Contractors began work for us on Friday, preparing an area for educational activities (such as lagoon dipping), on the central spit on the south side of Ferry Lagoon.  Re-arranging some top soil there will cause some disruption for weekday visitors using the permissive bridleway between the southern shore and the guided busway, so we apologise for any inconvenience.

We are looking forward to using some great new features…

This morning's guided walk was focussed on duck courtship.  At times, we felt the ducks were more focussed on feeding, but the goldeneyes did show off for us (and their ladies) eventually.  Perhaps they just needed the morning to warm up a bit first.  Towards the end of the walk, we had great views of a flock of about 20 siskins, feeding in alder trees beside our path.  The males were a brilliant yellow in the spring…

A few warm days have encouraged more people to get out and about, and they've been seeing birds on the move, both long-distance migrants and local residents moving to breeding territories.

Six goosanders were on Drayton Lagoon on Thursday; two green sandpipers and a shelduck flew over this morning.   The first oystercatchers and ringed plovers have returned to the spots where breeding was recorded here last year.  Yellowhammers…

Our guided walk on 6 March will focus on watching goldeneyes courting, and the birds are busy already.  They can be seen on most of our lakes, and in good numbers too.  We did our monthly Wetland Bird Survey last Sunday, when 105 goldeneyes were counted.  There were 488 tufted ducks, our other common black-and-white diving duck (or should I say drake, as the females of both species are shades of brown), so there are lots…

The wind is whipping up white horses on our lakes and waves are crashing onto the shores - not ideal for spotting waterbirds.  In fact, it was so rough that many birds had got out of the water and were sitting on the grassy banks on the sheltered sides this morning.

A party of seven white-fronted geese has settled at Fen Drayton Lakes, and can usually be found in the grassland area between Ferry Lagoon and the River Great Ouse. They're not always seen - you may need to search around for them. Their favoured area is uneven ground, so sometimes they just disappear into a dip. This species isn't often recorded here - and it is usually just for a few hours. Perhaps these grazing…

The Environment Agency has withdrawn the Flood Alert for our area - but you'll still need your wellies on our muddy paths.

Our lakes are rapidly taking in water from the River Great Ouse, via the network of streams and inter-connecting pipes, and the Environment Agency has issued a Flood Alert for the River Great Ouse in Cambridgeshire.

Sections of paths on the east and north side of Drayton Lagoon, and between Elney Lake and Moore Lake, are already under water; many other paths are very muddy. 

As water levels continue to rise, the road to…

One good thing about the weather we've been having lately is that is can bring some birds into the area that we wouldn't normally expect to see. Today was all about geese. After some interesting sightings over the last couple of days, I decided to get out and see how many geese were around the lakes. Most numerous, as always, were the Canadas and greylags, with counts of 177 and 153 respectively. The numbers include two…

I've added a new photograph to the Gallery. A cracking picture of a fox at the edge of a frozen Elney Lake. The photo was taken by Nigel Russell on 17th December.

Fox sightings have increased around the lakes in the last few weeks as finding food becomes more difficult.

The freezing conditions have returned and many of the lakes are completely frozen over. What little open water remains is crammed full of waterfowl, jostling for position in what can only be described as a scrum!

Not too many reports from Saturday; perhaps the lure of Christmas shopping was too great. A peregrine was seen over Ferry Lagoon, and later at Mare Fen, there were two smew on Swavesey Lake and 6 goosanders…

Lakes Watch is a new initiative, a partnership between the RSPB at Fen Drayton Lakes and Cambridgeshire Constabulary, and it will be launched on Sunday 19 December.

It is based on the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme, and our neighbours and regular visitors are encouraged to join in.

Since the RSPB acquired Fen Drayton Lakes, there has been a marked decrease in vandalism here - and with your help, we'd like to reduce it to…

I've added a very nice photograph of a frosty Ferry Lagoon to the Gallery. The photo was sent to us by Dave Messenger and was taken on 7th December 2010.

With temperatures back into positive figures, just, and the ice receeding, it's actually getting a little bit more tricky to see birds like bitterns and water rails. However, careful watching of the lake shores and islands today produced 3 bitterns at Drayton Lagoon, Oxholme Lake and flying into Holywell Lake. Water rails can still be heard, squealing like little pigs, around many of the lakes, even if seeing them has…

If the weather keeps on like this, we're going to run out of superlatives! The lakes are now 90% frozen over, with only small patches of water being kept open by the feeding activities of the coots, swans and other waterfowl.

A co-ordinated count of the bitterns, this afternoon, confirmed at least 8 birds to be present. The best locations were Drayton Lagoon (4) and Oxholme Lake (3) - one bird spending most of the…

Well, I said the freezing conditions would produce bittern sightings! This morning's 4 turned into a definite 6, and there could be more - possibly as many as 8. The best place to look was from the slipway at Drayton Lagoon, where at least 5 were seen, this afternoon, standing in the open along the north shore and flying to and from the island and the small patch of reeds beside the slipway. At the same time, 1 was showing…

The numbers of wintering waterfowl continued to rise over the weekend. Pick of the bunch were the goosanders, with 4 drakes and 9 redheads on Drayton Lagoon on Sunday. The smew also managed to increase in number and by Sunday there were 3 redheads on Drayton Lagoon, as well as the drake and redhead on Swavesey Lake. The immature male long-tailed duck remained on Ferry Lagoon. On Saturday, we were briefly visited by 16…

The numbers of ducks avoiding the freezing conditions further east continue to rise. Wigeon, teal, shovelers and pintails are all more numerous than they have been in recent weeks. The 'sawbill' numbers are also rising. The smew count is now up to four, with two redheads being seen on Drayton Lagoon, as well as the drake and redhead on Swavesey Lake. The goosander numbers have risen to eight on Drayton Lagoon; still two…

Only a couple of hundred starlings came into the roost, this afternoon. We had suspected that numbers would drop off as the birds headed further south and west in search of frost free ground, but to go from thousands to hundreds in only two nights is rather rapid. It begs the question 'Is it over for this year?' - only time will tell.

Around the rest of the lakes, the two smew remain on Swavesey Lake. Yesterday…

There were two fine drake goosanders on Drayton Lagoon, this afternoon, with two redheads in close attendance. The redheads are probably females, but young and eclipse males can also look like the females at a distance. The drake and redhead smew are also still present on Swavesey Lake.

Another good showing from the starlings, with 8 to 9,000 coming in to roost. Only one sparrowhawk, but that was enough to take one unlucky…

Well, we had our first snow of the winter period, this morning, but it only lasted half an hour and didn't really come to much. The most significant change, however, is that some of the lakes have started to freeze over, most notably Holywell Lake. Oxholme Lake, Elney Lake & Far Fen Lake are all showing significant amounts of ice. As the lakes freeze, the birds are concentrated into smaller areas and actually show better…

Pick of the weekend's sightings was our first drake smew of this winter period. This fine male joined the redhead on Swavesey Lake on Sunday. Another 'sawbill', a male goosander, was also seen over the weekend, on Drayton Lagoon on Saturday. These ducks are known as sawbills because of the serrated edge to their beak - handy when you are trying to keep hold of a slippery fish.

In the meantime, the immature…

Between 9 and 10 thousand starlings came into the roost again, this afternoon. All the action happened between 3:30 and 4pm. It will be interesting to see what happens with the temperatures forecast to plummet over the weekend. As usual, there was a female sparrowhawk in close attendance.

Also at Holywell Lake were a water rail and a Cetti's warbler. A female marsh harrier flew over at 3:45, heading north.

Elsewhere…

I checked the starling roost, this afternoon, with the expectation that the numbers would be fewer than recent days. The first birds started to arrive in small numbers, just after 3:15. By 3:40, there were around 4000 in the sky and they put on a reasonably good show until they dropped into the reeds, narrowly avoiding the attentions of the now-regular sparrowhawk. What surprised me, however, was the numbers of late arrivals…