The week in words and pictures- 13 March 2021

Hello to all and welcome to this weeks' blog. Spring is well underway here and changes are happening everywhere- hawthorn is coming into leaf and blackthorn into blossom, whilst great tits, song thrushes and robins have been making themselves heard. Corvids are carrying nesting material over our heads and the first flowers of field speedwell and red dead-nettle are springing up. Our buzzard pair seem to be settled back in to the poplar plantation along the entrance track, and are 'mewing' loudly to each other most days, especially when it's warm and sunny. Here's a photo i've taken this week of blackthorn beginning to flower next to the Washland Viewpoint:

Photo credit: Blackthorn in flower by Heidi Jones, 10 March 2021. 

We have seen a marked increase in the diversity and number of waders using the Washland, gleaned from reports from those brave enough to withstand the strong winds and rain that have often buffeted anyone who has tried to look at the Washland from the riverbank this week! On 10 March we had our first avocet of 2021, swimming around with the ducks on the western side of the wash, but it wasn't seen again. We have had between two and four oystercatcher up there most days (with six overhead at the Visitor Centre early today (13 March)), likely to have come from the Washland and en-route to the pig fields south of the railway line, where they like to spend the day. One redshank and two snipe on 9 March add to the tally and over the coming days we should see wader numbers increase, as we take our place once again as a welcome stopover point for migrant waders on their way north to breed. Listen out too for curlew, which often come down to feed on the arable fields north of the river, or call from there, and for sandpipers buzzing along the river. There, duck numbers have remained high with 180 wigeon, around 40 shoveler, 20 teal, 20 gadwall, 15 or so mallard, 17 shelduck and a pair of pintail on 10 March.

If you take a walk along the riverbank, beyond the Washland, look out for little grebe and great crested grebe pairs in the river, as well as kingfisher and stonechat in the bankside vegetation. One of our regular volunteers Paul had two pairs of great crested grebe from the Washland Viewpoint this morning (10 March) and little egret have been frequent in the bends of the river too. Great white egret sometimes join them- these are much bigger and have a dagger-like yellow bill (unlike a little egrets' more delicate black bill). The bill of a great white egret does turn black briefly for courtship purposes but we have so far not known it to happen at Lakenheath- they breed a bit further north at Holkham and we know from their timings that if it is going to happen, it should do so in late March.

Our cranes have been busy flying across the reserve and their vocal bugling has been a pleasure to hear, especially for those staff and volunteers that took part in the latest bittern survey on 9 March- we seem to have our usual two pairs, plus a singleton (likely to be pair A2's chick from 2020) and possibly a third pair prospecting the reserve- time will tell if we can add a 'pair C1' to our tally of A2 and B2... at this time of year numbers are still a bit up in the air but things should become clearer- it is certainly possible for the reserve to support a third or even fourth pair of cranes, but for now we have two. This week's survey was more lively when it came to bitterns, with five 'boomers' recorded across the reserve- one of which was in New Fen North and another couple in Joist Fen, so if you are local and visit during the early morning then do listen- 06:00 to 09:00 offers the best chances of hearing one. Another perk to an early morning visit would be the opportunity to try to see our male hen harrier if he sticks around- he was spotted again flying across Joist Fen during the bittern survey and seems to be roosting in the reedbeds and hanging around the local area to feed during the daytime. An unexpected feature of the bittern survey was being able to simultaneously count- over the airwaves- no less than SIX kingfishers using the reserve at once! This figure is quite high for us. A morning spent at Joist Fen can reward you with another scarce raptor- on 6 March a volunteer and former staff member David saw a female merlin whizz across the reedbed, heading south. This is a species which is always tricky to see but seems to visit every winter.

The bird feeders have been busy, as usual, with a visitor sending in these images of not one but two water rail feeding under the Photo Station feeders- the photos show at least three birds, because the bill pattern on one in the first photo (taken on 2 March) is not the same as either bird in the second photo (8 March)! Thank you to Cathy Ryden for sending the images over and also for pointing out the differences. This lunchtime (13 March) saw two male siskin on the Visitor Centre feeders, and we have had frequent visits too from marsh tits- including three flitting between the conifer next to the side gate and the silver birches opposite. They were spotted by Site Manager Dave and he seemed to think it was two males and a female- as two seemed to be competing with each other for the others' attention, which is a good number for us. Long-tailed tits, reed buntings and one or two greenfinches have been highlights on the feeders too. 


 Photo credit: Both images of our beautiful water rails at the Photography Station, the top from 2 March and the bottom from 8 March, taken by Cathy Ryden.

The weekly Thursday work party doggedly spent another day filling in potholes along the entrance track, making a smoother ride for our visitors, whilst two of our volunteers fixed a broken section of fencing just down the slope from the Mound, so it is now a barrier once more to protecting the wildlife in the vegetation behind it. Thursday was a horrible day for working outside- wind and rain took it in turns to batter them all day, but they did an excellent job and we are very grateful to them for their help.

This week has also seen us be able to reopen our takeaway refreshments facility at the Visitor Centre on 12 March, and to bring 'Meet & Greet' services back outside the front of the Visitor Centre, in the form of the Welcome Point, on 8 March. We were also able to reopen our accessible toilet then too. It feels good to be able to take steps that bring us closer to being fully open, although for now through-access at the Visitor Centre isn't possible- we have to keep our welcome operations outside- and Mere Hide remains closed.

We also have a temporary path closure in place, covering the section of hard track between the junction with the grass track south of West Wood, and Joist Fen Viewpoint, and this is likely to be in place for the duration of the breeding season to help protect sensitive breeding wildlife. You can still reach Joist Fen viewpoint via the grass track and the riverbank footpath is unaffected, hence a full circular (purple) route is still possible for visitors. 

If you wish to speak to us about anything, our office number is 01842 863400, and our e-mail address is lakenheath@rspb.org.uk.

Facilities currently open:

Outdoor Welcome Point and accessible toilet open daily, 09:00 to 17:00 during the week and 09:00 to 16:00 at weekends
Takeaway refreshments available from the Welcome Point daily, 09:00 to 17:00 during the week and 09:00 to 16:00 at weekends
Most trails (see path closure above), all viewpoints and the car park open daily from dawn until dusk
Mere Hide remains closed, for now.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks' blog, and best wishes for the week ahead!

Heidi Jones (Visitor Experience Officer)