Minsmere Nature Reserve (Suffolk)

Minsmere is one of the RSPB's flagship nature reserves, set on the Suffolk coast. The area was flooded in the Second World war to make invasion more difficult, and the row of cubical concrete tank traps on the dunes between east Hide and Public Hide remind us of this history. Avocets returned to England taking advantage of the flooding, and Bert Axell, the first warden of Minsmere helped them by scraping out a shallow lagoon, which has been home to generations of waders and wildfowl ever since, including the avocet, which is the bird on the RSPBs symbol. The reserve opens at 9am, and it is worth going round the Scrape in a clockwise direction to ...  Read the complete review

Minsmere is one of over 200 nature reserves in Britain managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Established in 1948 it is also one of Britain's oldest nature reserves. Back in those early post war days it was known as the Minsmere Bird Reserve and covered only a fraction of the 150 acres that it now spans. Today, Minsmere Nature Reserve covers the whole of east Suffolk from the estuary of the River Blyth to its north down to Minsmere River on its southern boundaries, this area now also forms a part of the much larger Minsmere - Walberswick Special Protection area and is also an area of outstanding natural beauty. In addition to its birdlife, it is ...  Read the complete review