With temperatures in the high 20s in the car park, where we were sheltered from the cooling breeze, it was hard to believe that temperatures in the same spot last weekend were in single figures.

A red kite flew over as we were setting up the information point, at least 10 black terns spent the day hawking over Ferry Mere, and some lucky visitors saw a turtle dove fly over, all adding to our tally of 73 bird species recorded…

...the birds were worth making the effort of putting on the winter clothes.  We had hundreds of low-flying swifts, swallows and house martins hawking over lakes and tracks, and occasionally swifts whizzed through the car park at ankle height.  Fantastic, though risky!

A black tern was watched on Ferry Mere during our dusk chorus walk on Friday, and a grasshopper warbler sang near Moore Lake - both of them "new" birds for…

Water levels are falling slowly, and paths still have standing water in places, but the bird watching has been very good recently.

We watched at least five hobbies flying together, catching damselflies and eating them as the predators continued to fly.  Common terns seemed to be favouring one area of Elney Lake for hunting, and a carrion crow took exception to buzzard that flew over, which entertained the group I was…

Flooding has receded and our car park is accessible again, but with more heavy rain forecasted, please keep checking the situation with us before making a long journey.

An avocet flew over the car park just after people left following our guided walk this morning; we had birded along Holywell Ferry Road, recording nine different warbler species, then we saw a hobby on the south side of Elney Lake.

Flooding has continued through Sunday, and each of our lakes is overflowing into the adjacent lake, creating one super lake.

Visitors can still see birds from the entrance road - today there were some yellow wagtails (before water levels completely covered the area they had been in), swallows, house martins and swifts were swarming low over the water for insects, and warblers were singing in the hedges.

We'll meet and…

Access update: The small (Elney) car park is now flooded and the main car park also remains closed. Many footpaths are flooded, including access routes to the hide.

Water levels have risen again overnight, particularly around Elney, Drayton and Moore Lakes. Elney Lake has risen by nearly 2m since the flooding began on Sunday and Moore Lake is now a sea of water - all the islands are submerged. This has obviously had a…

Unfortunately, the flood waters have continued to rise overnight & through this morning - the water level in Elney Lake has come up by over a metre in 48 hours. Therefore, the Holywell Lake car park and the Coucher hide at Moore Lake remain closed. Low lying paths in the western half of the site, such as the one circling Elney Lake are impassable. The flood gates are closed on the Guided Busway cyclepath. The public footpaths…

Following the recent heavy rains, an Environment Agency Flood Alert has been issued for our section of the river Ouse. Water levels are rising rapidly and several parts of the reserve are now cut off.

We have therefore had to make the decision to close the Holywell Lake car park and the Coucher Hide at Moore Lake. The paths that are currently impassable include the path leading to the hide and the Busway cycletrack to…

Swallows and house martins have provided some of the best wildlife moments this weekend here at Fen Drayton Lakes. 

A group of families came to us yesterday for the first in a series of visits.   Yesterday’s event was dry, though the wind was cold, so we went in search of shelter, behind trees.  There, we found our flock of birds feeding on aerial insects just above our heads.  We stood still, and the birds just flew…

The RSPB Fen Drayton Lakes Wildlife Explorers group met for the first time on Saturday afternoon.  A busy programme of activities was put together, with the main one being a bug hunt.

Many of our members are already experts at this, as they've joined us on these events in the past, so they needed little guidance on where to look.  There were lots of bugs, with a number of different bumblebees, solitary bees, flies…

Many of our summer visitors have arrived in the last few days, with swallows, house martins, common terns and a range of warblers now being seen.  In fact, nine of the ten warbler species that bred here last year are already represented.  We are waiting for our first lesser whitethroat, which must be imminent, as members of the RSPB local group from Brighton & District came to us this afternoon after spending the morning…

The first brood of greylags was found yesterday morning - 4 goslings following mother across the wide expanse of western Elney Lake, and they looked terrified by all of that space.  They were possibly still inside their egg 24 hours previously, so space must come as a shock.  See Kev's picture of them below, or in our gallery.

A pair of Egyptian geese had four goslings with them on Moore Lake this morning - the second…

Another day of dreary weather, but around 100 brick-red beauties rewarded some optimistic visitors who happened to be here mid afternoon.

Which brick-red beauties?  Black-tailed godwits in breeding plumage.

Earlier in the day people had seen flocks passing overhead, but finally one flock landed, enabling us to enjoy watching them feeding, preening and resting, before they set off to the north-east.

Quite a few people got out this morning to make the most of the sunshine (and frost).  Their highlights were a beautifull male yellow wagtail and a little ringed plover near the Coucher Hide (Moore Lake), and a sedge warbler at Drayton Lagoon.  Chiffchaffs seemed to be everywhere, and blackcaps were singing in several places.  One couple watched a merlin hunting the farmland alongside our entrance road, having previously…

A big thank you to the eleven people who joined Ricky & I for the Raptor Watch on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the weather did not help, with a freezing cold northly wind blowing across the lakes. However, we did manage to see four common buzzards, two kestrels and a female sparrowhawk. All of these birds are local to the area, so were ones we were expecting to see.

To keep ourselves occupied during the quieter…

As it was the first day of spring on 20th March, the tern rafts were put out on Moore Lake and Ferry Lagoon ready for the return of the common terns. Waders were much in evidence that day, with a green sandpiper & two ruff passing through and oystercatchers, redshanks and lapwing all showing signs of holding territories.

The reedbeds are begining to come alive; a sighting of a pair of bearded tits (I'm old school…

Mothers' Day, a cold breeze and a rainy forecast - not a good combination for a busy day at Fen Drayton Lakes, but there were rewards for our visitors.

Chiffchaffs were singing in several locations, a handful of sand martins were spotted and a first-time visitor found our first wheatear of the year.  We hope this visitor will return soon and make more discoveries!

It was too cold for butterflies, but 70 other bird…

We had an opportunity to look at fieldfares through our telescopes during yesterday's Wednesday Wander guided walk.  Lovely to see, although in much duller light than on Sunday, when Colin took his photo that is on our gallery.  While we were looking at the winter visitors, I heard a chiffchaff singing a little way off, my first one for this year.

Another highlight was a Cetti's warbler that burst into song right next…

...Fen Drayton Lakes' volunteer Nigel Sprowell, who has scooped the honours in the Cambridgeshire Bird Club's Photo of the Year, 2011.  25 images of birds taken in the county during 2011 were put to the vote, for visitors to the bird club's online gallery to decide. 

Nigel's winning image was taken here at Fen Drayton last summer, showing a huddle of six treecreepers, just minutes after they had fledged their…

The party of six tundra bean geese has been reported at Moore Lake again this morning, see from the Coucher Hide.

Steve has just reported a red kite flying over the car park at around 1pm today - I hope he managed to get a photo add to our gallery.

We saw the geese during yesterday afternoon's guided walk, when we also saw common and green sandpipers, a redshank, a pair of oystercatchers, displaying lapwings, a pair…

Additional cycle racks have now been installed, alongside the guided busway and next to the viewing shelter by the request stop, so an ideal spot for our cycling visitors.  Other racks are located in the large car park (overlooking Holywell Lake) and the viewpoint at the south-east corner of Elney Lake.

We now have six tundra bean geese dividing their time between Moore Lake and the adjacent wheat field, to the south of the lake.  The sixth one was spotted yesterday - had it just arrived or had we overlooked it?

The geese were in the field earlier this morning, and they'll be our primary "target " for this afternoon's guided walk, when we will look for spring flowers too - the first blackthorn blossom is…

Today's rain was enough to discourage most people from going for a walk, but there were rewards for a few brave birders who reached shelter of the Coucher Hide, overlooking Moore Lake.  Before reaching the hide, two people found a flock of eight siskins in the alders on the south side of Elney Lake.

Just metres in front of the hide, feeding in channels we've cut through the reeds, were some snipe and reed buntings…

A team of volunteers working on the north side of Ferry Lagoon this morning  has reported seeing a couple of goosanders and a couple of oystercatchers

One of the nice features, this winter, has been the presence of up to three short-eared owls hunting over the fields along our Entrance Track.

The following photographs were taken by Garth Peacock, on Friday 27th January 2012.

Watch out for the owls from around 3pm onwards. They favour the arable revesion field to the south of the Entrance Track, between the Bailey bridge and the junction with Holywell Ferry Road…