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 reserve, viewed from Joist Fen viewpoint. There's also 17 Little egret on the Washland, 26 Ruff, 200+ Lapwing and a Dunlin too. On Wednesday, volunteer Paul's duck count included 70 Gadwall, 9 Teal and 30 Shoveler. Yesterday (5 October) a pair of Stonechat were showing well on the bankside vegetation near the Viewpoint, and one lucky visitor had a flyover from a Woodlark this morning too! This is not a bird often recorded on the reserve, and seldom 'on the deck' (on the ground) so it's a nice record to have.Mild weather has held up this week which means the Hobbies are still here, in small numbers- perhaps no more than five across the reserve. Last week, on 28 September, we had our Morgan Sindall Construction Group Open Day (as thanks for the companies' generous financial gift that enabled us to make our most recent land purchase) and two of the four guided walks on the day enjoyed seeing an adult Hobby catching dragonflies for it's youngster. To begin with, Hobby parents take caught insects back to high perches in trees to pass to their hungry youngsters but this family were at the next stage- where the parent keeps hold of the dragonfly and the young bird has to fly up to the parent, where talons meet and the food is exchanged. It's thrilling to watch, and an echo of the food passes between adult Marsh harriers in the Spring. We are hopeful that this juvenile Hobby, and any others on the reserve, will have enough practice time for hunting before the temperatures drop and they are forced to migrate. It's not unusual for us to see a Hobby into November, but their presence is very weather-dependent. Hirundines are mostly gone from the reserve now, but one visitor did see a late Swallow today (6 October) hunting over the reserve. This week and next will see the last youngsters fledging across the UK, and after a few days of building up their strength, they'll depart too.The scene on our bird feeders is changing a little too- we are seeing Marsh tit and Long-tailed tit once again- both species that are scarce visitors to the feeders in summer. Other common species to see at the moment include Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue tit and Great tit, although the Chaffinches and Reed buntings are not back yet. They are likely to be lurking around locally exploiting more natural food sources whilst they can, like wildflowers that have gone to seed, or perhaps spilt grain from agricultural fields. Occasionally, a Great spotted woodpecker will stop by on the Visitor Centre feeders too. For those of our visitors who enjoy looking for insects, it would seem that most remaining butterflies are Red admiral and Large white, but there's still a chance of seeing Comma, Speckled wood, Small tortoiseshell or Peacock. If, like us, you feel like you've seen a lot of Red admirals this year, it's not an illusion- the graph below shows how many were counted by recorders for the Suffolk branch for the UKBMS (UK Butterfly Monitoring Survey) this season- there are 26 possible recording weeks (the bottom axis) and the number counted goes up the side: Photo credit: Red admirals in Suffolk across the 2012-21, then last year and this.You can clearly see what a good year they've had! The report also explained that most species seem largely unaffected by the widespread drought of 2022, with a couple, such as Red admiral and Wall brown, seeming to have benefitted from the long, hot and dry spells. Volunteer Roy spotted a late Brown argus earlier, by the raised beds, so it isn't too late to find certain other species either. Dragonflies seem similarly reduced to a couple of species- Migrant hawker and the smaller Common darters are both very easily seen on warmer days, and the numbers of the latter can be astounding- a dry patch of warm ground can easily harbour 10, 20 or more as they congregate quite socially together. Our wonderful volunteersIn the past week they've been very busy indeed! Phil- a dab hand with a mower (attached to the back of the quadbike) has tidied up all of our trails, including those that runners will be using on our upcoming Race for Wildlife on 15 October. He even trimmed a spot for the water station all the way down in Botany Bay. Thanks Phil. Our usual Tuesday and Thursday work party volunteers have had a slightly different task this week- in fact many of them have been here on multiple days as they have begun work on the new land on Cowles Drove, along with wardens Emma and Katherine and our Site Manager Dave. It's the tip of an iceberg, and there's lots more to do, but as always we are very grateful for their support and commitment, whatever the weather. We've had a welfare unit stationed on Cowles Drove which makes drinking tea and going to the loo much more convenient for anyone working down there on our new land.One visitor, Eli Abramovitch, took some beautiful photographs on his visit here on 1 October, so including his photos seems a nice way to end the blog. Here they are in all their glory: Photo credit: Top to bottom- Great white egret (twice), Little egrets (twice), Goldfinch, Blue tit, Red admiral on Water mint, Female Common darter, Male Common darter and two Muntjac photos. All taken by visitor Eli Abramovitch on 1 October 2023.With best wishes for a happy weekend,Heidi Jones (Visitor Experience Officer, RSPB Lakenheath Fen).