Lakenheath Fen

Hello and welcome to our latest blog. Tomorrow we'll move into the first month of winter, and across the reserve it's quite easy to spot a variety of winter birds now. The tiny, colourful Siskin can be heard most of the time in the tops of the Alder trees by the feeders at the Visitor Centre, and these have not necessarily travelled far to be here- some nest locally in the conifer plantations of Thetford Forest…

November 2023 has so far seen lots of wet and windy days but we've had some lovely moments of sunshine in amongst it- appreciated all the more for their rarity. Here's the highlights of what visitors, volunteers and staff have spotted or heard in November so far:

Siskin - these can be seen daily in the tops of the Alder and Silver birch trees around the Visitor Centre and car park area.
Redwing - 72 flew overhead…

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from the reserve. In the past couple of weeks, wet weather has reduced our visitor numbers significantly- today, for example, we've only had four people through the doors. We realise this may be partly to do with us not having much shelter on the reserve, aside from at New Fen and Joist Fen viewpoints, and Mere Hide. However it's partly a trend that affects all visitor attractions…

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from the reserve- here I am going to share most of the photos taken by our two photographers on the day- our volunteer David White and Site Manager David Rogers. I have omitted images which show folks who did not want their photos shared publicly, according to the Consent section of the Registration Form that all runners filled in on the day. However, if you see yourself here and aren…

Hello and welcome to the latest blog- this time it's a little different from the usual- as it's got the results from today's Race for Wildlife in it! Thanks to ALL of our runners for booking onto and attending our Race- your support makes the world of different to not just the wildlife here but also our morale- it is heartening for the staff and volunteers to have seen the reserve and the Visitor Centre busy…

Our main fundraising event of the year- our Race for Wildlife- is now just seven days away on Sunday 15 October and we are getting everything ready for the big day! Our warden Emma will soon be out spray-painting 1km markers along the routes to help runners on the day. There are so many little jobs that need doing ahead of the event but it’s something we all love as there is such a lovely atmosphere on the day.

The…

We kicked off this week in style, with two Spoonbill seen sleeping (what a surprise!) on the Washland on Monday morning (2 October). They didn't stay for long, but we believe it to be only our second record- the first being years back in 2018. They seemed to be comfortable with the Great white egrets up there, of which we have 18 today (6 October) with most of them being on the Washland and a couple further down the…

For participants on 2023's Race for Wildlife, please find the Registration Form below:

community.rspb.org.uk/.../1537.8764.Race-for-Wildlife-Registration-Form-23.docx

And in PDF format (not editable) if you prefer to print and fill out by hand:

community.rspb.org.uk/.../6253.1018.Race-for-Wildlife-Registration-Form-23.pdf

If you don't have access to a printer, or find it easier, we will have paper forms ready at the Registration…

Hello and welcome to the latest blog. In this one we'll cover our latest wildlife sightings as well as a round-up of what our weekly work parties have been up to, and some events that are on the way which readers might be interested in.

But first thing's first- the wildlife- and today we can report a new record for Great white egrets- the number on the Washland continues to climb steadily, and is showing no signs…

On the last official day of Summer, you can definitely see signs of two seasons on the reserve at once. Migrant birds like Hobby and Swallow are still here, and as you walk around the trails it’s easy to hear Blackcap, Whitethroat and Reed warbler singing. However, passage migrant birds have been spotted too. Whilst it’s still easy to find dragonflies and butterflies, more autumnal bugs like ladybirds, Dock…

Hello and welcome to the latest blog. Here I will aim to give a quick round-up of the weeks' wildlife highlights, ahead of the weekend. Kingfishers have been showing particularly well across the reserve, with sightings most days from various places, notably the pools at New Fen (from the viewpoint shelter), Mere Hide and the Visitor Centre. Two Hobbies were also spotted hunting in the air above Mere Hide yesterday…

Hello and welcome to the latest blog! Before we cover the usual wildlife sightings and happenings on the reserve, i'd like to announce on behalf of the reserve team (and the reserve itself!) that we have one successfully fledged Common crane chick! He, or she, is the juvenile of pair B2, our newer (and presumed younger) pair of cranes. So far, most of what we have seen of the young family has been via trail camera…

Hello and welcome to the latest blog. It's been a good few weeks since the last one, regrettably, as various other projects and tasks have got in the way. But, there's plenty to see on the reserve at the moment- we have a wealth of butterflies and dragonflies flitting about along the trails, Kingfishers being more often seen now at Mere Hide, and there's still a handful of Hobbies about. Recent rain has helped…

Hello and welcome to our latest blog. As I write this, the reserve is alive with birdsong! As well as the resident Blackbirds, Song thrushes, Cetti's warblers, Wrens and Robins, joining the chorus is Whitethroat, Willow warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Garden warbler too. We have one or two Nightingales and Grasshopper warblers too, but these are proving trickier to pin down- apart from one more reliable Nightingale…

On the reserve, Spring is well underway now with many migrant birds making their first landfall in recent weeks. The first dates we have so far (21 April) are below:

Now we are well into Spring, it is a joy to be on the reserve, especially on warm sunny days like today. It’s a bit breezy but that hasn’t stopped the chiffchaffs from singing- there is one near the Visitor Centre (by the bug hotel) and it’s difficult to go for even a short walk without hearing one now! We have had a few sand martins spotted in flight over the Washland too, and the migrant garganey

Hello and welcome to the latest blog. We are certainly noticing the longer evenings and the extra heat in the sun (when it isn't windy or cloudy!) and so is the wildlife. On 15 February we recorded our first butterfly of 2023- a peacock in flight near the Washland Viewpoint. We've had a bit of colder weather since but it won't be long before we record our first brimstone, small tortoiseshell or red admiral flying…

With it being World Wetlands Day today (2nd February) it seems an appropriate time to announce to you the addition of new land to the Lakenheath Fen reserve. Thanks to the support of the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, a charitable trust, and Morgan Sindall Group, a leading UK construction and regeneration group, we’ve been able to purchase 54 hectares of arable farmland adjacent to existing land which the RSPB owns…

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from Lakenheath Fen. This morning (22 January) we arrived to a reserve shrouded in hoar frost and fog that has not yet lifted (12 noon!)- probably because the air is calm and very cold. It was -6c here at 8am and is now at -2c. Everything is covered in frost, and it looks absolutely beautiful- every branch, leaf, tiny plant and fence post is glittering with ice particles. It makes…

Hello to all and welcome to the first blog of 2023. The month of January is named after the Roman god Janus, who was the God of beginnings, endings and transitions. In January we might look back at the year that has passed, and ahead to 2023, and this will be the theme of this blog too. This morning (4 January) I completed the list of bird species recorded on the reserve in 2022- we seem to have had 141, compared to 155…

Hello to all and welcome to the first blog in a few weeks. Various other things have got in the way of me sitting down to update you all about the wildlife sightings and news from the reserve recently, but here we are at long last. A fair few of our November days so far have been wet ones- sometimes windy too- and although this doesn't make for quite as nice a walk as a sunny blue-sky day, we have welcomed every drop…

Welcome to our latest blog. We have a few bits of news to share with you, but I will start with the latest wildlife sightings from the reserve as that's the best bit!

The wildlife at Lakenheath Fen

The past couple of weeks have seen the departure of a few summer visitors to the reserve- such as what is likely to be the last hobby sighting of 2022 (11 October) and possibly the last house martins (13 October). Other…

I thought that given we have seen quite a few changes in recent days on the reserve- all related to autumn- that it was time to write another blog. Strange white domes of various sizes have begun to appear across the reserve trails, especially in shady spots with a build-up of leaf litter. Once they spring up, they grow quickly and the biggest on the reserve (along the entrance track) that we know of is about 40cm wide…

I thought i'd devote this weeks' blog to the amazing array of images kindly shared with us by our visitors. As I write this, we had half a day of rain on 25 August- the first real amount for months- and although we need hundreds of thousands of litres more to fill the reserve, it may have saved us from drying out completely at spots such as New Fen, and was so desperately needed. We hope for more in the coming weeks,…

Hello and welcome to the latest blog. Tomorrow I will talk about our wildlife in a separate blog, but for today my keyboard is devoted to telling readers everything they may want to know about our upcoming Race for Wildlife; what it is like, what to expect, and most importantly- how it helps our wildlife!

Almost every year in early autumn we hold our Race for Wildlife- I say 'almost' because for two years we have had to…