Good morning. Although the weather isn't great this morning, we are hoping that we get some good weather next weekend, as we have our Start of Season Family Fun Day next Sunday, 10am-4pm. The theme of the event will be grazing animals on the reserve and weather permitting, there will be the opportunity to get up close and personal with a variety of livestock. This should hopefully include:

• Cattle
• Sheep
• Goats

Good morning. It’s a bit wild here this morning so unfortunately, all of this morning’s photos will have to come from calmer conditions earlier on in the week.

Teasel: 

A member of the buttercup family:

Banded snail:

The washland on Friday morning:

Image credits: David White

It turned out to be a lovely day on Friday and there were several bitterns booming out on the reserve. One was even booming…

Good morning. The Easter weekend has started with a band and it’s a really gorgeous morning here. I will begin with a picture of a bittern that was taken at New Fen viewpoint earlier on in the week: 

Image credit: Martin Peake

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

I will now try to pick out the highlights of a very busy week here so without any further ado, here we go! A red …

Good morning. A lot has been seen on the reserve in the last week but a full recent sightings post will have to wait until tomorrow. The reason for this is that a very significant species of bird was heard and seen on the reserve yesterday and in order to do it justice, I have decided to devote a blog post to it.

An interesting debate has been brewing here at RSPB Lakenheath Fen over the last couple of weeks. It involves…

Good morning. There has been plenty of crane activity this week so here are some photos of them:

Monday: 

Image credits: David Gowing

Thursday:

Image credit: Dave Capps

Thank you very much to David and Dave for sharing these great pictures with us.

It was a nice day on Thursday and nine roe deer were grazing alongside the entrance track. A marsh tit was using the visitor centre feeders and Suzanne saw…

Good morning. This is just a reminder that the barn owl walk on Sunday is FULLY BOOKED and the additional walk that has been scheduled at the same time is also FULLY BOOKED. Unfortunately, we can only accommodate those who have booked places in advance. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

Please note that the reserve will be open as usual and you are more than welcome to come and visit even if you aren't…

Good morning. I will begin where I left off on Monday morning. Katherine took visitor centre volunteer John down the reserve and they saw two cranes feeding in Humphrey’s Paddock, close to Joist Fen viewpoint. They also saw three common buzzards over West Wood and three common snipe in front of New Fen viewpoint.

As they day went on, bitterns were seen from both New Fen viewpoint and Mere Hide. A kingfisher was…

Good morning. I am very rarely in the office on a Monday so it feels strange to be blogging right at the start of the working week! I won’t be able to blog again until the end of the week so without further ado, I shall begin.

Here are some pictures of “Little & Large”, one of our crane pairs feeding near New Fen viewpoint on Saturday: 

Image credits: Darren Thompson

...And here are some of…

You may remember that at around this time last year, we held a meeting here for regular visitors to the reserve that was intended at sharing our plans for the reserve and to give our regulars an opportunity to give us some feedback about the work we do here.

I am pleased to say that this meeting will be repeated this year on Tuesday 29 March 7pm-9pm in the reserve visitor centre. There will be an opportunity to meet the…

Good afternoon. I’ve got a lot to get through so without further ado, I will begin. We had an astronomy event on Wednesday evening and just after darkness fell, a stone curlew flew over the visitor centre, calling as it went. It is good to know that these charismatic birds of the nearby Brecks are starting to return for the summer.

I came in to help with the work party on Thursday and before I got stuck in, I took…

After the rubbish weather we had last Wednesday, Thursday turned out really rather nice, and we had a very productive day with our Thursday volunteers. 

We are always trying to improve the visitor experience here, ensuring the facilities are fit for purpose and improving the habitats for the various wildlife that calls the reserve home, and for our visitors trying to see them!  One facility that has definitely not been…

Good morning. I have returned from a week off and suddenly, we are a third of a way through March! I did pay an early morning visit to the reserve last Thursday and here are a couple of my pictures:

Image credits: David White

I also had a brief wonder around on Sunday afternoon. Although the weather wasn’t ideal, a bittern was “grunting” quietly in New Fen North, the first area of reedbed. I also caught…

It most definitely feels like spring is in the air here, however we had a brief return to winter on Wednesday afternoon with a very unexpected snow/hail shower. For a little while only the reserve was looking lovely with a sprinkling of snow;

A snowy visitor centre lawn - Emma Cuthbertson

But lets return to more pleasant talk of spring and the signs that are springing(!) up around the reserve...

Great crested grebes…

We are getting closer to finishing off the sluice installations that we have been working on for the last three weeks.  The first sluice is in and complete and we just need the excavator to remove the dams at the ends of the new channel to connect everything up to the reedbed pools on either side.   These sluices control water levels by having wooden boards inserted into the central metal channel within the sluice box.…

Good afternoon. This is going to be my last recent sightings blog post for a while so without further ado, I will begin. As usual, I will start where I left off on Tuesday. It was a lovely afternoon and Site Manager Dave saw seven common buzzards circling overhead near Joist Fen viewpoint. Katherine and I went for a walk around Brandon Fen at lunchtime and we saw two noisy oystercatchers flying around in front of the…

Good morning. We have had an interesting couple of days here so it’s time for some more recent sightings. Before I get stuck into that, I thought I would share a picture that was taken here a couple of weeks ago, that I haven’t had a chance to share yet:

Male bearded tit: 

Image credit: Derek Tabram

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

Whilst on the subject of pictures…

Good morning. Although it is pretty mild today, we have still had a fair bit of cold weather to contend with this week. I will begin with a few more of Emma’s pictures from Tuesday, just because I like them so much!: 

Image credits: Emma Cuthbertson

I will carry on where I left off on Thursday. I went up to the Washland viewpoint at lunchtime and saw two common buzzards circling overhead. A skylark was…

Good morning. We have had a reminder that winter is still here over the last couple of days. Before I get to some wintery pictures though, I will report some sightings from Sunday:

I went for a walk before work and there was plenty to see from the Washland viewpoint. This included three shelducks and two great crested grebes. A barn owl was hunting north of the large pool and it flushed three water pipits that were feeding…

Good morning. It’s 14 February so that can only mean one thing: it’s the beginning of National Nestbox Week! This takes place each year 14-21 February and is organised by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). It is aimed at encouraging as many people as possible to put up nestboxes in the gardens and local green spaces and has been running for over 15 years. 

The reason why it is celebrated during this…

Good afternoon. It has been pretty chilly here for the last couple of days but there has still been plenty to see nonetheless.

I will begin with a brief detour back to Tuesday, when Dave saw 23 whooper swans in one of the pools near Joist Fen viewpoint. Beginning where I left off on Wednesday, a water rail was seen from the visitor centre window and four cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint.

It was a chilly start…

It has been a busy week here at Lakenheath.  Paul our excavator driver has been hard at work improving the site for wildlife with his digger.  The ditch between the West Wood and the river bank has now been cleaned out.  We had not been able to manage this section of ditch effectively in the past as we did not own the land on the north side of the wood.  However after purchasing this 2 years ago we can now get access for…

Good morning. I have now returned and if you are wondering where I have been for the last three weeks, please read this blog post.

I popped in briefly on Saturday and saw nine roe deer grazing alongside the entrance track. A group of four curlews flew over the visitor centre and a water pipit flew up just east of the Washland viewpoint. 

I lead a 10 kilometre “Long Walk” about the reserve on Sunday and we had fantastic…

Hello there! If you read our blog posts regularly and have been wondering where I have been for the last couple of weeks, hopefully, this blog post will give you an insight into what I have been up to:

The first thing to make you aware of is that I have now been in continuous employment with the RSPB for over seven years (I started at RSPB Lakenheath Fen on 13 October 2008 to be precise.) As a thank you to it’s employees…

Well, maybe not quite everywhere but it certainly felt like it yesterday afternoon when we were watching 11 cranes flying around the reserve, making a racket with their distinctive bugalling calls!

Thursday, as ever, was work party day and we were just finishing lunch when the first crane calls were heard...soon the sky was full!  We are almost certain that our two resident pairs were present as there was a distinctive…

Saturday brought sunshine and cranes back to Lakenheath Fen.  Both our resident pairs were seen on the reserve yesterday with Little and Large plus their chick sighted in the New Fen area and flying over the reserve to feed south of the railway line.  Pair A2 and their twins were seen further down the reserve from Joist Fen viewpoint.  The cranes return to the reserve at this time of year to re-establish their breeding territories…