There has been a definite change in the seasons this week. Out has gone autumn, replaced by winter. At least as far as the wildlife sightings are concerned, anyway. Yesterday saw the first frost of the winter, accompanied by amazing crystal clear blue skies. Today has been rather duller, even if the forecast rain did hold off. The nights definitely feel like they are drawing in on such dull days.

Although there is still…

It's not often that I get to spend most of the day showing visitors some of the amazing wildlife at Minsmere, so I was pleased that today's weather was calm and dry. Ideal for seeing Minsmere at its best, even if the sun didn't come out.

My day started with taking out a lovely Belgian family on a Minsmere safari. Dad is a journalist, and will be writing some articles about Minsmere for the Belgian media,…

It seems that the curse of going on holiday struck me again this week as several really exciting birds were seen at Minsmere in the second half of last week, while I was visiting family in the Midlands. At least I can console myself with the thought that none of them hung around for long so I would probably have missed them anyway.

The first rare visitors were two penduline tits that were seen feeding on seeding reedmace…

If you are planning to visit Minsmere this week, then please be aware that there are a few changes to visiting arrangements to be aware of, as well as some local road closures. Don't let any of this put you off visiting though as there is loads of great wildlife to see - as you can read about later in my next species of the week blog.

Shop closed for till upgrade

The Minsmere shop will be closed all day tomorrow…

It's that time of the week when I once more focus on one of the 70 species to spot at Minsmere to help us to celebrate our 70th anniversary. As last week, when trying to decide what to focus on, I have had a bit of a dilemma. You see, there have been lots of strange new creatures popping up on the reserve that really deserve my utmost attention, but they don't appear to feature on the reserve list, never mind our 70 species…

Guest blog by Anelia Petrova - Conservation Intern at Minsmere

Hello everyone, I’m Anelia and I’m a Conservation Intern. The first leg of my internship was at Frampton Marshes, where I worked for six months, and now I’m settled at Minsmere for another six months. I’m enjoying working here, being surrounded by amazing nature and fantastic staff.

I’ve been here for a month now and I’ve done jobs…

Regular readers of these blogs will recall the excitement earlier this autumn when a beautiful juvenile red-necked phalarope was found on East Scrape, when it very obligingly remained for about ten days. Phalaropes are scarce visitors to Minsmere, with red-necked most likely to turn up in May, June or August, so the mid September sighting was much appreciated.

There are two other species of phalarope in the world, and…

As I wandered around the Scrape at lunchtime I pondered on which of our 70 species to spot I was going to feature for today's blog. My first thought was to feature the wigeon, whose whistling calls I could hear across the Scrape. But no, they'll be better later in the year, when winter has really set in. Next I considered the konik Polski, as these beautiful ponies are easily seen from North Hide at the moment. Again…

This has been an excellent week for spotting finches at Minsmere. The commoner species - chaffinch, greenfinch and goldfinch - have been increasingly common on the visitor centre feeders, and in flocks in the woods, but there have also been some more unusual sightings.

Bramblings are always exciting to see, and several lucky visitors have been spotting one or two feeding in among the chaffinches around the cafe feeders…

The reedbed is one of Minsmere’s richest habitats.

Home to some of the countries rarest species including bittern, bearded tit and marsh harrier, the reedbed provides fantastic shelter for nesting birds.

A wealth of fish and invertebrate life thrive among a network of ditches, dykes and freshwater pools, providing an invaluable source of food for larger predators.

With 120 hectares of reedbed to hide in at Minsmere…

For the latest in our species of the week series, celebrating the 70 species to spot at Minsmere during our 70th anniversary year, I asked our Learning Officer, Chris Ford to write about one of the two fungi species in the list. Here is his guest blog.

The fly agaric is the archetypal toadstool. You can almost imagine elves sitting on its scarlet spotted cap. Interestingly the links between this poisonous species and…

My weekly series of blogs featuring one of the 70 species that we've challenged you find at Minsmere this year continues with possibly one of our most popular birds: the bearded tit. As you may have read in my blog last week, these beautiful little birds have been showing very well recently, and we're offering you a rare chance to search for them off the beaten track this month - see here for details.

Male bearded…

While Ian is powering through our 70 species list, I thought I’d sit back and take in the beauty of Minsmere from a different angle. For the next few blogs, I’m choosing to focus on the great variety of habitats our reserve has to offer. After all, it’s the sheer array of natural places which makes Minsmere so biodiverse.

So I’ll begin with an old favourite (and coincidentally the closest to my desk…

Calm autumn mornings are perfect for spotting bearded tits, as the last week has shown.

Male bearded tit by Jon Evans

During October we are planning arrange a couple of early morning meanders through the reedbed in search of these delightful birds. These walks will take us off the beaten track, along raised banks through the reedbed, where public access is not usually allowed.

We may spot other secretive reedbed…

Our weekly series of blogs focussing on our 70 species to spot at Minsmere challenge continues with a look at one of the dragonflies on the list: the common darter. As their name suggests, this is one of the commoner species seen of dragonfly, especially in late summer and early autumn. In fact, during September it's one of the commonest species on the reserve, with clouds of hundreds of these small dragonflies flying…

At last we've said goodbye to the wet and windy early autumn weather and look set for an Indian summer - for the weekend at least. Which must be as good a reason as any to get outside and spend some time in the company of nature this weekend. Hopefully I can suggest a few more good reasons to make Minsmere your destination of choice.

Cakes, scones, binoculars, bearded tits, red deer, fungi, and a great variety of…

For all those wanting to watch Minsmere's red deer during the autumn rut, we have some exciting news.

We have added a few extra 4x4 deer rut safaris this autumn. All of the extra tours are at weekends between 1 Oct and 22 Oct. Places are strictly limited and are sure to prove popular, so don't delay with booking them.

Bookings can only be made by calling our booking line on 01728 648301 between 9 am and 4.30…

It's that time of year when birds are no longer the main topic of conversation at the Minsmere reception desk. Instead, many visitors are asking about our mammals. As part of our 70 species to spot challenge, we've set you the target of finding six species of mammals this year, some easier than others.

Of these six, rabbit and konik Polski are by far the easiest. The former are common and relatively easy to spot…

The scrape here at Minsmere is chock full of invertebrates – it’s what attracts so many birds to feed on the reserve, but around the edges of the scrape the ditches host some intriguing species that are often overlooked.

Through spring and summer you can often watch rudd, roach and perch in the two open ditches near Wildlife Lookout, floating in sunlit calm waters and snatching the unfortunate flies that…

As last week, the star of this week's species of the week blog is better known as a spring migrant, yet is featuring in early autumn. Cuckoos have sadly been declining in the UK for several years, and have become increasingly scarce in many parts of southern and eastern England - though they may actually be increasing in parts of Scotland. So much so, in fact, that I failed to hear a single cuckoo at Minsmere this spring…

This summer I was in charge of Minsmere’s Summer holiday club ‘Wild Woods’.

In theory, I was taking a leaf from the book of Forest School which encourages holistic child-led learning in nature.

In practise, I essentially spent every Friday morning playing in the woods!

While leading the event was pretty daunting at first, it quickly became the highlight of my week, and I enjoyed the envious looks…

With no volunteer guides in to help visitors today, I took the opportunity to enjoy a morning stroll around the Scrape in the lovely early autumn sunshine. With not a breathe of wind in the air, it really was an enjoyable walk, topped off by some unexpected wildlife sightings.

The first highlights were the butterflies. After a few cooler, damper days, it was nice to see several red admirals, small whites and small coppers…

According to meteorologists, autumn started on Friday with the arrival of September, and it has certainly felt more like autumn today. The sun has been missing in action, but at least the drizzle more or cleared this afternoon. It didn't deter the birds, though, with a great mix of waders still present on the Scrape: little stint, sanderling and little ringed plover were the highlights, alongside 150+ black-tailed godwits…

My afternoon walk to East Hide today turned into a wonderful wagtail ID workshop. There were wagtails of several different colours and shades on show, all feeding on the islands nearest to the hide, or resting on the nearest crossposts. 

Most of the wagtails were our familiar pied variety, but even they included various plumages - adult males in their crisp black and white plumage, adult females with greyer backs, and…

Guest blog by Sonya Miller-Smith, regular visitor

[This was written a week or so ago, so some of the species mentioned may since have moved on - ed]

When Ian asked our family to write about our sponsored birdwatch at Minsmere, I suspect he really had the children in mind, but they can barely lift their heads from their pillows after the excitement of the day. So, as mum, driver, chief binocular carrier and second adjudicator…