With the BBC Springwatch cameras having moved to their new home in Gloucestershire, the time has sadly come for their old studio here at Minsmere to come down. A team from Gilleards, who built the studio in 2014, are at Minsmere this week to carefully take it down.

While we'd have loved to keep the studio here at Minsmere, it had limited uses without electricity, water or toilets, and it only had temporary footings…

June is a fantastic month for spotting some of Minsmere's amazing flowers, some of which are featured among our 70 species to spot challenge. One such flower is the southern marsh orchid - whose beautiful pink-purple spikes can be found alongside the path to Island Mere and between Wildlife Lookout and South Belt Crossroads.

Southern marsh orchid

Mention orchids, and many people assume that they are very rare…

After a week of number-crunching and data inputting, the provisional results of Minsmere's first Bioblitz are finally in. I say provisional because there may be a few records that the relevant county recorders decline to accept due to the difficulty in identifying them, while there may be others to add once some of our experts recorders have undertaken microscopic analysis.

So, how many of our 5700+ species did we…

Continuing the Springwatch theme from last week, this week's star species was the star of series one at Minsmere in 2014, when millions of people tuned in to watch the female bittern rearing her brood of chicks to "semi-fledging". 

June is always a good time of year to see bitterns at Minsmere because with hungry mouths to feed, the females are kept busy searching for food. For bitterns, this means fish…

Guest blog by Rhiannon Barker - Little Tern Project Officer, Suffolk

Apologies for the Little Tern pun, but we have had lots of Little Tern activity at our colony this week since the recent spell of hot weather started.

The courtship displays of the Little Terns are being seen regularly by our Volunteer Little Tern Wardens that help look after the site; the Little Tern males do a little dance around the females…

Remember Spineless Si and Fearless Fred? These tiny fish became firm favourites during the second season of BBC Springwatch filming at Minsmere in 2015 as they valiantly defended their nests against other sticklebacks and various raiders, including otters, grey herons and bitterns.

With the Springwatch cameras rolling at their new home in Gloucestershire, it seems an apt time to remember these and other stars of their…

When was the last time you did a stocktake of your home and garden? Not just a tidy up or spring clean, but a full-blown count of every plant in the garden or every different item of clothing in the wardrobe.

As part of our 70^th anniversary celebrations, we’re running a stocktake of our own at RSPB Minsmere nature reserve, starting today and continuing until Sunday 4 June.

Luckily we don’t have to count every…

I remember coming to Minsmere as a child of about 7 with my dear Gran (a keen birdwatcher), my Mum and Sister. I don’t remember much of the day as it was a fair while ago now but two things really stood out for me that I can still remember. My Gran pointed out to me a round little brown bird and got me to look at it through her binoculars. I remember her describing to me how to tell what type of bird it was and that it…

Only a few days ago I was raving about how many dragonflies and damselflies were around. Little did I know that this warm sunny weather was going to prove the catalyst for one of the most spectacular dragonfly days at Minsmere.

This morning our wardens radioed into the visitor centre to report not one, but several, sightings of red-veined darters around the reedbed areas of the reserve. This dragonfly is a scarce immigrant…

Guest blog by Tammy Abrey, Minsmere Intern

Hello, my name is Tammy and I’m doing a conservation internship for six months at Minsmere and then six months at Old Hall Marshes. I started at Minsmere in March and since then have learnt so much. I feel so lucky that I am surrounded by nature everyday as I live on the reserve in the volunteer chalet.

The work is so diverse, from driving a quad bike to check ponies…

After last week's rain, we look set for a couple of weeks of warm, sunny weather - perfect for insect watching, and in particular for hunting dragons. Even on a casual lunchtime walk around the Woodland Trail and through the Rhododendron Tunnel to Island Mere I spotted a few beautiful dragons and damsels, including two of the species from our 70 species challenge: four-spotted chaser and blue-tailed damselfly.

It…

After almost two months with barely a drop of rain, the last three days have been a bit of a shock to the system. The rain, though, was much needed, as it brought much needed relief to gardens, and more importantly to wetland habitats that were looking decidedly dry for the time of year.

Rain may not be so welcome for  human visitors, but the weather systems that bring the rain are often responsible for bringing unusual…

Guest blog by Tony Thurston, Minsmere volunteer guide

Visitors to Minsmere today expect to arrive at the reserve, pay their entry fee or show their membership card, and have instant access to the reserve, but this has not always been the case. At one time visitors needed a permit to enter the reserve, although not on Tuesdays as the reserve was closed!

Permits could be obtained in advance by writing to the reserve warden…

As it's a Monday, it's time for our second species of the week blog, focusing on one of the star species featured in our 70 species to spot at Minsmere challenge. This week's star is one of the UK's most famous songsters: the nightingale.

Nightingales hold a special place in our culture, as a bird featured widely in songs, poems and literature, yet for many people hearing one is not easy, and seeing one…

Guest blog by Daniel Loveard, Little Tern Field Officer

Every summer, volunteer little tern wardens are all out in force to protect and monitor the colonies around the UK. This year, the support the Suffolk team have received from volunteers has been fantastic. We recently hosted a welcome event for these volunteers at Minsmere’s Discovery Centre. It was a great opportunity for our new and existing volunteer wardens…

As I type this, I've just heard that a black-browed albatross has been spotted off RSPB Bempton Cliffs in North Yorkshire. This is presumably the same albatross that visited Minsmere in July 2015 and has spent several summers in gannet colonies off the German coast. No doubt birdwatchers across Suffolk will be hoping for a repeat performance, and another chance to spot this magnificent bird. The chances of it landing…

Anyone who has visited Minsmere's cafe will know how delicious our cakes, scones and meals are, but have you ever wondered how many cups of tea we sell every day?

Well, here's some numbers that help to shed light on what a wonderful job our catering team do every day.

During the year ending 31 March 2017, we sold an incredible 34774 cups or mugs of tea. That works out at about 95 cups per day. Allowing for seasonal…

A week into the Minsmere 70 species challenge, it's time to focus on one of the star species from the list in a bit more detail. The first species of the week is the hobby.

Hobbies are small falcons, similar in size to the more familiar kestrel but slimmer and more streamlined. If you can see them well, look for their dark face mask and red trousers. They are perfectly designed hunting machines, highly attuned to…

This morning I was up well before the lark to lead our annual dawn chorus walk. Despite the early start, I always look forward to these walks, as it's a rare opportunity to see the reserve at its absolute best.

Unfortunately, the weather this morning was a bit of let down (again), meaning that some of the usual Minsmere magic was missing. The continuing cold north-easterly winds cast a veil of low cloud over the…

Once again, yesterday found me at Minsmere on my day off. I came along with my wife, son and in-laws for a lovely day of spotting wildlife, with a bit of celebrity spotting and product testing thrown in. It was also the perfect opportunity to try out our new 70 species to spot challenge for myself. (OK, I know I put this together, but I hadn't actually had a chance to road test it before it's launch over the weekend.…

Today I had another first at Minsmere. Not another new addition to my life list (as you know I’m not a list keeper) but I was tasked with meeting and interviewing Mike Dilger; the famous naturalist who has presented many inspiring wildlife film clips for the One Show as well as Springwatch to name only a few and written several books on nature. Today he was at Minsmere as part of the Swarovski tour launching their…

As part of our 70th birthday celebrations, this weekend we're launching an exciting new challenge this weekend: 70 species to spot.

We hope this challenge will appeal to all visitors, young and old, beginner and experienced birdwatcher, increasing an element of fun to your visit as you try to see more species on the list than your family or friends.

There are some really easy to spot species, and others that are…

The first two little terns of the year arrived on East Scrape this morning, joining at least ten common and 115 Sandwich terns. Their timing couldn't be better, as our little tern team were out preparing for their arrival on Monday.

Guest blog by Rhiannon Baker – Little Tern Project Officer, Suffolk. [Note: this blog was written on Monday, before the current spell of wintry showers arrived]

Let the season commence…

Yes folks, it's a very special day at Minsmere as we celebrate a significant anniversary. The RSPB first signed a management agreement for land at Minsmere on 25 April 1947, and so began a story of conservation success.

We'd been negotiating with the landowners, the Ogilvie estate, for several years before signing that agreement, then just a few weeks later came the incredible news that avocets had been found nesting…

Although numbers of many of our migrant birds remain low, the variety is increasing rapidly, with several firsts for the year seen over the last couple of days. 

The numbers of terns on the Scrape have increased, with up to 100 Sandwich terns roosting and 30+ usually present during the day. These have now been joined by several common terns, with 17 of the latter present today. Hopefully the first little terns will be…