Wildlife of Suffolk: Minsmere & Orford Ness

At Minsmere we will investigate a wide variety of habitats including reed-beds with bearded tits and marsh harriers, and scrapes designed for avocet and bittern. As well as being one of the country’s premier bird-watching sites, the reserve is home to a huge diversity of other wildlife and, at dusk, there may even be the possibility of spotting otter and red deer.

We will enjoy a boat trip down the River Ore to Havergate Island, one of the country’s major sites for breeding and wintering avocets, and cross by ferry to Orford Ness, the largest vegetated shingle spit in Europe. The Ness is also home to unique buildings associated with its former use as an Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, and we will explore these dramatic structures during a special tour.

Our tour will conclude with a morning spent at North Warren RSPB nature reserve and the coast around Thorpeness. A guided walk will offer the opportunity to look out for flocks of geese, including white-fronted and tunda bean geese, as well as grebes and red-throated divers offshore.

The base for our exploration of East Anglia’s bird-rich coast will be the three-star Thorpeness Hotel, set on a private country lane overlooking the lake known as Thorpeness Meare.

This tour will be led by conservationist and environmental consultant Kevin Hand, MSc, MCIEEM. Kevin has a special interest in birds, mammals and ecotourism, and has led many projects linking nature and communities. He was a Director of the Tree Council and ran National Tree Week in the UK for 13 years, and is currently leading a project on eagles, vultures and other wildlife in Albania. In April 2017 he was appointed President of the Cambridge Natural History Society.