The habitat at Beckingham Marshes keeps on improving all the time, but this winter has been one of the best yet and is certainly the wettest we have ever seen it! Just last week, a visit to site revealed water levels like we have never seen them before, with all scrapes full and loads of water ‘flashing’ out onto the surrounding wet grassland.

This is excellent for more than one reason. Firstly, it helps…

Our monthly WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) count is part of a national scheme coordinated by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). All water birds using the site are counted on a monthly basis and the data used nationally to look at trends of these important species. Volunteer Warden, Ben Sofflet conducted January's count and here are his results....

58 wigeon

3 mallard

2 teal

1 shoveler

36 lapwing

220 black…

Bird interest at Beckingham throughout January remains with the wintering wildfowl and gulls. 250 wigeon are still grazing the wet grassland fields and smaller numbers of teal, mallard, gadwall and shoveler are present. Grazed areas on the wet fields are now very noticeable and bode well for the approaching breeding season. Large numbers of grazing wildfowl help to get the grassland into good condition for breeding waders…

It’s been a month or so now since we finished our major habitat management work on fields 16 and 17 at the eastern end of the site (see last blog) and our efforts are starting to pay off already!

Beckingham Marshes is an excellent site in the winter for wildfowl. Good numbers of mallard, teal, shoveler, gadwall and most importantly wigeon make the Marshes their home in the colder months. Wigeon in particular are…

Any readers of the Langford Lowfields blog will know that we have had an extremely busy month over September, planting 10,000 reed seedlings on Phase 2 and silt lagoon 7, hosting a visit from UK wide colleagues at the RSPB Reserves Conference and I even managed a weeks holiday down on Alderney!

But we have of course, been just as busy over at Beckingham with so much going on over August and September….

Our tireless…

....the best yet that is (see last blog)! The wader breeding season is now well and truly over at Beckingham and we are delighted to report on the best ever season for our target species - lapwing and redshank. The site is still very small and young, but this year we have smashed our previous record for lapwing productivity, with 11 pairs fledging a total of 17 young. This is a productivity of 1.55, which doesn't sound…

It certainly looks like it - that is, Beckingham's best ever breeding season! Since my last update we can now confirm 11 pairs of lapwing have attempted to breed on site this year and currently we have well into double figures of either fledged, or near fledged young! The fledglings have taken to hiding very well in the long grass, so it's proving a good challenge to find and count them, but we have high hopes for…

The breeding season is now in full swing at Beckingham and we are on course to have one of the best yet (hopefully!), with lapwings looking like they are so far, doing very well. We have 10-11 pairs on site, however they have between them a minimum of 20 chicks, many of these looking rather big and it won't be long before we are seeing the first fledge.

Lapwings typically lay four eggs, however good productivity…

With March upon us, we have finished our winter work programme for the year and that means that we have completed around two thirds of our hedge laying along Old Trent Road at the western end of the site. Considering this is a very big hedge to lay, our volunteers have done a brilliant job and the finished article looks fabulous!

We will continue on with the rest of the hedge from October this year.

On site last week…

Beckingham Marshes really looked wonderful yesterday afternoon in the late-February sunshine. As well as high water levels (perfect for this time of year), there were masses of birds using the wet scrapes and grassland on field 9, viewable from the viewing platform at the end of the visitor trail.

It also just so happened to be WeBS count day (Wetland Bird Survey). Here are my results -

150 wigeon - a whopping number…

It's been a busy month here at Beckingham Marshes with our hedgelaying along Old Trent Road taking up most of our time. This is coming on very well, with the hedge looking excellent - not a bad job at all by us amateurs! Hedgelaying is an old traditional practice, used for creating 'living' stock proof barriers without the need for fences or walls, a well laid hedge is not only functional, it also looks lovely…

It is well and truly back to work after the Christmas break at Beckingham Marshes and we have been busy in the last couple of weeks helping our fencing contractor, Colin to prepare for installing a new perimeter fence on the marshes. This new fence will replace the old and in places, dilapidated fence line, improving our boundary security.

But as always, we are never alone out on site - there is always something interesting…

And just a quick one to say a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our readers! We will be back to business and blogging as usual on Monday 4th January.

In the meantime, do look out for the slowly growing number of teal and wigeon on site, great spotted and green woodpeckers (both present recently), little owls calling from the hedgerows, little egrets feeding on wet scrapes and who knows, maybe someone will…

Winter is always a busy time at Beckingham, especially for our annual programme of hedge work. Hedgerow management is an important part of our work at Beckingham Marshes - not only does it help to encourage breeding waders, particularly lapwing (they don't like tall vegetation in the vicinity of their nests, tall trees and shrubs provide predator perches), it also helps to rejuvenate old under managed hedgerows, improving…

Whilst we wait for numbers of winter wildfowl and thrushes to increase on site and for the possibility of waxwings, Joe and Michael were treated to a winter delight last week on site, in the form of a short-eared owl hunting over the eastern end of the marshes. This is the first time in several years that short-eared owl has been recorded on site and is quite possibly a migrant bird from the Continent.

They are beautiful…

Well winter is officially here at Beckingham Marshes with the arrival of the first wildfowl on some of the wetter fields across the site. It's great to see these birds back, the males looking stunning in their new plumage - they certainly brighten up even the dullest of winter days.

Teal and mallard numbers are starting to slowly increase and we will expect gadwall and shoveler to arrive sometime over the winter…

Please see details and website link below for details of Mike's forthcoming exhibition in Collingham, near Newark, next month. Exhibits will be mostly based on the birds of Langford Lowfields (our other fabulous nature reserve) and Mike will be promoting his latest book - 'Taking Flight - The birds of Langford Lowfields'. It's great having our very own local artist working on site - thanks Mike!

For anyone…

It should be back to business as usual on the blog now, as I have just returned from the Isle of Wight - a week of watching great green bush crickets and wasp spiders - fabulous! But it's back up north now and after I was treated to my first ever whinchats at Beckingham two weeks ago, I was welcomed back on site by my first Beckingham stonechat of the autumn yesterday afternoon as I checked the anti-predator fence…

Two weeks ago I was delighted to see my first wheatears of the autumn down on the Marshes, however yesterday I was treated to a lovely surprise of three whinchats feeding along one of the field edges. This is a definite site tick for me (always great to get a site tick!) and possibly a first for the site altogether - watch this space!

Whinchat breed in more upland areas in the north and west of the UK, but have a breeding…

It's nearing the end of August now and migration season is well and truly getting underway at Beckingham. It is always an exciting time of year and the presence of passage northern wheatear always brightens up the day!

Northern wheatear, or Oenanthe oenanthe to be scientific are charming and charismatic little birds and can be seen at Beckingham every spring and autumn on their way up to more northerly breeding grounds…

With the lapwings now fledged off and long gone from site, it's that time of year when my attention turns more to insects. It's been fabulous to see so many butterflies on site in the last couple of weeks. The site has been full of meadow brown, gatekeeper, small tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies - look out for them on any flower heads on the field edges as you walk up to the viewing platform. It is particularly…

The last two weeks at Beckingham have seen a huge boom in the numbers of butterflies on the wing, with any flower heads on site positively teeming with meadow brown, gatekeeper, small and Essex skipper and small tortoiseshell. This is certainly the largest number of butterflies I've ever seen on site and has been very encouraging after such a slow start to the season. I have yet to see many Odonata on site this year and…

Back in September last year, some of you may have seen Marshsongs - a theatrical performance by Gainsborough based theatre group Kismet, telling the story of Beckingham Marshes. This was an innovative project and the first time the RSPB has worked with a theatre group to produce a dramatic performance like this.

Well, we are very pleased to announce that Marshsongs has won a national award recently. The production was…

Well we are nearly at the end of the breeding season - doesn't it go fast - and it looks like the final total for fledged lapwings will be 11-13. There are 8 fledged off already and another three very large young that look healthy and ready to go. This is the largest number of lapwing young ever to fledge from Beckingham Marshes and combined with us having the largest number of pairs ever attempt to breed this year…

Ever fancied wardening your own reserve? Well, now is you chance....we are currently looking for Volunteer Wardens for Beckingham Marshes. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Beckingham, it is on the Nottinghamshire side of the Trent opposite Gainsborough and just east of the village of Beckingham. It is a wet grassland site, managed for breeding waders, has good numbers of wintering wildfowl and a thriving tree sparrow…