• Volunteers

    This week we focus on the brilliant volunteers who keep Flatford Wildlife Garden looking so attractive to both wildlife and the visitors. Behind the scenes, a group of about 12 garden volunteers meets once a week throughout the year. The focus is on nurturing plants that have maximum benefit to wildlife, providing shelter, protection and nutrition to wildlife all year round. Planting, weeding, watering, pruning and many…

  • Brilliant Bees

    Although we are still experiencing some cold temperatures and frosty mornings, there are signs that spring is on its way. And for those pollinators that survive the winter, the flowers that we plant in our gardens can be true lifesavers, at this time of year in particular.

    Take bumblebees for example. There are 24 species of bumblebee in the UK. Whilst the rest of the colony (the workers, males and old queens) dies at the…

  • It's time for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch!

    This weekend brings one of the biggest events in the RSPB’s calendar – the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, running from 27-29 January. Every year, around 700000 people take part, making the Birdwatch the largest citizen science survey in the UK.

    The Big Garden Birdwatch is vital in raising the alarm to changes in bird populations. Last time on this blog, we looked at the recorded decline in house sparrows. The…

  • Get ready for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

    Now that January and the new year are here, it's time to turn our attention to the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which this year takes place on 27-29 January. By counting the birds in your garden, local park, RSPB reserve or even at a window feeder for just one hour, you, along with hundreds of thousands of other like-minded nature lovers, can take action to protect our birds for generations to come. 

    The results of the…

  • Today is World Soil Day!

    Today is World Soil Day, a United Nations initiative aimed at highlighting the huge importance of soil in providing the world with healthy food and the need for sustainable soil management across the globe. Soil is a hugely rich resource - amazingly, one tablespoon of soil contains more living organisms than there are people on earth!

    According to the UN, 95% of our food globally comes from soil. But over the last 70…

  • Winter visitors

    As temperatures finally start to drop to more normal November levels, we can now expect to see more of our winter visitors from the north, such as redwings. The UK's smallest thrush migrates from Scandinavia and Iceland during autumn, from late September onwards. Redwings migrate predominantly at night, moving mainly when the sky is clear and the wind is in the east. Whilst migrating, they maintain contact with each…

  • In praise of the humble Ivy!

    Ivy (Hedera helix) is one of those plants that can look rather scruffy and unruly in our gardens, particularly at this time of year. But its value to our garden wildlife cannot be overestimated, so it's really important to resist the urge to cut it all back for a good tidy up! Over recent weeks, flowering ivy has been providing a vital source of pollen and nectar for pollinators. Just as most flowering plants are dying off…

  • Halloween is coming!

    We may be about to see many bats as decorations and dressing up costumes over the next ten days, but in nature bats are now hard to spot as they are about to enter their long hibernation period. Amazingly, bats represent almost a quarter of all UK mammals! Here in the UK, we have some 18 species of bat, 17 of which breed on the British mainland. The largest UK bat is the noctule, which weighs the same as four £1 coins…

  • A visiting shrew

    In recent weeks, some visitors to the pond at RSPB Flatford Wildlfe Garden have been treated to a sighting of one of the UK’s most intriguing small mammals – the water shrew. The largest of the three British shrews (the other being the common shrew and the pygmy shrew), the water shrew can grow to a length of 9cm, with a tail of up to 8cm. It has a dark grey or black back, with a white underside. The water…

  • The beauty of seedheads

    As we pass the equinox and summer fades into autumn in our gardens, it’s all too tempting to have a good clear up by removing the old spent flowers. However, these could provide a vital food and habitat source for our wildlife over the challenging autumn and winter months to come.

    Goldfinch (carduelis carduelis) perched on teasel seedhead

    Photo: Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)

    Here at Flatford Wildlife Garden, we…

  • Some intriguing visitors...

    It has been a busy summer at Flatford Wildlife Garden, with plenty of visitors of both the human and animal varieties! Like many lucky gardeners this year, we were treated to a visit from a hummingbird hawkmoth. According to the British Trust for Ornithology, it has been a bumper year for these striking moths in the UK, with 5.2% of gardens surveyed reporting a sighting, compared to just 1.3% in a typical year. It seems…

  • Big Wild Sleepout

    This weekend, one of the hottest of the year, families gathered at Flatford for a RSPB Big Wild Sleepout event. Arriving on Saturday afternoon, children joined in first with activities under the shade of the gazebos, including making a souvenir pendant, creating a clay animal or playing in the mud kitchen. Once the tents were all put up in the field, families gathered in Flatford Wildlife Garden to cook their evening…

  • Butterflies and moths in our gardens

    Last week saw the start of Butterfly Conservation’s annual Big Butterfly Count. Sadly, many of our butterflies are in serious decline. Many of us have anecdotal experience of seeing fewer butterflies around than in our childhoods, or enjoying fewer butterflies on a buddleia bush in our garden. Such observations are borne out in the statistics, with Butterfly Conservation reporting that 70% of species have declined…

  • Summer fun with the family

    As the temperatures continue to rise and schools approach the end of term, thoughts turn to the long summer holidays ahead. There will be plenty to keep the children entertained at Flatford Wildlife Garden this summer, with activities to suit a range of ages.

    Each week will have a different focus for the children’s activities, including owls, butterflies and minibeasts. Children can pick up an activity bag for £3.50 in…

  • July brings us meadows and wasps

    Tomorrow, Saturday 2nd July, is National Meadows Day, organised by Plantlife. Meadows are such an important part of our countryside, which need our help now more than ever! Meadows are a very special habitat, vital for a great variety of insects and small rodents along with birds such as flycatchers, larks, thrushes, finches and birds of prey. But did you know that meadows are also great for carbon storage, with research…

  • Making a home for amphibians in our gardens

    Our wonderful pond at Flatford Wildlife Garden is home to many invertebrates, plants and amphibians, including newts. There are three species of UK newt - the smooth (or common) newt, the palmate newt and the great crested newt. Reaching lengths of 17cm, the great crested newt is our largest species, with females growing larger than the males. The UK population of great crested newts is under threat and is of international…

  • Summer is here and so are the dragonflies!

    This is the time of year to spend some time by the pond at RSPB Flatford Wildlife Garden, or down by the nearby River Stour, looking out for newly emerging dragonflies and damselflies. Dragonflies were some of the first winged insects to evolve, around 300 million years ago. Back then, the higher oxygen levels enabled them to grow to huge sizes, with wingspans of up to 75cm! Modern day dragonflies belong to the order O…

  • Happy World Bee Day!

    On this rather soggy World Bee Day, we celebrate these hard-working creatures, which sadly face enormous threats both globally and locally. Worldwide, there are around 20000 species of bee, and their pollinating powers not only help maintain global biodiversity, but also sustain the production of food vital to all of us. According to the United Nations, about 84% of crops for human consumption depend on pollinators.

  • Giving nature a home in our own gardens

    This month is No Mow May, when we are asked to leave our lawnmowers in the shed for a month to benefit the wildlife in and around our gardens. As the grass grows, the potential for pollination and shelter for many species increases, giving us lots of exciting wildlife spotting opportunities on our own doorstep! On 21st May, all participants who have signed up on the Plantlife website will be asked to complete a simple…

  • Blue tit NestCam

    It’s a busy time in the nest boxes at Flatford Wildlife Garden, with the cameras revealing all the comings and goings of the blue tits to our visitors. With 7 eggs laid in one and 9 in the other, we’re sure to see lots of activity! Blue tits have one of the largest clutch sizes of all birds and can lay up to 16 eggs, though most lay between 8 and 12. Once the penultimate egg has been laid, the female starts…

  • The welcome emergence of butterflies

    Although we’ve since been surprised by April snow, it was lovely to see so many butterflies emerging in the warm, sunny days of late March. Five UK species (Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Comma and Peacock) overwinter as adults in sheds, garages, hollow trees or between foliage, waking up as the temperatures rise. You may well have already spotted some of these enjoying the early sunshine.

    Other species…

  • #watchyourstep

    As spring is springing and we are out and about please be aware birds are nesting and some birds nest on or near the ground. You can protect them by sticking to the paths and keeping your dog on a lead.

    Most are very well hidden for protection against crows and foxes but did you know there was a pheasant’s nest just outside the ladies toilets at Flatford a year or two ago, not the quietest place! We’ve also seen them…

  • Wildlife is beginning to stir in our gardens!

    Spring is just around the corner. Plants and wildlife are just starting to feel the warmth of the sun and wake up. It's time we start to think about our gardens for Spring and Summer, and how we can help wildlife to thrive. RSPB has helpful gardening advice for March

    One of our favourite events at the garden is blue tits and great tits laying eggs and raising their young in our boxes that have a live camera feed…

  • Valentine's Day at Flatford

    Happy Valentine's Day!

    Birds normally associated with Valentine's day are Lovebirds or Agapornis (an African parrot) or lovey-dovey doves but my favourite are these swans seen on the Stour at Flatford who come back year after year.

    Have you been back to the wildlife garden yet? We are open until 27 February everyday for the Essex and Suffolk half terms and our Snowdrop weekends on 19/20 and 26/27 February. The…

  • It's time to count the birds!

    Every year the RSPB asks people to take part in the Big Garden Bird Watch. It’s really good fun and as simple as counting the birds you see in your garden, from your balcony or in your local park for one hour between 28 and 30 January 2022. In 2021, more than one million people took part in Big Garden Birdwatch, all coming together to look out for birds and to find out how they are faring. Why not join in and be one in…