Brief article about the history about Minsmere

https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/homes-and-gardens/places-to-live/history-of-rspb-minsmere-7017822

This is a brief article published in 2018 about Minsmere in a countryside magazine in 2018 and does include the great Bert Axcell one of the great pioneers during the 1960’s and 1970’s in paticular as Bert Axell was the first full time warden at Minsmere and it was Bert Axell who’s idea about creating the scrape at Minsmere in the early 1960’s he actually received the MBE for his work in conservation. I can remember the days when Minsmere was just open 4 days a week and you had to apply months ahead for a permit and the deadline for applying for a permit wa siix months ahead and you weren’t guaranteed a permit even applying that far ahead as I found when applying well in advance for a permit at a reserve in Wales much more than 6 months ahead as all the permits had been taken up and so I had to try for another day of which I had success at Ynys-Hir in Wales.

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  • Sadly I haven’t I haven’t visited Minsmere since around 1974/1975 and I had to apply for a permit well in advance for myself and my Father and Minsmere was open only Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday 11.00pm-5.00pm from April-September and not at any time open during the Autumn and Winter Months. It was the same for lots of other RSPB reserves as well that needed advance permits and only for part of the year. Even some reserves that didn’t need permits where still only open a few days a week, such as the Insh Marshes up in Scotland where no permits where needed, but was only open only 3-4 days a week and again only part of the year and only limited hours. There where some reserves as well open 7 days a week and all year. It all changed in the early 1980’s as in the Birds magazine for members, with a few lines saying that the RSPB council had decided that all reserves would be open 7 days a week, with a lot more reserves open with longer hours and open all year and no permits needed. The first RSPB reserve to have a visitor centre with shop and cafe was Leighton Moss in the early 1980’s.