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Minsmere is a 1,000-hectare nature reserve that has been owned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) since 1947.
It is conserved as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site.
With a post located in the hide, we will be able to record the variety of wildlife that visits the reserve throughout the year, for the next 5 years.
What am I looking at?
From reedbeds containing a diversity of moisture-adapted plants to the dry acidic landscapes of lowland heaths, Minsmere is a reserve of extraordinary diversity.
Alongside these habitats, occasionally flooded low wet grassland sits alongside vegetated shingle – a rare and fragile habitat that is seldom-found outside North-West Europe, Japan and New Zealand.
Further inland, woodland areas contrast with the wetland areas that characterise most of the site.
Still coastal lagoons and scrapes behind the dunes host wintering wildfowl and breeding waders such as ringed plovers and avocets.
Other animals are known to thrive in the diverse landscape, including otters, water voles, natterjack toads and silver-studded blue butterflies.
Looking back….
In the 1940s, the gates on the Minsmere sluice were opened and the low-lying marshes and farmland were flooded to provide protection against a possible German invasion. This wartime flooding inadvertently created a haven for wild birds. This was the origin of the RSPB Minsmere bird reserve and in the decades that followed careful management has facilitated the development of one of the most significance wildlife habitats in the country.
Walks and more
RSPB Minsmere hosts a visitor centre that includes a shop, café and nearby discovery centre.
From the site you can undertake 1.5lm, 2.4km or 3.4km circular walks that take in woodland, beaches, lagoons and reedbeds.