As I start this blog on Friday morning, there’s a gentle breeze blowing through the trees and a beautiful blue sky. We’ve had a couple of days of superb weather- colder than normal, but bright and sunny with heavy frost decorating every part of the reserve. The bird feeders have been VERY busy as tiny birds seek to eat plenty to restore their energy reserves after a few very cold nights. Marsh tit, Coal tit, Blue tit, Great tit, Long-tailed tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Reed bunting, Dunnock and Robin make up the cast of smaller visitors. Collared dove, Great spotted woodpecker, Blackbird and Pheasant visit occasionally too- at this time of year, everyone is hungry! Not far away from the feeders at the Visitor Centre, Siskin feed acrobatically in the tops of the Alder trees at the edge of the pond, and a Lesser redpoll was spotted on 17 January in Silver birches by the raised plant beds. We do have a full nyjer seed feeder hanging up, and we hope that as winter progresses and the stock of Alder seed in the cones and under the trees depletes, both Siskin and Lesser redpoll may be tempted down onto the feeder. Photo credit: Cathy Ryden took this photograph of four Yellowhammer waiting in the top of a willow at New Fen almost a year ago- but today you can look for them in the same spots as every winter. The Washland is only just beginning to thaw out- and this should accelerate over the weekend as the daytime temperatures move upwards- we are forecasted 5 degrees Celsius on Saturday and perhaps 11 degrees Celsius by Sunday. Before it froze over, most days there have been good numbers of ducks up there. On 17 January, our volunteer Paul counted 100 Lapwing and one each of Marsh harrier, Little egret, Great white egret. The day before, 16 January, Paul saw ten Mute swan, fifty Coot, six Teal, eighteen Whooper swan, two Marsh harrier, two Grey heron and one each of Little and Great white egret. A small group of three Cattle egret have been frequently spotted around the reserve in the past week, most often along the edges of the river between Joist Fen and New Fen. Yesterday (18 January) two of them were on the Washland itself. The past week has seen a few new bird species for 2024 added to our list, with David White finding a single Pink-footed goose on the Washland on 13 January. On the same day, he recorded a single Corn bunting in flight over Field 5026 (this is the rather un-romantic name for the rough meadow beyond the Photography Station). Groups of Corn bunting and Yellowhammer use the reedbeds and rough scrubby areas across the reserve as a winter roosting site, so if you come here at dusk, do keep an eye out for them. Near the new ramp at New Fen, the trees in that corner of East Wood are popular spots to find a cluster of Yellowhammer assembling before dropping down into the reedbed. Willows within the reedbed itself, or bordering the riverbank on our side, are sometimes used too. Marsh harrier numbers roosting in the reedbeds vary a lot from day to day- with twenty four counted by warden Katherine recently, but some nights they number less than ten. However, if you don’t mind a walk back to your car in twilight, the spectacle of all these beautiful birds of prey in one place at one time is very special. Keep an eye for Hen harrier and Merlin too, both of which were reported to us by a roost-watcher on 2 January from Joist Fen. David also spotted two Chiffchaff on 13 January, and a visitor reported our first Common snipe on 11 January. Our Common cranes have put in an occasional appearance in recent weeks too- with three seen from Joist Fen viewpoint on 13 January by our first, now retired, Site Manager Norman Sills. Sightings have been a little more regular than we would expect for this time of year, which may reflect the fact that water levels in their usual wintering grounds- at RSPB Ouse Washes and RSPB Nene Washes- are higher than average and interfering with their ability to feed and roost there. However in the next few weeks we expect to welcome them back for the upcoming breeding season- and perhaps by late February they will have settled in for the summer.
Other news from the reserve
On Monday, our new Assistant Warden Haydn started work with us and is settling in as part of the team. We are excited to have a new staff member and to see what we can achieve in the next 18 months with an extra pair of hands and a fresh mind! His post has been funded by part of the grant money from the Morgan Sindall Construction Group who enabled us to make our new land purchase of 54 hectares at the start of 2023. Haydn’s work will focus mostly on helping to transform this previously intensively farmed arable land into wet grassland habitat suited to breeding waders and foraging cranes. However, there will also be time for Haydn to help out on the ‘original’ reserve south of the river and with warden Emma at Cavenham Quarry too when needed. Our Tuesday and Thursday work parties this week have been cutting reed in Joist Fen North (the area west of the viewpoint there but north of the hard track) and willow scrub too, even in yesterday’s bitterly cold weather. Over on the new land at Cowles’ Drove, digger driver Seth is continuing to excavate new ditches in planned spots on the large field north of the drove road, and he should finish today (19 January).Photo credit: This map shows our new land purchase- the coloured fields are all now under RSPB ownership. Prior to the purchase of 54 hectares in early 2023, the RSPB owned the three 'tall' green fields, as well as both parts of the larger blue field. You can hopefully see how connected our land now is- meaning we can vary the water levels more to suit wildlife than we'd have been able to when we had neighbours to consider who owned fields in between ours. This image was created by our Site Manager Dave Rogers. Indoors, volunteer John W (who many may be familiar with) is currently building a new display for his pin badges on the wall opposite the drinks fridge, to move them back from the mobile card stand which we found more useful during COVID when we needed to move the badges outside each day for our ‘meet and greet’. The numbering system will remain as it works well, but it should be easier for visitors to see our full range of badges, without having to spin the card stand around. I am in the process of planning our events for the next financial year- April 2024 to March 2025, so these should all be listed online for booking by visitors in the next couple of weeks. I hope this blog has provided an insight into what you might see if you visit us this weekend- we are looking at dry weather with milder temperatures than in recent days. If you have any questions about the reserve, please give us a call on 01842 863400 or e-mail us at lakenheath@rspb.org.uk. With best wishes from the Lakenheath Fen team, Heidi Jones (Visitor Experience Officer).