I've found that the answer is no. There are bad days in January and February where it seems nothing is there, but go the next day and you can be surprised. For me the worst time is summer when *some* people seem intent on power walking their hi-vis from hide to hide as noisily as possible. I get some very weird looks standing still and quiet. One chap actually asked me 'what are you up to?' as if he'd caught me burgling his garage. But I'm not really complaining, if that's the price of getting people involved in the countryside, fine, there are other places I can go for solitude, just saying it happens a lot (to me) at Minsmere.
For me, best times are now, May, September, October (immediately after first frost) December (for the surprises and the fact it's empty).
The canopy hide has never been anything but disappointing for me since the feeders were taken away, and the woodlands aren't great for birds, but are excellent for flowers and fungi. The best part is the walk from reception to reed bed hide, there's always something interesting down there (red deer, adders, grass snake, natterjack, muntjacks, stoats, firecrests, ring ouzels, mistlethrush, bearded tits, my highlights).
