year I have already seen returning chiffchaff and a female blackcap drinking at the pond since my isolation started…

In these difficult times, when we're all locked away in our homes, bar our one piece of daily exercise, and unable to enjoy visits to our favourite nature reserves, it's great to be able to bring you some good news. The results of this year's RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch have been announced this morning, and there's some news for some of our best-loved garden birds.

Despite a long-term fall in numbers, the…

Guest blog by Stu Precious, Membership Fundraiser

 

Hi, my name is Stu. Usually, by day, I’m a Membership Fundraiser for the RSPB and as part of my workload, I can often be found in the Visitor Centre at Minsmere. However, like the vast majority of the rest of us, I’m now effectively under house arrest until some semblance of normality returns. 

I am fortunate in having a safe place within walking distance…

One benefit of the current closure of our schools and nature reserves is that I am getting to spend much more time with my son, as we both try to work from home. Of course, for both of us the working day is a little different from what we are used to, but I'm lucky that Thomas is happy to get on with the work that his teachers have set, allowing me to find some productive work time during the day. 

It's far from all…

I hope everyone is keeping safe. 

In these strange and changing times, it's important for many of us to retain our daily contact with nature, even though we can no longer get out and visit our favourite nature reserves. If you are lucky enough to have a garden, then the wildlife will readily come to you, as I have discovered this weekend. Spending more time at home means more time to sit and watch the garden, and yesterday…

In these enforced times of absence from Minsmere, I promised that I'd share a mix of alternative stories, including a look back through the archives. With that in mind, I'll begin by recalling some of my own earliest birdwatching memories.

My own birdwatching memories go back more than 40 years to Christmas 1977 when I was given membership of the YOC - the predecessor of RSPB Wildlife Explorers - and my first…

Well it's now been a week since my last visit to Minsmere, and it feels pretty strange. Over the last 17 years, I've been privileged to work at this amazing nature reserve in the heart of the Suffolk coast. During that time, the reserve been a massive part of my life. I've seen some incredible wildlife, met some fabulous people, and been able to enjoy daily walks in nature. Now, suddenly, that's all gone, with no time…

We are sorry to say but with immediate effect today (23/03/2020) we will be CLOSING RSPB Minsmere nature reserve until further notice.
In line with the latest Government advice on social distancing and cleanliness, we have closed the car park, all trails and the hides to prioritise the health and welfare of our staff, volunteers and visitors.

The latest information on the RSPB’s response to coronavirus can be found on…

Firstly an apology for lack of recent sightings updates. As I'm sure you can realise, things have been a little bit chaotic this week as we try to work out exactly what's happening with the current Covid-19 crisis.

The most important thing at this time is that we make every effort possible to keep everyone safe - our staff, volunteers and visitors. As a result, as you may have read in my post earlier this week…

Following the latest government advice we have made the difficult decision to close our visitor centre, café and shops] to visitors from tonight (Wednesday 18 March). This is to prioritise the health and welfare of our staff, volunteers and visitors.

These are difficult and unsettling times for all of us but we hope that nature can provide a welcome respite in whichever form and wherever you may encounter it. We…

Are you still looking for somewhere to take your mum to treat her on Mother's Day? Perhaps you are a mum and would like to drop some hints to family members?

A visit to Minsmere is always a special treat, but this year we have something extra special for mums: an exclusive guided walk to explore hidden parts of the reserve with our volunteers followed by a delicious cream tea in the cafe.

The guided walk will take…

Guest blog by Mark Solomons, Minsmere volunteer

It may not always feel like it but spring is here and with it the regular Tuesday morning Spring Walks with Charles Cuthbert.

Three hours of trekking through the oomska after yet another night of rain brought a small but enthusiastic group of us close to an abundance of adders, gadwalls to godwits, a close-up view of a pair of obliging bearded tits and lots more besides…

When you work at such as an amazing place as Minsmere, it's easy to take things for granted. We come to know where to expect to see certain species - as you read in Whistling Joe's latest post about adders. But that doesn't mean that there aren't a few surprises hiding out there, ready to catch you out. I encountered one such surprise today: a common toad.

This really should not be a surprise. When I…