Work is underway here at RSPB Fen Drayton Lakes on a new family trail to open in the spring. The route will take in several different habitats whilst being less than a mile long; perfect for seeing a little bit of what the reserve as a whole has to offer. Leaving the car park through the gate at the end, the trail will go north through our sandy area of ‘early successional grassland’, through the small wood and out into the floodplain meadow along the river before looping back with views over Drayton Lake and Holywell reedbed.
Area of Holywell north of the car park that our new family trail will traverse
You may have already heard that we are looking to improve our visitor facilities over the next few years. These improvements, of which the new trail is a part, have been in the planning stages for a long time so we are pleased to say that real progress is now being made.
The first stages of this project involve providing more facilities for visitors to enhance your experience, such as repairing and improving tracks and surfaces, creating wild play features for children and families, opening new trails and providing much needed permanent toilet facilities helping everyone to enjoy their visit even more. We hope these improvements will benefit all our visitors and that you will support us in this next important step for the reserve.
To help fund these improvements, we will shortly be introducing a £2 car park fee for non-members of RSPB visiting Fen Drayton Lakes. RSPB members and Blue Badge holders do not need to pay. This small car parking fee will also help us ensure we are maintaining facilities to a high standard for our visitor’s comfort and safety. As a charity, we need to maximise opportunities to raise income wherever possible to financially support our charitable purpose of conserving wildlife and habitats.
Winter is always busy on the reserve with many birds from northern Europe spending the winter with us. At this time of year, you may be able to spot fieldfare, bullfinch, woodpeckers, herons, great crested grebes and hundreds of over-wintering waterbirds such as goldeneye and wigeon. We hope you’ll come and see us soon.
If you would like to join the 1.2 million RSPB members to help protect wildlife and the special places it lives, or would like to find out more about membership, please take a look on our website at www.rspb.org.uk/join-and-donate/join-us/.