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. You should hear them first- their constant twittering is similar to that of Goldfinches, and they behave in a similar way to them too- hanging off the tips of branches and flying in an undulating manner in slow loops around the treetops. We have a nyjer seed feeder on the balcony to try to attract them down for visitors to see, but this is likely to work towards the end of winter as the Alder trees still have plenty of seed in the cones at the moment- and they seem to prefer natural food sources.The feeders at the Photo Station have been drawing in Water rail regularly- and colder days like today attract them even more- they like spilt seed underneath the feeders and also digging for invertebrates with their long bills when the ground isn't frozen! Other species to enjoy there include Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Great spotted woodpecker too. We are hopeful that now we've started putting suet balls out, Long-tailed tits should visit too. Because the Photo Station faces south, the sun is behind you whilst you watch them so it offers great photo opportunities- and the birds have got accustomed to visitors being just a few feet away behind the screen- so why not bring your camera along if you have one? Two of our volunteers also saw a Muntjac deer there earlier, feeding on the mixed seed I had put on the log.Up on the Washland, the water level remains fairly high but small numbers of Whooper swan, Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, Little egret and Great white egret can be seen there most days, whilst 2-3 Little grebe are frequently spotted in the river. There's two Marsh harriers that hunt along the banks and ditches around the edge of the Washland and it's a common sight at the moment to see them drifting along on the breeze. Two Kestrel and a Common buzzard frequent the area too- in fact it's quite a good spot for raptors at present.Other newsOur work parties this week have been focussed on cutting and burning reed and willow scrub in Botany Bay and Norfolk Fen. This is part of an organised annual rotation which is designed to ensure the reedbeds not only stay as reedbeds (by removing the willow) and keeping the reedbed as a patchwork of different densities which supports the widest variety of wetland birds. For example- in the breeding season, Bitterns use cut areas to forage for fish and amphibians in, and denser stands to nest in. Cut areas always provide crucial foraging during the winter for egrets, Bittern and Grey heron. As Botany Bay has SSSI status (Site of Special Scientific Interest) any burning of cut material has to be done on tin sheets, so that we can take the ashes away- as we must not add any nutrients or organic matter back into the site. This work is likely to be ongoing all winter and it is only thanks to our dedicated volunteers that we can offer this level of reedbed management to our resident wildlife- so huge thanks goes to each of them for their commitment- especially when the weather is against them as it so often is over winter.In other news, thanks to a donation of dozens of copies of Suffolk Birds and Cambridgeshire Bird Reports, Norfolk Bird & Mammal Reports and three copies of the Wicken Fen Bird Report from years gone by, we are building up a pot of money as profits from the sale of these books. When we've sold them all, we hope to put the money towards a new bench for visitors to enjoy on the reserve for the future. It's exciting watching the money grow and to be put to good use.As usual, we really appreciate hearing your wildlife sightings, so please pop in to the Visitor Centre before you leave to let us know what you've seen. If you have any queries, you can e-mail us at lakenheath@rspb.org.uk or telephone us at 01842 863400. With best wishes,Heidi Jones (Visitor Experience Officer, RSPB Lakenheath Fen).