A first-winter male long-tailed duck turned up last week, and pleased many visitors who came especially to see him, although he sometimes made them wait.  I heard of people watching for up to an hour and a half, then spot him sitting out on open water.  Where had it been?  How did it get there? 

I checked the lake this morning, hoping he'd still be here for a guided walk in the afternoon.  In 10 minutes, there was no…

I was out in the fields of Middle Fen, this morning. Middle Fen is an interesting part of Fen Drayton Lakes as it still retains many of its old field boundaries and ancient grassland habitats. Shallow patches of water can make parts of Middle Fen very attractive to breeding waders such a lapwing, redshank and snipe, and this is something we shall be working on in the coming years as we enter the site into Countryside Stewardship…

I watched our starling roost again last night, and it was as good as ever, although a bit different too. 

One lady came to watch the starling roost as her birthday treat.  She told me it was a "big" birthday, and she'd never seen a starling roost other than on TV and the RSPB web site (http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/s/starling/roosting.aspx).  I was so relieved that the starlings played their…

A drake long-tailed duck is currently on Swavesey Lake - very convenient for me to see on my way from the office to watch the starling roost at Holywell Lake yesterday afternoon.  Long-tailed ducks are usually found in coastal waters around the northern parts of the UK, so a small lake in Cambridgeshire is not where you'd expect to see one.  It is many years since anyone saw one here, and well worth a look.  He was still…

I've been stuck in the office all day, and was just beginning to feel pleased that I've got through a lot of work, when one of our volunteers phoned me.

The news was frustrating - I've missed another superb flying display!  Perhaps as many as 5000 birds put on a brilliant performance, with a beautiful sunset behind them (the office window faces to wrong way to even be aware of the sunset).  After the flock funnelled…

9000 or so starlings gave another fantastic formation flying display over Holywell Lake on Saturday evening, with a colourful sunset behind them.  After the "interlude", several hundred (even thousands of) jackdaws and rooks gave their own performance, just before it got too dark to see them.  All of this, without leaving the car park!

a bittern and a female marsh harrier were seen early this morning, and the pair of red-crested pochards were on Far Fen Lake later in the morning.  2 little egrets were at Moore Lake, another was on Ferry Lagoon.  Goldfinches and Cetti's warblers seemed to be everywhere, and I was lucky to be under the flight path of some siskins.

Today's guided walk started off in fine, almost warm weather, and finished as the first few spots of rain fell.  In between times, we found all the duck species known to be present right now, including goldeneyes and pintails.  There were lots of opportunities for people to look closely and compare the similar species - goldeneyes, tufted ducks and pochards, drake pochards and wigeons, or the female dabblers (gadwall…

Malcolm the Wizard told tales of ghosts and mysterious happenings tonight to the families who were brave enough to come out , to a place without lighting, without wind rustling the leaves, but lots of other, mysterious sounds all around us.  We walked under the stars, as bats whizzed over our heads, tawny owls hooted from a nearby wood, and the sky glowed behind the haunted inn as the wizard told us of the spirit buried…

79 bird species were recorded here today, with a bittern recorded early in the day, and one lucky person found the first marsh tit seen here for ages, then moments later she heard a party of bearded reedlings "pinging" in the reeds nearby.  The pair of red-crested pochards were still on Far Fen Lake, a stonechat wasn't far from them.  One of our volunteers began to wonder which season we were in when he found…

I heard a tawny owl's calls as I cycled home on Thursday night, and had great views of a barn owl the following night.  The latter was hunting the edge of a field alongside my route home, and it came to within 10 metres of me.  Brilliant!

Will we see or hear them - or other nocturnal beings - on Sunday 31st, during our Halloween story-telling walk?  We'll be looking for Juliet Tewsley (a local ghost) and Black Shuck…

Sunshine, clear skies, no wind, lots of visitors...and 83 bird species reported by the visitors and our volunteers.  No-one relocated the great grey shrike, so we have to assume it has moved on, but keen-eyed and keen-eared people did find bearded reedlings, bramblings, siskins and redpolls, a marsh harrier, goldeneyes, chiffchaffs, water rails, a little stint, a common sandpiper, stonechats and a bittern. 

Many visitors…

The great grey shrike that turned up here yesterday couldn't be found today - how many times do rare birds turn up during the week, but disappear overnight on Friday, to frustrate those who were unable to go to look during the week?

The birders who went looking this morning did have other uncommon birds in compensation - our first stonechats for the winter had arrived in their usual area, and some people even managed…

I claim not to be a twitcher, but this afternoon I made an exception.

I was in the Fen Drayton Lakes car park, waiting for a visiting group to arrive.  Just as they appeared, my mobile phone rang.  One of our local bird watchers was calling to tell me he had just found a great grey shrike - about 500 metres away (as the shrike flies)  from where I was standing.

I took the group of students, who will be making a series…

The birdwatching at Fen Drayton Lakes this weekend has been all about migration, with lingering summer visitors and newly-arrived winter visitors.  Willow warblers, yellow wagtails and hobbies have been holding on for the summer brigade, while redwings, bramblings, siskins, lesser redpolls and the first goldeneye of the autumn were all new arrivals.

For me, however, the highlight was the spectacular starling swarms.  Four…

Contractors for the County Council will be refurbishing the bailey bridge on our entrance road between Monday 11 and Friday 15 October, effectively closing the road.  Motorists can still drive to our car park by coming through Fen Drayton village, but this road is badly pot-holed between the village and the gravelled section of the byway.   Now that we've had a lot of rain, and water is standing in the pot-holes, you cannot…

It feels like it, with the cooler temperatures and autumnal high winds.  We've reached the end of the summer holiday programme of mini-beast events, having run three hunts for grassland bugs and nine for water bugs, and an art workshop.  We've had many highlights, ranging from the numbers of water stick-insects, water scorpions, back swimmers and a huge leech.

We've also have some lovely comments from the children…

We've had a great day, and there's been something for everyone at Fen Drayton Lakes today.  The sun brought out dragonflies and butterflies, there were 82 bird species, including bitterns, hobbies, spotted flycatchers and migrant waders for the bird watchers, and water stick insects and screech beetles for the pond dippers.

Saturday didn't seem the best weather to go out here, but dodging the downpours was worthwhile to see a party of eight black terns here at Fen Drayton Lakes.  There were juvenile and adult birds in the group, the latter were all moulting into their non-breeding plumage, and they were hunting the same area as a few common terns, which was great for making comparisons.  The black terns, were smallers, and their flight…

Only 63 bird species were recorded today, but they included a hobby and a bittern, both seen from the car park - the latter was seen twice within 30 minutes around mid day.  Roving flocks of warblers included lesser and common whitethroats, garden warblers and blackcaps, but our Cetti's warblers seem to have fallen silent for now.

The rounded water beetles that were found by children recently on a pond dipping event have been identified as saucer bugs.  It is marvellous what a volunteer can find on the internet!  We caught more saucer bugs yesterday, along with leeches, flatworms, damselfly and caddisfly nymphs and water-scorpions.

However, the most impressive catch of the day was a water stick-insect that was almost 9cm long - far too long to put…

The oldest of our common tern chicks are now beginning to fly, and the remainder should be flying within the week.

Migrant dunlins, common and green sandpipers were seen today

A mallard with two very small ducklings, perhaps a couple of days old, was on Drayton Lagoon yesterday (Saturday), and a tufted duck had a couple of slightly older ducklings with her on Ferry Lagoon.  A mallard was seen with five small ducklings on Elney Lake this morning.

The common tern chicks are growing well, and providing some fascinating moments.  For example, we have a pair of rafts near the Ferry Lagoon viewpoint…

We now have several common tern chicks on rafts in various lakes here at Fen Drayton Lakes.  The oldest chicks are just over a week old now, but are now fairly easy to spot as they're quite active - especially when a parent delivers a small fish.  Friends donated unwanted or broken large terracotta pots to us, and these are on the rafts to offer protection to the chicks.  The chicks have been sheltering from the blazing…