Good morning. Yesterday was a busy day so I have a bit more time for posting recent sightings today!

I will begin where I left off on Friday. As I hadn’t had a chance to get out on the reserve since last Sunday, I escaped the office for a walk down to New Fen viewpoint at lunchtime. I saw 17 little egrets from the Washland viewpoint and I was very pleased to see a turtle dove in flight from the edge of New Fen…

Good morning. We have got another busy weekend ahead so before the mayhem starts once again, here are some recent sightings.

I will begin with some images that have been taken on the reserve over the last week or two:

Kingfisher:

Bittern:

Image credits: Matt Walton

Thank you very much to Martin and Matt for sharing their images with us.

I will start of where I left off on Sunday morning with some recent…

Good morning, its currently 05.45 on Sunday morning and I have spent the last two nights camping on the reserve as part of our Big Wild Sleepout event. With this in mind, I hope that this recent sightings blog post is at least partially coherent!

I will start off where I left off on Friday afternoon. A great white egret flew over the reserve and seven cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint. Site Manager Dave managed…

Good morning. We have a busy weekend ahead with our Big Wild Sleepout event this weekend so before the chaos begins, here are some recent sightings.

I went for a walk yesterday morning and a kingfisher flew over the washland. A female marsh harrier was hunting over the second washland pool and three common terns were feeding over the washland. As I walked down the path towards New Fen viewpoint, a juvenile kestrel flew…

Good afternoon. There has been plenty to see over the last couple of days so it’s now time for some more recent sightings.

On Sunday morning, a very raggedly looking common buzzard flew over the visitor centre and there was plenty of kingfisher activity from Mere Hide. At one point, one was fishing from a perch on top of the hide!

As the day went on, two spotted flycatchers were seen at the edge of East Wood and…

Good morning. I will begin with some good news: Our third crane chick fledged yesterday. How exciting! This is the first time that our resident birds have fledged young on a second nesting attempt in the same breeding season on the reserve. We are all really pleased that we have reached this significant milestone! 

As usual, I will begin with a photograph that was taken here on Wednesday:

Juvenile cuckoo:

Image credit…

If you are booked on our Big Wild Sleepout event on Friday 5 August and/ or Saturday 6 August, please find the attached provisional itinerary for the event. Also, if you are booked on and you haven't let us know your breakfast preferences, please ring the reserve office on 01842 863400 or e-mail lakenheath@rspb.org.uk; 

Please note that both nights are currently FULLY BOOKED so we can only accommodate those people…

Good morning. I will begin by sharing some images that local photographer Matt Walton took on the reserve last week.

Sunrise over the washland: 

Common tern:

Bearded tit:

Grey heron & cormorant:

Kingfisher: 

Great crested grebe: 

Image credits: Matt Walton

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

On Wednesday, I did some pond dipping with a family and while we were down…

Good afternoon. This year's Race for Wildlife will soon be upon us. It will take place on Sunday 16 October and will begin at 11am. There will be multi-terrain 5k and 10k courses around the reserve. The 10k course follows routes normally closed to visitors.

Similar to previous years, each participant will receive a goody bag. A new addition to this year is that each participant will receive a medal. I am pleased to…

Good morning. We have got some inconvenient but much needed rain here this morning so instead of gazing out of the window waiting for the rain to stop; I thought I would update you all with some recent sightings.

I will begin with some great images that were taken on the reserve last week:

A stoat in full flow: 

Kingfisher: 

Juvenile bearded tit: 

Bittern: 

Image credits: David Gowing

Thank you very much…

Good morning. I will begin with an apology: I didn’t post any images in my last recent sightings blog post. I hope you all accept my apology and rest assured, images will be back with a vengeance in today’s post!

I went for a walk down to New Fen viewpoint before work yesterday morning. Here is the view towards Hockwold church: 

I heard kingfishers near the Washland viewpoint and near the visitor centre…

Good afternoon. I haven’t been here since the end of last week so this afternoon’s sightings may be slightly eclectically arranged!

On Friday afternoon, a kingfisher was fishing in front of New Fen viewpoint and two bearded tits were feeding on the grit tray in front of the viewpoint. An emperor moth caterpillar was photographed on the riverbank and an oystercatcher flew over the visitor centre, calling as…

Have you ever wondered what creatures are lurking in the Lakenheath Fen ponds? Ever wanted to see our feathered friends up close? Ever wondered what’s flying about whilst you’re asleep? Ever wondered what mini-beasts you can find crawling around the reserve?

Well, Sunday 24^th July will be your chance to do just that! Join us for our free summer family fun day and discover all of the above and more – there…

Good morning. I will begin with some fantastic kingfisher images that were taken from Mere Hide on  Tuesday: 

Image credits: Graham Joyce

Thank you very much to Graham for sharing these wonderful images with us. 

There was a bittern survey yesterday morning and bitterns were seen from the Washland viewpoint and New Fen viewpoint. A great white egret was also seen in flight several times west of Joist Fen viewpoint…

Hello there. We have had some very changeable weather over the last couple of days so here are some recent sightings.

Although the weather did improve after a wet morning on Saturday, there were still some threatening looking clouds around: 

There was also a great diving beetle hunting in the pond bed outside the visitor centre:

A family did some pond dipping and unearthed this strange looking beast from the pond…

Good afternoon. I will begin with some fantastic news: One of the crane pairs that call the reserve home fledged two young yesterday! This is wonderful news and here are some pictures of the family: 

Image credits: Dave Rogers

This is the second consecutive year that this pair have fledged two young, which is a very unusual occurrence indeed.

The other pair are still a couple of weeks off fledging so let…

Good morning. I have returned from two extremely busy weeks working at RSPB Bempton Cliffs as part of my sabbatical to find that summer has come to RSPB Lakenheath Fen. 

I will begin with a couple of interesting sightings from last weekend. A great white egret in breeding plumage was seen from New Fen viewpoint on Friday and an osprey flew over on Friday.

I returned on Monday and I had a walk around the reserve before…

Please note that our Big Wild Sleepout events are now FULLY BOOKED. Unfortunately, we can only accommodate those who have booked places in advance. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. If you would like information about other Big Wild Sleepout events taking place, please follow this link for more information. 

Is, thankfully, the phrase I heard plenty of times over the radio on Thursday!

As previous blogs have mentioned, it’s not been easy to pin down how many bittern nests we have on the reserve this year.Our surveys have recorded very little activity and been inconclusive to say the least, which is unusual in comparison to previous years.

However, Thursday proved to be different – within 10 minutes of being in position…

Well it's not quite the wettest June we've had since we started recording rainfall here, (that honour currently goes to June 1997, when 184.4 mm was recorded) but it is getting close!  Since Dave's blog last Sunday, not including yesterday's deluge, we have had an additional 37 mm of rain.  I seem to remember June 2009 being quite wet too, with one memorable afternoon when 90 mm of rain fell in a couple…

It has been a busy week and a very wet one here at Lakenheath Fen.  So here is a little recap on what has been going on.

We have had 34mm of rainfall in the last 4 days and half way into June we have already had slightly more than the average rainfall for the whole month and boy has it tipped down at times!  We had a visit from some of the Birdlife International council  members this week so we wanted the reserve looking…

Good morning. I will start off where I left off with some recent sightings from Saturday afternoon. A spotted flycatcher was feeding in the big willow near the visitor centre and the ringed white stork that has been hanging around the area recently flew over Mere Hide.

There was also some excitement when two of our regular visitors found a micro moth with the given name of commophila aeneana on the washland. This is…

Good afternoon. I will carry on where I left off on Wednesday. Volunteer Nigel saw a red kite over the Washland viewpoint. I returned from a successful stint on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire Wildlife Hour and was presented with a poplar hawkmoth that was trapped on the reserve on Tuesday evening: 

Image credit: Emma Cuthbertson

I eventually put it in some vegetation near the visitor centre and here it is at rest:

Image…

Good morning. Apologies for the lack of updates recently, I haven’t been around much recently. I will begin by sharing an image of the white stork that flew over the visitor centre last Thursday: 

Image credit: Alan Johnson

Thank you very much to Alan for sharing this great image with us.

I led a very successful dusk walk last Friday night. We walked around Brandon Fen and we saw a barn owl hunting over the…

Please note that the Dusk Walk this evening is now FULLY BOOKED. Unfortunately, we can only accommodate those who have booked places in advance. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused.