Good afternoon. Firstly, I would like to thank Emma for her great blog post from last Saturday. I am now back in the office after two weeks off so here are some more recent sightings:

I will begin with some images that we were sent just before I went away of a bittern feeding in front of Mere Hide:

Image credits: John Organ

I will now start off where Emma left off with some sightings from this week: Last Sunday…

A new bird for the reserve year list caused a bit of a stir on Tuesday - a report of a spoonbill on the washland had staff and volunteers making a mad dash up there to check it out!

For the last couple of years spoonbill sightings here at Lakenheath have been birds in flight (a right time, right place situation!) so to have one on the ground was an exciting prospect. Thankfully, we were not disappointed and straight away…

Good afternoon. Apologies for today's post being a little shorter than usual, we have been a bit thin on the ground here this week!

I will start with sharing some images that I have taken recently on the reserve that I haven't had a chance to share yet:

The view from Wilton Bridge (the river bridge immediately north of the reserve entrance):

Fungi growing on one of the raised beds in front of the visitor…

Good morning. We have had an interesting couple of days on the reserve. I will begin with some images of kingfishers that have been taken from Mere Hide recently:

Image credits: David Gowing

At lunchtime on Thursday, Suzanne saw a willow warbler at the edge of the car park. Volunteer Lawrence went out on the reserve during the afternoon and he saw a good selection of bird species. This included a green wood…

If you have been reading our blog regularly over the years then you may have picked up that as well as wildlife, I am also into steam locomotives.

I am therefore writing to let you all know that locomotive 60009 "Union Of South Africa" is due past the reserve tomorrow morning (Saturday 9 September) with its train on the way to Chester. IF it is on time (and that is a big if!)  , it should pass the reserve between…

Good morning. It is a lovely morning here at Lakenheath Fen so here are some recent sightings from the last couple of days:

I will begin with an image of the female wasp spider from last week, which I am very pleased to say has now been re-found in the same area on the reserve:

Image credits: Tim James

If you would like to see it, it can be seen along the southern edge of New Fen North, the first area of reedbed.…

Good morning. As promised, I will begin this morning with some images of bearded tits that were taken on the approach to Mere Hide on Tuesday:

Image credits: Martin Peake

I spent some time looking over the washland on Thursday morning and saw: 

• Ruff: 1
• Green sandpiper: 3
• Common snipe: 6
• Little egret: 1
• Common tern: Adult and juvenile

As I walked back to the visitor centre, I spotted a smart rhombic…

Until this morning, we have been treated to some lovely weather here so here are some recent sightings:

Site Manager Dave was about and about with his camera on Monday and here are some of his images:

Common darter dragonflies:

Migrant hawker dragonfly:

Wasp spider:

Image credits: Dave Rogers

Thanks very much to Dave for sharing his images with us. 

If you are interested, we have now put a sign near where…

Good morning. There has been plenty to see recently so here are some more recent sightings.

Local photographer David Gowing spent some time in Mere Hide on Thursday morning and took these fantastic photographs of two different bitterns, an adult and a juvenile:

Image credits: David Gowing

Thank you very much to David for sharing these great images with us. 

A kingfisher was also showing well from the hide…

There is now just over a month and a half to go until our annual Race For Wildlife. It's now over to Emma, one of our Wardens, to tell you more about the event:

"RSPB Lakenheath Fen is a wonderful wetland nature reserve on the Norfolk Suffolk border, created from carrot fields over twenty years ago, it has been transformed into a haven for wildlife.

On Sunday 15 October, you’ll have the chance to explore the…

Please note that unfortunately, due to a lack of bookings, we have decided to cancel our Moths all a flutter event on Friday 25 August 7.30pm-10pm due to a lack of bookings. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused.  Please check our events page to find out more about which events we have planned over the next couple of months.  

Good morning. Here is a summary of what has been seen from Sunday onwards:

Although we were busy with our Summer Family Fun Day on Sunday, Simon and I did see a common redstart that was feeding at the edge of the car park. Volunteers Roger, Roy and Liam were lucky enough to spot a wood sandpiper which landed briefly on the algae on the visitor centre pond. 

As previously reported yesterday, Simon and Pete ringed a first…

Good morning. I am very pleased to announce that a new species of bird for the reserve was found yesterday, a bluethroat! 

Simon Evans, our local bird ringer and Pete Dolton, one of our volunteers were undertaking a Constant Effort Site (CES) in Brandon Fen early yesterday morning when they were very surprised to find a first winter male bluethroat in one of the nets! It looked something like this (image not taken on the…

Good afternoon. I was very pleased to find this photograph waiting for me in our reserve inbox this morning:

Image credit: Max Hopfl

It's a barred grass snake, which is a species that has only recently been split from the common grass snake. Please read this article for more information about this new species of reptile.

This individual was photographed near the visitor centre last week and is the first confirmed…

Good afternoon. As is it my last day in the office before the weekend, here are some more recent sightings from the last couple of days:

Local birder Jonny spent some time out on the reserve on Monday and saw the following:

• Wigeon: 3
• Teal: 35
• Shoveler: 8
• Black tailed godwit: 1
• Common snipe: 10
• Kingfisher: 1
• Gadwall: 156
• Redshank: 1
• Common tern: 4
• Garganey: 1

He also saw some bearded tits near the Washland…

Good morning. After Thursday morning's post was pretty light on detail, I am pleased to say that today's post is full of a variety of sightings!

Local photographer Martin Peake took these great images of bearded tits from Joist Fen viewpoint on Thursday:

Image credits: Martin Peake

Suzanne went for a walk around Brandon Fen at lunchtime. She saw a juvenile common redstart and a lesser whitethroat feeding…

Well, the weather really can't make its mind up at the moment can it?! one day it is lovely and then the next day it is pouring it down with rain.

I will begin this morning's post with a photograph of the juvenile common redstart that has been present for a while that was taken on Sunday:

Image credit: Kathleen and Ian

Thank you very much to Kathleen and Ian for sharing this image with us.

A small flock…

Good morning. We have had some interesting weather over the last couple of days so here are some more recent sightings:

I will start off where I left off on Thursday. Suzanne walked around Brandon Fen at lunchtime. She saw a treecreeper and a marsh tit. In the afternoon, a female blackcap was feeding in front of the visitor centre.

On Friday, several different bitterns were seen in flight from Joist Fen viewpoint over…

Good morning. We are now in to another month so here are some more recent sightings.

I will begin though with a photograph from last Saturday. This is the juvenile nightingale that was feeding near the visitor centre in the morning:

Image credit: Ian & Kathleen

Thank you very much to Ian and Kathleen for sharing this wonderful image with us.

I will start off where I left off with some sightings from Sunday.…

Good morning. We have had an interesting couple of days on the reserve so here are some more recent sightings:

As the sun was shining yesterday morning, I went out on the reserve armed with my camera. Here are some of my photos, I hope you like them!:

Fungi around the Brandon Fen family trail:

The washland:

A couple of views of the crack willow near the visitor centre which is sadly now looking quite worst for…

Good morning. It is now only three weeks until our Summer Family Fun Day on the reserve, which will take place on Sunday 20 August 10am-4pm. There will be a variety of activities on offer.

As long as the weather is kind to us, the main activity will be a bird ringing demonstration will be be run by Simon Evans our local bird ringer. This will provide attendees with an opportunity to see some of our resident birds at…

Good morning. Although the weather has been patchy over the last couple of days, there has been plenty to see so here are some more recent sightings:

As I drove in on Wednesday morning, I saw three roe deer on the entrance track. I had a good look on the washland and there were a large group of lapwings present. They were counted later on in the day and there were at least 750 of them. I also saw a redshank and a water…

Good morning. Apologies for the lack of updates recently, I have been away. Here is what has been seen over the last couple of days:

14 July

This was my last day in the office before before I went away. I went to have a look for the juvenile nightingale that had been seen in the car park the day before and I had brief views of it flitting around in fairly dense vegetation. I saw a group of 11 dunlins flying around in…

We are very sorry to announce that we have decided to CANCEL our Big Wild Sleepout 28-30 July event due to a lack of bookings. We are all very disappointed as this has always been a very enjoyable event in the past. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. Please follow this link to find out more about other events taking place in the area. 

Good morning. There are now only two weeks to go until the RSPB's annual Big Wild Sleepout, which takes place this year 28-30 July. This annual event not only encourages families to camp out under the stars in their own gardens, it also offers people the rare opportunity to camp out at some of our nature reserves.

We have a two night event planned 28-30 July so if you are interested in coming to camp out under the…