This new sighting is in fact me! Sorry to disappoint those of you hoping to hear about a new bird seen at Minsmere but I wanted to introduce myself as the new part time Visitor Experience Officer.

I started at Minsmere a couple of weeks ago and have already been introduced  to many of the staff and wonderful  volunteers we have here. It has been my pleasure to meet everyone and I am very excited about being part of such…

They've been a long time in coming, but on Sunday we finally welcomed two smews to Minsmere for the winter. 

Smews are scarce winter visitors to the UK, with only a few hundred present in most winters, but the mild weather this year has made them even rarer than usual, with very few present at event heir regular haunts. They are small diving ducks that breed in the high Arctic and spend the winter in wetlands throughout…

The two firecrests that have taken up winter residence around Scotts Hall and the Rhododendron Tunnel continue to attract a lot of interest - for those lucky enough to actually see them. Frustratingly, they seem to avoid the attentions of most of our volunteers, despite many visitors having had good views.

The Rhododendron Tunnel area is proving a good place to spot several of our smaller birds, with regular sightings…

Today, 2 February, is World Wetlands Day. This is an important event, at it marks the signing of an international treaty on wetland conservation, the RAMSAR Treaty, signed in the Iranian town of Ramsar on 2 February 1971. 

Many of the world's most important wetlands, including RSPB Minsmere, are listed as RAMSAR sites, ensuring that their importance is recognised by governments and nature conservation organisations as…

How did you get on with your Big Garden Birdwatch counts over the weekend? I had a very respectable (for my garden) eleven species yesterday. The biggest surprise was a brief visit from a wren - a species that I haven't seen int he garden for months despite hearing them locally most mornings. Although our starlings, goldfinches and blackbirds all put in an appearance, numbers were down on the norm. Frustratingly, I saw…

I often write in these blogs about counting Minsmere's wildlife, whether for breeding bird surveys, roost counts or simply counts based on observations from our volunteer guides. For example, our guides have been diligently counting lapwings this week, with more than 500 present on the Scrape. Now it's your turn.

This weekend sees the return of the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, where we ask you to spend an…

After another beautiful sunny morning, I decided to wander down to Island Mere at lunchtime. I hoped that I may manage to find an otter, kingfisher, bearded tit or water rail to add to my year list, but sadly I was unlucky with all four species.

I was, however, able to watch a group of six whooper swans feeding quietly along the reed edge towards the far right hand side of the mere. These were the first ones I had seen…

What a difference over the last couple of days. It's finally starting to feel like winter. Like most of the country, we had a bit of snow yesterday - just enough to turn everything white for a few hours. And the sharp frost this morning left some of the smaller reedbed pools frozen for the first time this winter.

Luckily we had clear skies last night, as about 50 people came along to our first star gazing event of…

Hot on the heels on my two butterfly sightings on Monday, there have been further notable sightings this week. Perhaps the most surprising was the three spoonbills that dropped onto East Scrape on Wednesday. Although common visitors in spring, winter records of spoonbill are rare. We assume these were three of the four birds that have been seen recently on the Alde Estuary.

They're not the only scarce herons that have…

I made the most of the winter sun this morning to stroll down to East Hide in search of a few year ticks - the commoner ducks were very numerous with the bonus of six pintails and four tufted ducks, three avocets, a turnstone and a nice flock of 35 dunlins. 

Even allowing for the spring like weather that we've been experiencing, and the beautiful winter sun, I was still totally stunned when a very worn looking painted…

The New Year started with a beautiful blue sky yesterday morning, before the cloud rolled in on the biting easterly wind. The sun brought out the crowds too, helping us to compile a respectable New Year's Day list of 86 species of birds plus at least five mammals. Although the weather has been a bit duller today, we've managed to add a few more to the list, taking us to 90 so far. In contrast, we only saw 79 bird species…

It's been a wild and wet end to 2015 - though rather less wild here in Suffolk than in many other parts of the UK. We hope not too many of you have been affected by the flooding over Christmas. Ironically, given how much rain we've had, Minsmere's paths are actually relatively dry - though there are a few puddles in places.

Most of our birds have been keeping their heads down today as gales sweep across the…

Well, that's another year nearly over. As Adam Rowlands reflected last week, it's been a busy one. And certainly an exciting one.

Here's a few of my personal highlights from the year.

Springwatch. We enjoy having the BBC team with us at Minsmere. They are all friendly and knowledgeable, from presenters to producers, cameramen to catering team. This in turn rubs on on volunteers and visitors, creating an…

As we reach the shortest day of the year, we can at last begin to look forward to longer evenings and daylight when the alarm goes off in the morning - though of course we have Christmas to look forward to first.

At Minsmere today we were looking to the future too - and it looks bright from where I'm standing. I spent the morning with four lovely families as we took a series of photographs for a forthcoming promotional…

Guest blog by Adam Rowlands, Senior Sites Manager, North Suffolk Reserves

[This was originally written as a thank to you our amazing volunteers, but nicely summarises what an amazing year we've had - Ed]

As time creeps forward to the winter equinox it feels like the ideal time to reflect on the events of the last year. This time last year we were up to our knees in mud and on several occasions diggers were up to…

Do you dread visiting the High Street to find something special for the loved ones in your life? Are you fed up with searching the Internet for a bargain and ending up buying several things that you didn't even know you wanted? Would you like to shop in a location where you can escape the crush, pick up a bargain, and enjoy a refreshing walk followed by a tasty cake? Then why not visit us at Minsmere for some last minute…

As I stood on Whin Hill this morning scanning across Island Mere and the reedbed beneath murky skies, numerous white specks in the fields beyond were immediately obvious: swans. Checking carefully through the flock, they all appeared to be large mute swans. Although their smaller cousins, Bewick's swans, have often been feeding in those fields, I couldn't pick any out this morning. In fact, two Bewick's were later seen…

I've talked quite a lot in these blogs about the large numbers of gulls that can be seen on the Scrape, especially as they come in to roost in late afternoon. While many people barely give gulls a second glance, except to moan at how noisy they are, these large gatherings are the perfect opportunity to compare the features and brush up on your identification skills.

There are six "common" species of gull in the UK…

It's been a bit of a wild and windy day today as Storm Desmond has made its presence felt - albeit without causing the disruption experienced farther north - but for those brave enough to venture out onto the reserve, there has been a wealth of wetland wildlife to enjoy.

The day started with a gorgeous pink sunrise, but sadly the sun itself never really materialised - though at least rain has held off. It was hard…

It's been a few months since the last report from our young wardens group, for teenage volunteers. Here, one of the young volunteers updates us on their last two meetings.

Guest blog by Ollie Garvie, Minsmere Young Warden's Group volunteer

Saturday 17 October

Firstly, as usual, we met together and discussed what we were to be doing that morning. We were informed that the reeds and trees had grown too much near…

If you've been reading the newspapers, watching TV or simply checking your social media accounts, you can't fail to have noticed that world leaders are meeting in Paris this week to discuss ways to prevent climate change from getting any worse. This is probably the most important international conference for the future of the planet, as climate change doesn't only impact on wildlife, but on human health, crop production…

What a difference a few days makes. this time last week temperatures were still in double figures, but the strong northerly wind on Saturday saw a marked drop in temperatures, accompanied by a scattering of snow in Suffolk on Sunday morning and the first proper frost of the year yesterday. It's a little milder again today though rather wet underfoot in places.

Whenever a strong northerly wind blows in November, thoughts…

It's our Christmas shopping weekend, and the reception is filled with the wonderful aroma of hot spiced apple juice, sparkling Christmas tree lights, and staff wearing funny hats. There's a complimentary glass of the apple juice for all visitors. In the shop we have RSPB Love Nature chocolate, fudge and biscuits to taste, racing robins from the Christmas crackers, a tombola and our friends at Viking Optical with the full…

While it's not exactly easy to see a bittern at Minsmere, there are at least several sightings every day, and Minsmere is certainly one of the best places to look for these elusive herons. Most of these sightings will be from Bittern Hide or Island Mere, or other locations with a view across the reedbed. Occasionally you may spot one from the visitor centre, especially in the spring when females fly higher and further…

We have a couple of exciting weekends planned this month, starting this coming Saturday, 14 November, when families are invited to join two local artists for the first of four workshops titled Tidal Margins. Funded by Touching the Tide, a Heritage Lottery Fund landscape project on Suffolk's Heritage Coast, these workshops bring together families and artists to have fun and learn new art techniques. They are ideal for…