Wow, what a difference. The hot sunny weather over the last few - though thankfully slightly cooler on the coast - has brought out an incredible variety of insects, while the Scrape is busier with birds than I've seen if for several years. 

You don't have to go far to enjoy the best of our insect life, either. Right outside the visitor centre you can watch various butterflies feeding on the buddleia, search for purple…

After my walk around the Scrape today, I think it's safe to say that autumn wader migration is well underway. There are waders galore scattered across the Scrape, dominated by some impressive counts of avocets. Earlier this week our site manager counted more than 400 avocets, and, even more excitingly, there are quite a few fledged young among them. It's been a few years since these graceful birds have fledged more than…

As June draws to a close, wader migration is gathering pace, with flocks of up to 15 spotted redshanks and more than 150 black-tailed godwits feeding on the Scrape, along with a handful of green sandpipers, ruffs and dunlins. As we move into July, thoughts turn to the possibility of rare waders from Siberia or North America, which regularly turn up among commoner species. 

This morning, one such scarcer visitor was located…

The return of milder weather has brought out many of our star insects, but things aren't ways quite what they seem. Any patch of flowers is a great place to look for bees, wasps, butterflies and flies, with the carpets of bright yellow biting stonecrop around the car park almost buzzing with insects. Many of these are mining bees, including green-eyed flower-bees and sandpit mining bees, and bumblebees, such as red-tailed…

This week we have a guest blog by new volunteer Henry who has been getting a bit of experience working with the visitor experience and communication team. Henry has been visiting the reserve for a few years now and gets some fantastic wildlife photos - so he has written about his experiences of being an ethical wildlife photographer:

Henry

I first went to Minsmere in 2013 aged 7 with my great-grandfather (who grew up…

Today is a big day, for lots of reasons - even if the lifting of restrictions has been delayed for a further four weeks.

Firstly, today is the summer solstice. The longest day of the year, when the sun is directly overhead in the northern hemisphere. This is one of most important days in the pre-Christian calendar, and many ancient civilisations built impressive temples around the location of the sun on the solstice.…

As usual, I'm sitting down to write a blog and the weather is a central theme. But then, I suppose, that's a core part of many conversations amongst us Brits. Weather, football and food could just about sum the core themes of many conversations. Thankfully, as more and more people have been able to reconnect with nature over the past 15 months, nature is creeping into more of those conversations too.

I'd better…

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, there's a profusion of flowers in bloom at the moment. For many people, the chance to see orchids in the UK is a highlight of their day, and a visit to Minsmere in June is a good place to tick this off the bucket list as dozens of southern marsh orchids line the path between South Belt Crossroads and the Wildlife Lookout, as well as the entrance path to Island Mere.

These same areas…

After ten days away from the reserve, it's amazing to see how quickly things have changed. When I left it still felt like mid spring, with very few dragonflies or butterflies on the wing and a chill breeze in the air. By the time I returned on Monday it felt like summer had arrived in a burst of excitement. Insects buzzed and flitted from flower to flower, and young birds could be seen scattered around the Scrape. It…

Guest blog by Mark Solomons, Minsmere resident and volunteer

The boom train has arrived on time again this year - no, not another political euphemism but a Minsmere event that just three decades ago would have seemed unimaginable.

Bitterns. The iconic, noisy, reclusive reedbed residents that are rightly considered to be one of this reserve's signature species.

They are booming, both literally and metaphorically…

There have been several interesting sightings this week, most with the common theme of starting with the letter O. O for owl, osprey, oriole and oooo.

First, on Monday afternoon one of our volunteer guides reported a tawny owl showing well in the woods between Bittern Hide and Island Mere. We all rushed down for a look and were soon rewarded with superb views of this nocturnal hunter that is rarely seen by day.

The…

As I type this sightings update, it’s hard to believe that it’s mid May, as it feels and sounds much more like November outside. The wind is whistling through the tree canopy and rattling the windows in the hides and there’s a dampness to the air that feels very unspring-like. Quite a contrast to the start of the week!

Despite this unseasonal weather, our guides have some amazing views of bearded tits…

It’s been wonderful to welcome so many people back to the reserve, and we’ve certainly seen an influx now the hides are open. However, today something didn’t feel right with the way that people were using hides and we want to make sure people do feel safe when they visit.

We found that some people weren’t following our instructions of wearing masks, there were moments when there were people standing…

This week is World Mental Health Week, with this year’s them being nature and the power it holds to help improve people’s wellbeing. Now we know how vital nature and wellbeing are every week of the year, but it’s also a good opportunity to share some ways to get more involved, to help others and to point out some key resources.

There’s an awful lot of research into people’s health being improved by immersion…

There’s something really special about walking through the woods at this time of year. Not only are they filled with birdsong, but there’s a wonderful scent drifting through the air – especially on a gorgeous sunny day like today. Sadly, I can’t record smell via photos or videos, so you’ll just have to take my word for it – or come along and experience it for yourself.

The scent I’m…

It's not everyday that you come face to face with a venomous snake inside the shop, but that's exactly what happened on Wednesday!

It was a chilly late April day when two of our regular visitors came in hoping to spot one of the adders, knowing that they had been showing well at times over the last couple of weeks. Given how cold it was, they knew their chances were low, and a quick radio call to our volunteer…

I've talked before in these blogs about Minsmere's lions (antlions), wolves (beewolves) and dragons (dragonflies), but did you know that we also have a thriving tiger colony on the reserve. Don't worry, these aren’t the large stripy cats that stalk the jungles of India or Southeast Asia. However, to Minsmere's ants, bees and flies, they are at least as fearsome.

Our tigers are small, green insects…

Following the second stage of the lifting of Covid 19 restrictions, it's been great to welcome back many familiar faces - some for the first time in more than a year - as well as lots of new visitors.

Let me start this week with a reminder of what's open, or not.

Car park, toilets and nature trails - open dawn to dusk

Reception - open 9 am to 5 pm

Shop - open 10 am to 4 pm. Binocular hire is now available again…

Having complained about not seeing the mythical white tailed eagles it seems someone was listening, and kindly sent three our way over the last couple of weeks (more importantly there were all on days when I was working so I could get a nice photo!). A great deal of interest is in the birds reintroduced from the Isle of Wight project, but it appears the birds over the reserve were from the continent and making the most…

What a strange week we've had for the first week since the lifting of the stay at home guidance. What started out as a couple of days that felt more like midsummer than early spring, has ended with a return to winter as northerly winds grip the east coast. What's more, it looks like we're in for some even colder weather early next week, with the chance of some wintry showers. That's not good news for the butterflies and…

It's certainly been a strange winter and early spring, but with the clocks going forward this Sunday to welcome in the start of British Summer Time, and the next phase of the government's Covid-19 restrictions being lifted on Monday, there is light on the horizon.

As the "stay at home" message is replaced by "stay local" there will, at last, be an opportunity for a few more of our regular visitors to finally make…

Guest blog by Mark Solomons, Minsmere volunteer and local resident.

There's an unwritten rule among newspaper sub editors that any story about egrets must have one of two headlines. Either 'no egrets' if they become endangered or 'egrets, we've had a few' if they are booming.

At the moment it's the latter.

Britain is becoming home to a greater variety of what can best be described as big…

Hi everyone.

It's been a long time since I've had a chance to update you all about what's going on at Minsmere. I hope that some of you have been able to keep to updated via our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

I finally returned from furlough again at the start of last week, allowing me to come to Minsmere again for the first time since New Year. It was very exciting to walk around the Scrape last Wednesday…

As seems to be the norm this year, no sooner do I write a blog outlining our opening arrangements then they change as government advice is updated. That was the case again this week, but due to the Christmas break I have not be able to update the news since the announcement that Suffolk, like many parts of the southeast of England, entered Tier 4 on Boxing Day.

So, what does Tier 4 mean for opening arrangements here at…