---
title: "A Black-browed Albatross visits Minsmere Nature Reserve on the United Kingdom’s North Sea coast"
---

# A Black-browed Albatross visits Minsmere Nature Reserve on the United Kingdom’s North Sea coast

[Minsmere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSPB_Minsmere) is a nature reserve managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds ([RSPB](http://www.rspb.org.uk/)) on the United Kingdom’s North Sea coast in the County of Suffolk.

 On 12 July a Black-browed Albatross *Thalassarche melanophris* was photographed swimming in one of the reserve’s freshwater pools before flying out to sea shortly thereafter ([click here](https://www.rspb.org.uk/community/placestovisit/minsmere/b/minsmere-blog/archive/2015/07/13/albatross-ahoy.aspx)).  For more photos of the albatross and a birder's description of the sighting [click here](http://www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/Finders_in_the_Field_Black-browed_Albatross_Minsmere.aspx?s_id=690020073).

  ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/B/Black_browed/BBA_Minsmere.jpg)

 The Minsmere Black-browed Albatross in flight

 The albatross may well be the same bird as seen on the German island of Heligoland a few days earlier ([click here](http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=4992)) – which is also assumed to be the same bird as seen there last year ([click here](http://www.acap.aq/en/news/latest-news/1769-a-black-browed-albatross-visits-the-inshore-waters-of-denmark-and-germany)).

 Southern-hemisphere albatrosses cross into the North Atlantic from time to time ([click here](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/news-archive/23-2010-news-archive/563-crossing-the-line-albatrosses-changing-hemispheres)).

 Read more on the Mismere bird [here](http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/first_suffolk_sighting_of_black_browed_albatross_made_at_rspb_minsmere_1_4149628).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 July 2015*