We are nearly at the end of winter and Havergate is already starting to show signs of Spring. The Gulls have started appearing in ever increasing numbers sitting on territory, the gorse is budding and the Hares appear to be getting livelier. Reed buntings have been singing from their perches and skylarks can be heard across the island on a peaceful day.

We have been preparing the island for the oncoming breeding…

Firstly I would like to wish everyone a happy new year from all the team here at Havergate.

The year has started very blustery and we have also had few very high tides. We managed to fit in the first visitor trip of the year on the 3^rdJan on one of the recent calmer days. Despite being extremely wet everyone had a good day with plenty of birds out on the lagoons. We still have 4 Spoonbills braving our winter here, great…

I have now been the South Suffolk Coast warden for 5 months, and what a 5 months it has been!

I have learnt the ropes on October Storm, our visitor boat without too much drama and got to know Havergate Island pretty well now. I have met many visitors who have spent time on the island all of whom have really enjoyed themselves and had a very special day seeing the birds, hares and other wildlife.

I had heard and seen…

We had an early start last week to meet Guinevere on the quay. Guinevere is the vehicle ferry over to Orfordness, however she is always happy to assist us getting supplies across and onto Havergate. Occasionally, when we have bigger jobs that need completing on the island the ferry allows us to take heavy materials over all at once- including tractors and diggers. 

The main job at the moment is rebuilding the warden…

I think autumn has definitely settled in now. I was told Havergate could be a very cold and harsh place, especially in the winter and I can quite believe it! Even now in mid October a warm coat and a hat is recommended. You shouldn’t be put off by this though. Havergate is a spectacular place this time of year and autumn/ winter is the best time to see high numbers of waders and wildfowl feeding on our lagoons.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to visit Havergate Island for the first time this year to help Dave and Aaron to lead walks for some of the RSPB's Sea Life Guardians. 

Havergate is always a magical place, but it was even more special yesterday with warm sunshine, unbroken blue sky for most of the day and barely a breath of wind - plus of course some amazing wildlife and friendly visitors.

Any trip to Havergate starts…

The team here at Havergate had a great weekend running the Spoonbill event on the 2^nd and 3^rd August. The sun continued to shine both days and the boat was full on all trips with first timers to the island and a few returning visitors.

Thankfully, the iconic Spoonbills were in attendance doing what they do best on Havergate - sleeping! However, that was fine, we managed to set the scope up on them and let visitors have…

I have now completed my first month as the newly appointed South Suffolk Coast warden and what a great month it has been! So, this is my first posting of what I hope will be a regular update of the goings on on Havergate Island, Boyton and Hollesley Marshes.

Firstly I will mention our successful breeding season (for gulls that is) on the Island. It was a record breaking season with 2070 pairs of Lesser Black Backs and…

After over four years of tireless work for the island and it's wildlife, Kieren has left us this month for new exciting challenges on different shores.

He will work not too far away from the Suffolk Coast, therefore, I hope very much to see him returning occasionally to the island which means so much to both of us.

In the past years, we have spent many happy hours together on the island and I have selected a few…

Almost three months to the day since the storm surge that wracked the East coast and Havergate specifically the repairs to the seawall are complete.

The two major breaches and umpteen slippages were repaired in an operation lasting a little more than a month. At times the weather was simply awful but despite all this what we wanted to achieve, by and large, we did.

One of the striking things about the repair work done…

Kieren, the island's warden, has done an incredible job over the past weeks to re-instate the protection of the island while literally fighting the elements in all weathers. He has been supported by a very hardworking digger driver and different groups of volunteers and the riverbank and the banks between the lagoons look like they are mostly back into working shape by now.

The December flood leaves visible changes…

After the Christmas period and more than a month since the Storm surge, it is worth updating people about the situation on Havergate.

The worst of the flooding on the island has passed with long meadow now all but drained of water, main/gullery/north are still holding a lot of water but at least some of the higher islands are starting to emerge.

Long meadow almost back to normal

Main still holding a lot of wat…

5 days have passed since the storm surge on the evening of Thursday 5 December. Conditions were too difficult to land on Havergate immediately after the surge on the Friday. However, a slow sail round the island on Friday morning revealed at least two breaches in the wall and two of the hides at been floated out of position (main and Gullery). However, despite this it was considered that the island had not fared too badly…

Havergate will never look the same after storm Xaver, the flood it caused and the resulting damage to the infrastructure and hides on the island, which makes all the memories of this year's summer even more precious.

Lesley Ribbens and her family have been amongst the fortunate ones who had the time of their lives on the island this summer, and you might have read the guest post written by her 8 year-old son Jacob

The events season in 2013 has been very busy on Havergate Island with a handful of fantastic 'first ever' events with brilliant response by our participants. I have written about the Days of Discovery and the Big Wild Sleepout in other posts already, but there is at least one more story to tell:

This year's success would not have been possible without the extremely motivated and enthusiastic volunteer team including…

Last week I took the opportunity to stay out on the island for six days, despite having accommodation out on the island this is something I rarely if ever get the chance to do. So, despite the presence of the diggers down at Hollesley I took the chance to get out on the island with one of the residential volunteers.

The main purpose was to have a big push and really try and make a difference to the rat control programme;…

As summer rolls into autumn and the first wintering duck begin to return to the island it is time to look back at the breeding season on Havergate.

Starting with the large gulls, Herring gulls clocked in at 503 AON’s up by 17 from 2012. The lesser black backs had a massive increase, the reasons for this seems unclear but the almost complete collapse colonies on the nearby Orfordness are no doubts a contributory reason…

The busy season on Havergate Island is over for this year and it seems to be a good time to tidy up all the interesting news that has gathered on my desk in the past few months.

Havergate Island, once the RSPB's best kept secret - as some said - has become well known this year. Of course, you remember: there was the feature in the Suffolk Episode on BBC Countryfile on 14 April.

Indeed, that feature really made a…

The following is a guest post written by Jacob Ribbens, 8 years old, for the Tonbridge Local Group's Autumn newsletter originally. He was so kind to agree to a second publication, therefore, please enjoy reading his report about our greatest adventure on Havergate Island this summer:

"This year the RSPB have launched the Big Wild Sleepout at lots of their reserves. We as a family went to the Havergate Island…

Four families headed out with the RSPB boat 'October Storm' to Suffolk's only island on the afternoon of the 10 August 2013 for a true adventure.

Photo by Kevin Sawford, www.kevinsawford.com

Here is what they thought about their exclusive experience on Havergate Island's first ever Big Wild Family Sleepout:

“This was an epic experience and I think everyone should do it. I can’t wait to go back to Havergate…

The Big Wild Sleepout on Havergate Island was truely an amazing adventure for everyone involved - visitors and volunteers alike!

Here are the real numbers behind the event of a lifetime:

• 1 hare trail with 16 white hares, many strange clues and 15 correct facts had been set up on

• 1 remote and fragile RSPB nature reserve for

• 4 lucky families, which headed out to Suffolk's 1 and only island

Sadly, this title is a bit misleading, as rather inevitably this blog will involve birds at some point but hey, not till the end.

It’s been a productive time for moth trapping recently but the stand out highlight has to be the privet hawkmoth found in the trap last week.

Picture courtesy of Becky Butterly

It’s a an absolute monster of a moth indeed its Britain’s largest moth and quite staggeringly it has…

It's been a busy few weeks on Havergate with the survey season and monitoring season in full swing.

Typically this brings mixed results and this year is no different but most excitingly was the discovery or more accurately the rediscovery of a very rare spider on the island.

Arctosa fulvolineata or to give it its common name.  Yellow striped bear spider. 

Arctosa fulvolineata male Courtesy of Peter Harvey

Not a…

On Sunday 19 May 2013, our third 'Photography: Day of Discovery', we enjoyed the most gorgeous warm and sunny spring weather one can imagine, after a worrying week of watching daily changes on the very unsettled and sometimes frightening weather forecasts.

Everyone arrived in time for the early start with Kevin Sawford being the first. He had been so excited about tutoring with us for the first time that he didn…

It’s been a busy year for the Hares on Havergate, they’ve had a visit from the BBC, seen more people (in terms of visitors) than ever before but thankfully, this seems to have had no impact on the population on the island.

It’s the traditional survey season opener on Havergate! The annual Hare transect. Our actual interaction with the Hares is relatively limited, we keep an eye on their health and wellbeing…