Before Six O’Clock - a poem by Sr Margaret Atkins

Before six o’clock it is their kingdom, each

A singing centre, a lord of its own.

Humanity asleep is sidelined; I

Irrelevant, alert, alone,

In khaki slow-paced silence, fearing to break

Their dawnlight assurance of early May.

The blackbirds carol, from peak of every tree,

The song thrush chants his doubled lay.

                        The tiny avian king - troglodytes twice …

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…

With the end of the year approaching there were plenty of interesting birds turning up on the reserve. A cold snap saw overnight temperatures falling to -8 degrees and staying below freezing for about a week. The reserve was transformed into a winter wonderland and waterfowl were massing on the remaining open water. Sightings of note during the month included:

• Great Egret - 8 flying over Holywell on 3rd, 14 on Ferry on…

This didn't feel like a typical November when you'd expect Autumn to be in it's last throws. The very mild weather encouraged birds to continue to be on the move and it felt more like October for the most part. This was exemplified by the sighting of a Little Stint on Moore on the 9th and an Osprey over Ferry on the 20th, the latter was one of the latest records ever for Cambridgeshire. By the month end, our…

October is one of the most exciting months in the birding calendar as the departure of summer migrants and winter visitors both take place at similar times. It can be possible to have a Swallow hawking around whilst the first Redwings arrive, making their 'seeep' call overhead. This wonderful collision of seasonal visitors also leads to less common species occurring. The highlight this month was the two Spoonbills which…

With the days starting to get shorter the birds start to get moving to their wintering grounds. At Fen Drayton Lakes this means chance of some unusual waders and visible migration overhead in the form of finches and larks. Highlight of the month went to a juvenile Osprey which showed well for several observers at Oxholme Lake on the 9th before departing. Elsewhere on the reserve Moore Lake seemed to be the place to be…

News of the month concerned the discovery of two juvenile Turtle Doves on 15th, which had clearly been hatched on site. Despite there being up to six territories of the species this year, proving breeding was looking like a difficult task so it was nice to confirm they had bred. The best area to see them was in the orchard where they joined up to 4 adults and at least 20 Collared Doves. Quite why so many doves were attracted…

The breeding season reached a peak in July with all of the gull and some of the tern chicks fledging from Ferry. Unfortunately on Moore the Lesser Black-backed Gulls picked off pretty much all of the chicks there which was sad to see. Overall though it has been a very good year for the Black-headed Gulls with many of the 600 pairs managing to fledge at least one young each. The fledglings loafed around the margins of…

With the progression into summer the focus has moved on to breeding birds. We have been doing surveys to assess population levels and there are some species having very good years including the Black-headed Gulls with over 500 pairs on Ferry Lagoon alone producing at least 100 young so far. Turtle Doves are here in good numbers this year with 6 territories thought to be present and evidence of females in 2 of them. The…

After such a good April it was going to be hard to keep up the pace of sightings during May. However there were still some unusual sightings around the reserve headlined by a group of 7 Glossy Ibis which called in on 26th. Other sightings of note:

• Bar-tailed Godwit - on on Ferry on 1st
• Goldeneye - late male on Moore on 1st
• Little Ringed Plover - two on Moore on 1st
• Yellow Wagtail - 3 along entrance road on 2nd
• Corn Bunting…

Simply put, April was an excellent month at Fen Drayton Lakes RSPB. There were lots of new birds for the year with the expected arrival of summer-migrants that featured everything from terns to warblers, to turtle doves and waders. The 20th was a red-letter day with the reserve's first record of Savi's Warbler. It only stayed for a day and was present in a sensitive part of the reserve so news couldn't be released. Also…

March is a funny month in the birding calendar. So much hope and anticipation at spring migration beginning, but often in reality we have to wait for April till the migrant floodgates open. Saying that, there was the expected arrival of Chiffchaffs which at one point late in the month were audible almost wherever you were on the reserve. Other signs of spring during a prolonged sunny spell included Brimstone butterflies…

February 2022 was a month dominated by storms. The high winds and rainfall meant getting out birding for a lot of the visitors was a bit tricky and there were a number of trees down around the reserve for the warden team to clear. Despite the less-than-ideal conditions a good number of uncommon species were found and some early spring migrants spotted.

• The first Oystercatcher of the 'spring' was back on Moore Lake on…

In the first of a new series of monthly blogs we are going to run in 2022, here is a short summary of the bird highlights at Fen Drayton Lakes during January.

The first month of a new year is always an exciting time for birdwatchers as they start a new year list and get out for some fresh air after the Christmas festivities. The standout species was the continuing flock of Smew which peaked at 10 birds on 10th. Their…

Here is our reserve bird list for the year (2022). Resident species that may be seen year-round are marked with “(r)”.

1. Canada goose (r)
2. Barnacle goose (28/04; presumed feral bird)
3. greylag goose (r)
4. pink-footed goose
5. white-fronted goose (01/01)
6. mute swan (r)
7. Egyptian goose (r)
8. shelduck (26/02)
9. garganey (16/03)
10. shoveler (r)
11. gadwall (r)
12. wigeon (present winter)
13. mallard (r)
14. pintail (04/01; present winter)
15. teal…

The winter build-up of starlings at dusk has occurred and visitors to the reserve are being treated to a great display. One visitor recently sent us this link to a great video of the murmuration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psAMVhTU3DY

Enjoy!

The closing of the year presents a good time to summarise the wildlife goings-on that have taken place over the past 12 months. Overall, it has been an exciting year; however varied water levels posed a challenge for some species to overcome.

Early winter flooding meant the reserve effectively became one giant lake. The ducks were having a great time with large numbers of wigeon, tufted duck, pintail, shoveler and goldeneye…

By Henry Cook – Assistant Warden – RSPB Fen Drayton Lakes

With the rising mercury, long summer days encourage an ancient group of insects, as old as the dinosaurs, to take to the air. Dragonflies and damselflies, collectively known as odonata, emerge out of the water following several years as a nymph, climb up stems and emerge as an adult. At this time, smaller insects better watch out as odonata are experts…

Here is our reserve bird list for the year (2021). We will try to routinely update the list and hopefully match last year's count of 169 species. Dates are when first seen/reported (unless 01/01-04/01 when initial list put up). 

1. Canada goose
2. barnacle goose (17/01, fly-over)
3. greylag goose
4. pink-footed goose (fly-over)
5. white-fronted goose
6. mute swan
7. whooper swan (19/10)
8. Egyptian goose
9. shelduck 
10. garganey
11. shoveler
12. gadw…

Here is our reserve bird list for the year (2020). We will try to routinely update the list and hopefully match last year's count of 133 species. Dates are when first seen/reported (unless 01/01-10/01 when initial list put up). 

Edit 04/01/21: And that's a wrap with 169 species seen. Not too bad! A big thank you to all the visitors who were out at all times and in all conditions walking around the reserve and reporting…

Our year on the reserve is split into two halves: the autumn-winter habitat management season and the spring-summer breeding season.

From September through to the end of February we are busy going around the reserve carrying out work to maintain or enhance areas for our key breeding species. Most of this work is guided by the reserve species targets in our management plan. These targets detail the species, avian or otherwise…

As I write, Fen Drayton Lakes is recovering from our largest flood for a number of years and is still under a significant amount of water.

Due to being on the flood plain of the River Great Ouse, back when the reserve was still an active gravel quarry, banks were built around the pits to keep the river out. These were never removed when the quarrying ended which has inadvertently led to the lakes becoming reservoirs for…

Nightingale are one of those species that most people have heard of, but few have seen. These renowned songsters are closely related to the robin, but are a little larger and the very definition of a ‘little brown bird’ having plain brown upperparts, paler underparts and a more reddish-brown tail. Despite their plain looks, nightingale are deserving of their reputation as wonderful singers with studies identifying up…

Long ago, rivers were free to meander around, flood and change their course. Marshes and reedbeds would form around them and in their flood plains, only to dry out and turn into grassland or woodland as the river’s course moved. This wasn’t a problem, as new reedbed and marsh would form on the new route allowing the cycle to continue. Nowadays, rivers are locked into the artificial channels and embankments we have made…

With the 2019 breeding season at an end, it’s time to look back at a season of successes and notable absences.

To our great joy our pre-dawn bittern surveys back in April quickly picked up two booming males; one on Holywell and one on Elney. These two boomers kept going throughout April and into May, although we were unable to conclusively confirm if either had attracted a female to successfully breed. Whilst a…