Good morning. It has quite honestly felt like winter here this week so I will begin with a picture that was taken in more summery conditions last Saturday:

Four spotted chaser and scarce chaser: 

Image credit: Liz Knowles

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

I went for a walk in the pouring rain on Tuesday morning and I was very fortunate to see an otter feeding in the river just east…

Good morning. It has been like winter here over the last couple of days so in an attempt to brighten things up a bit, I thought that I would share an image from one of our reserve trail cameras from the last couple of days: 

Yes, it’s one of our crane parents and it has two chicks. How exciting! As you may know, we have two resident pairs of cranes here and at this time of year, they can be quite tricky to see…

Please note that the camp out event on Friday 3 June has been CANCELLED due to a lack of bookings and the poor weather forecast. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. The Dusk Walk on Friday 3 June and the Dawn Walk on Saturday 4 June are currently still going ahead and there are places available on both walks. If you would like to book places on either walk, please ring 01842 863400 or e-mail lakenheath@rspb…

Good afternoon, as Katherine blogged some recent sightings yesterday, I will try to put a slightly different spin on today’s post. 

I will start off with some interesting news that we received this morning: As some of you may now, each year, we fit small numbers of our young marsh harriers with green wing tags to give us a better idea of their movements once they fledge here. This is done in partnership with the…

Well, it's the end of another busy week, with lots going on down the reserve again.  The non-avian stars of the moment are still the ever-emerging dragonflies coming out of our pond bed near the visitor centre.  As I type, there are another four people staring intently into the vegetation, with warden Emma pointing out the finer points of the dragonfly life-cycle!  To follow on from Davids photo of a few days ago, here…

Good morning. I will begin with some photographs that I took on Sunday morning.

Common stretch-spider: 

Drinker moth caterpillar: 

Furrow orb spider:

Cercopis vulnerata: 

I will start off where I left off on Sunday. A lucky visitor saw four bitterns flying together from Joist Fen viewpoint. There were also three garganeys on the washland, two drakes and a duck.

There were also plenty of invertebrates on the…

Good morning. It’s a lovely sunny morning so here are some more recent sightings. As it is a nice day, hopefully the local hobbys will be performing like they were when these pictures were taken on Thursday 12 May:

Image credits: Phil Hacker

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

I will start off where I left off on Friday. A short eared owl was seen north of the river and…

Good morning. There has been plenty going on here over the last couple of days but I will begin with some images that have been taken here over the last week or so:

Male orange tip: 

Two cranes in flight:

Image credits: Dave Rogers

Male marsh harrier: 

Hobby:

Swift: 

Image credits: Matt Walton

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

I will start of where I left off…

Good morning. Mid-May is a very colourful time of year which is reflected by these great images that have been taken on the reserve in the last week:

Black tern:

Image credits: Ian Goodall

Chicken of the woods:

 Emperor moth:

Image credit: Janet Barwell

Female hairy dragonfly: 

]

Image credit: John Barrett

Thank you very much to Ian, Tim, Janet and John for sharing their great images with us.

Unfortunately…

Last week, we had some interesting happenings in our pond bed out the front of the visitor centre.  It has been in place now for about two years, and has really settled into the surroundings.  The local wildlife has discovered it (though some were introduced, like the great diving beetle that I caught in the moth trap one evening!), and it has become a wonderful home for wildlife.  In particular, it has become a home for…

Good morning. It has been a bit wet for the last couple of days so here are some more recent sightings. I will start with a couple of photos that have been taken recently on the reserve:

Reed bunting: 

Cuckoo:

Grey heron: 

Image credits: Tim James

 Bog bean: 

Garlic mustard:

Image credit: David White

Thank you very much to Tim for sharing these pictures with us.

There were several freshly emerged emperor…

Good morning. It’s a lovely sunny day today so I will begin with some of my pictures from the last couple of days:

West Wood: 

Bird cherry outside the visitor centre: 

Peacock butterfly:

Image credits: David White

I will start off where I left off on Friday. A red kite drifted over West Wood and at least 36 hobbys were seen over Joist Fen viewpoint. A common sandpiper was on the washland.

There were…

Good morning. It’s early May so there is currently a lot going on out on the reserve. I will start off with some pictures that have been taken on the reserve recently:

Common lizard:

Image credit: Lynne Nunn

White dead-nettle:

Lady’s smock in the Fen pools:

Image credit: David White

Thank you very much to Lynne for sharing this picture with us.

I will start off where I left off with some sightings…

Good morning. As several of the team are on holiday this week, I volunteered to help out with this morning’s bittern survey. I arrived in time for the 7am kick off and was all set up to head down to New Fen North. However, when volunteers Roger & Janet came in, they reported hearing a bittern booming in front of the Washland viewpoint on Tuesday evening. As this is very unusual, I was therefore sent up to the…

Good morning. I will start off with some exciting news: Stanley the cuckoo has been on the reserve recently! If you are not familiar with Stanley, he is one of the cuckoos that has been satellite tagged by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). You can find out more about his movements by following this link. 

I will start off where I left off with some sightings from Friday. I went for a walk around Brandon Fen first…

Good afternoon. There have been some interesting sightings on the reserve over the last couple of days so here is an update for you. There were plenty of cuckoos around on Tuesday afternoon and Site Manager Dave saw a single crane flying from south of the railway line into Humphrey’s Paddock, the grazing marsh just west of Joist Fen viewpoint.

It was a chilly start to the day yesterday morning but there were plenty…

Good morning. It is pretty chilly this morning so I will begin with some photos that were taken in more hospitable conditions.

A bittern from Mere Hide on 6 April:

Image credits: Ian Saggers

Thank you very much to Ian for sharing this great picture with us.

A couple of mine from 17 April:

Image credits: David White

There were plenty of cuckoos around on Saturday and four were seen together at one point…

Please note that "A family walk around the Brecks" tomorrow has been cancelled due to a lack of bookings. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused. The Binocular and telescope day is still going ahead as planned. 

Good morning. I haven’t been here much this week but a lot has happened so without further ado, I will begin. I will start of where I left off on Monday. Emma and I went up to the Washland viewpoint at lunchtime. We saw a common tern from the viewpoint itself and a common sandpiper was feeding with two redshanks just west of the viewpoint.

There was a large arrival of common whitethroats on Tuesday and the reserve…

Good morning. The reserve has really come to life recently so it’s time for some recent sightings. I will start where I left off on Wednesday with a few images that were taken by Ian Goodall on that day: 

Our first cuckoo of the year: 

A skulking Cetti’s warbler: 

A juvenile peregrine in full flow: 

Image credits: Ian Goodall

As the day went on, our first hobby of the year was seen from Joist Fen…

Good morning. Although the weather has been patchy this week, it’s a gorgeous morning this morning so it’s time for some recent sightings. I will begin with this photo of a wheatear that Site Manager Dave took on the reserve at the end of last week: 

Image credit: Dave Rogers

Thank you very much to Dave for sharing this great picture with us.

I will start where I left off and begin with some sightings…

Good afternoon. We have had our fair share of April showers over the last couple of days so here are the latest recent sightings. On Wednesday afternoon, Katherine, Emma and Suzanne found an early female whinchat in the area behind Mere Hide. This may be viewable distantly from the path that runs alongside the western edge of Trial Wood, the second poplar plantation. We had a volunteer social in the evening so before…

Good afternoon. There has been a lot going on here recently so without further ado, I will carry on where I left off on Saturday.

A common toad was croaking by the pond dipping platform and a brimstone butterfly was on the wing near the car park. Two great white egrets were on the washland and a single crane was seen flying into New Fen North, the first area of reedbed.

As the day went on, another common toad was croaking…

Good morning. We have had some lovely weather over the last couple of days which has been great news. I will start where I left off on Thursday with some recent sightings:

The willow tit eventually showed itself on the peanut feeder in front of the visitor centre and local photographer Ian Goodall got these great photos of it: 

Image credits: Ian Goodall

Thank you very much to Ian for sharing these images with…

Good morning. I am pleased to say that the weather has improved markedly over the last couple of days so there has been plenty to see on the reserve. The weather improved as the day went on during Monday and the willow tit was showing fairly regularly on the peanut feeder in front of the visitor centre. A great white egret was seen from the Washland viewpoint and two cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint.

A great…