It's been another exciting week at Minsmere, especially around the edge of the reserve, away from the main visitor trails. The red-backed shrike remains on Westleton Heath, around the red deer rut viewpoint, though it can be elusive at times. Although it usually only visible quite distantly, our deer safari drivers have been fortunate enough to have some great views, as can be seen from Jon Evans' photo (below).…

In my last blog, written on Saturday, I commented that we had so far not found any yellow-browed warblers, despite the huge national influx. Well, on Sunday, not surprisingly, two yellow-browed warblers turned up. One was seen in the North Bushes, where I had searched the day before, but sadly couldn't be seen on Monday when i returned to Minsmere. The second was seen in bushes about 300 metres south of the sluice, and…

Easterly winds in autumn, with a high pressure over Scandinavia, are like manna from heaven to many birdwatchers, especially those keen on rarer sightings. After several days of such weather conditions, we've been treated to a lovely mix of autumn migrants, although we are still awaiting the real rarities that get the pulse racing.

Robins are often one of the most dominant species in such weather conditions, and…

The mixed weather over the weekend signaled the arrival of autumn as we entered October, and the wildlife certainly has a more autumn feel to it now. A walk around the woods reveals clumps of parasols popping up from among the increasingly deep carpet of leaves. This is one of the most obvious and distinctive fungi at Minsmere, but with the arrival of wetter weather we expect to see many more species emerging over the…

This Saturday the Minsmere Wildlife Explorers set off for Suffolk’s only island. Two boats of eager explorers departed Orford quay and crossed the choppy waters to the stunning Havergate Island. We were lucky that the sun was out and the warm September weather had remained even if it was a little blustery!

Before even arriving on the island we had been lucky enough to see curlew, dunlin, ringed plover and black…

The autumn equinox signals the official end of summer today, although the weather bore more resemblance to a summer day than early autumn with bright sunshine, blue skies, barely a breath of wind, and robins singing constantly. All in all the perfect day for a stroll along the beach.

The beach looked wonderfully clean thanks to the efforts of the 24 volunteers who joined Amy to collect and record litter there on Saturday…

It seems that after an extremely hot start to the month, autumn has arrived with a flourish this week, with heavy rain on Friday followed by a showery weekend, in complete contrast to temperatures of 30 degrees last week. A walk around the reserve certainly has a more autumnal feel too, with much of the bracken already turning yellow, few plants remaining in flower but instead sporting nodding seedheads, and berries ripening…

Suffolk’s coastline I believe is one of the most stunning I have ever encountered. I may be a little biased considering I was born here and have returned to live here but I do consider myself very well travelled and Suffolk’s beaches are without a doubt my favourite place to be. I love to enjoy the warmth of Suffolk’s shingle stones on my feet and then dipping my toes into the frothy water to get a chilling contrast!…

Guest blog by Raksha Dave, Dig Ventures Archaeologist

RSPB Minsmere is now a world famous bird reserve, but 1,000 years ago it’s where a little-known order of Premonstratensian priests decided to set up home. It was here, in 1182, that they founded their first and only abbey in Suffolk. Plagued by floods, mosquitoes and accusations of piracy, by 1363, it was time to move…

If you head out to the wet and…

Nature is full of surprises, and the last couple of days have really highlighted this to me as I've spotted a few species in unexpected places. Even more surprisingly, given how difficult they can be to spot, snakes have featured heavily in these sightings.

Grass snakes had eluded me so far this year (apart from one in a tank that a volunteer had found in advance of a family walk last month), so it was a pleasant…

Guest blog by Ann Mitcham, Reception volunteer

Let's give Nature a home, eh? Pah! I mutter to myself as I leap about my bedroom at 1am, fly-swat failing spectacularly to nail the whining little bloodsucker.

And by which we don't mean to say that you can move in with US! I shout in my frustration at being given the slip yet again.

I got her the next night.

And here's the thing: since I doubt that there is anyone…

I certainly picked a good time to go on holiday, with the bee-eater turning up on the first day of my break! While it was obviously disappointing to miss such a stunning bird, I was at least able to find a few species that are hard to come by in Suffolk: chough, raven, Manx shearwater, shag and what could be the first ever wild Dalmation pelican in the UK were among the wildlife highlights of my week in Cornwall.

In…

There is nothing I like more than being by the sea and over the summer I have been very fortunate to spend a lot of time down on the beach at Minsmere. I love the sound of the waves, the breeze in my face, the smell of salt in the air and of course the stunning wildlife that can be found there. Today I took a walk down to the beach to look at a very interesting creature that had been reported over the past few weeks and…

Guest blog by Matt Parrott

Shortly after opening the Visitor Centre on Thursday morning, John Grant phoned in to say that he could see a bee-eater circling over the edge of the scrape. Nothing causes a mass exodus of staff, volunteers and visitors from the Visitor Centre like a rare bird report – it helps keep us fit too!

In my little bird book I’ve had since I was four years old the bee-eater shares a worn…

We have some exciting news about some of the wildlife stars of the recent BBC Springwatch series. As mentioned in previous blogs, the stone-curlew pair that sadly failed to hatch a chick during the series were successful at the second attempt. Although one chick was soon predated, the second chick continues to thrive, and on Monday, our wardens fitted it with colour rings that will help us to track its progress - and…

With the Western swamphen playing now you see me, now you don't and the last sighting of it being over a week ago (although with Minsmere's vast reedbed it is very likely to still be on site, just hidden) it was an unexpected surprise that today I experienced another first for me at Minsmere, and one I had greatly been looking forward to! I began my afternoon walk from the Visitor Centre and spent a few moments just…

Wow, what a week! 

Last week was rather busy here at Minsmere, with the combination of (mostly) good weather, lots of families enjoying our various holiday activities, and the bizarre sighting of a blue chicken (aka purple swamphen) that drew in the crowds.

The swamphen remained all week, and was still showing well went I left work on Friday evening. All was set for a visit from BBC's The One Show to film it on Sunday…

Lightning, it appears, really can strike twice. 

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote about the incredible appearance of a black-browed albatross on the pool behind South Hide. That was potentially one of the most bizarre and unexpected sightings ever at Minsmere, but even that may have been trumped by the incredible events of the last three days.

It all began about 11 am on Sunday when news came in of a purple swamphen…

As I mentioned in my last blog, there's always something interesting to see at Minsmere, and the last week has been filled with one slightly unexpected find after another, incuding several found on our family activities.

The excitement began late morning on Sunday when Peter, one of our volunteer guides, spotted a small wader that looked different from the nearby dunlins and sanderling. He alerted one of our regular…

The wait is over and Big Wild Sleepout is finally here! At Minsmere the Wildlife Explorers group could not wait any longer and had their camp night last weekend. We were very lucky with the weather and wildlife and a lot of fun was had by all.

The Camp Night event began in the afternoon with the Wildlife Explorers arriving at the reserve and setting up their tents and camping areas. The first structured activity was…

One comment we hear regularly from visitors in mid July is "it's quiet". Indeed it is, in the sense that most birds have stopped singing and the reserve can be eerily silent at times. But in terms of things to see, it's from from quiet, though you may have to change your focus a little.

Mid summer is always a trickier time for watching woodland and reedbed birds as they hide away to moult following…

I timed my walk around the Coast Trail perfectly this afternoon, dodging the showers and spotting some fantastic wildlife. Towards the end of my walk it all got a too much for me and I had to lie down. Well, actually there was a really good reason for lying down in the dunes - and it wasn't for a snooze or some sunbathing!

A flock of up to 200 sand martins were dropping down onto the dunes for a rest, to escape the…

Guest blog by Matt Parrott, Visitor Experience Manager

Just before last Saturday’s brief, violent, summer storm the first reports of emerging bee-wolves reached us from our guide, Steve. If you’re unfamiliar with bee-wolves, they’re amazing, and you can read all about them in Ian’s blog here.

A bee-wolf in flight, carrying a honeybee, by Steve Everett

But on Sunday Steve and Davene reported…

For the first time in a couple of weeks I took the opportunity to explore the Coast Trail this afternoon. I had a few target species in mind, but as is often the case I failed to see some of them, instead enjoying good views of a few other goodies.

My first target was to see our bee-wolfs for the first time this year, and this was easily achieved, though sadly I couldn't get a photo. I hoped to spot my first ever hairy…

After looking at the calendar and realising that half the year had gone already, I found myself reflecting on the many things I have learnt so far this year and the great wildlife I have been fortunate enough to experience here at Minsmere. My reflections left me feeling a little sad that many of the things I had been looking forward to have been and gone, Springwatch being the main one! Instead of reminiscing on the…