Good morning. Here is a quick post to let you know are opening times over the festive period. The reserve will be open at all times throughout. The visitor centre will be open daily until Christmas Eve, when we will close our doors at 1pm.

The visitor centre and toilets will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The toilets will be open daily 27 December-31 December. The visitor centre will reopen on New Years Day…

Good morning. I will start by introducing our new member of the team: Emma Cuthbertson! Emma is our new Warden and she started on Monday. She joins us from RSPB Fairburn Ings and RSPB St Aidan's in Yorkshire. I am sure you will join us in welcoming Emma to the team and if you visit the reserve regularly, you will probably cross paths with her in the near future.

Once the fog had lifted on Sunday morning, there was…

Please note that the Festive Foray guided walk on Sunday has been cancelled due to a lack of bookings. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

Good morning. I will focus mostly on sightings from yesterday, purely because there was so much to see! I went for a walk before work and in descending numerical order, I saw four little egrets, three water pipits, two Egyptian geese and one great white egret.

The great white egret was feeding gracefully on the washland and by the end of the day, there may have been as many as three present on the reserve. Two seen together…

Good morning. As I expected, I would not have a chance to post this week until now so here's for making up for lost time! 

As is often on the case on a Friday, I will start with a few pictures.

This first picture is a couple of weeks old, but I think you'll agree that it is definitely worth sharing! This amazing picture of a kingfisher (and a bittern!) was taken from the visitor centre window on Saturday 18 October…

Sammy Fraser, RSPB Brecks Community Engagement Officer writes...

 Most of you who have paid a visit to the reserve in search of booming bitterns, bugling cranes and pinging bearded tits, will have noticed a subtle transition between the car park and the area west of the visitor centre. This transition is from the sandy and dry Brecks, harbouring specialist plants and a plethora of rabbits, to the reed covered nutrient…

Good morning. This week can moreorless be summed up in pictures, so here we go:

It wasn't too bad a day on Tuesday and Matt Walton took this lovely landscape shot from New Fen viewpoint:

The great white egret was also present on the washland, looking as elegant as ever:

Image credits: Matt Walton

Meanwhile, closer to the visitor centre, there was some excitement when a water pipit was ringed near the visitor…

Firstly, I’d like to start by apologising about the lack of management posts on the blog since Ali left. Being one man down has meant we’ve all been a bit busier than usual! Luckily our fantastic Thursday volunteers have stepped up to the plate and helped us get lots of jobs jobbed. These jobs have included building a rather fabulous extension to the bug hotel (thank you Phil and Roger), which the Wildlife Explorer’s…

Good morning. The last couple of days have certainly been interesting here. I will start with a couple of kingfisher pictures from Thursday. Thats quite a large fish!:

Image credits: Matt Walton

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

It poured it down with rain on Friday morning but for the volunteers, friends of volunteers (and occasional staff members!) who took to gazing out…

Good morning. As long as you get the weather right, its a great time of year to come and see both sunrise and sunset on the reserve. Here is an assortment of landscape shots from the last week:

The gloomy visitor centre pond on Sunday morning:

Moreorless the same view at the end of the day:

Sunset over Joist Fen viewpoint on Monday evening:

Image credits: David White

Sunrise back towards the visitor centre…

Well, the last couple of days have been very seasonal. We have had a bit of sun, a bit of wind and a bit of rain! It was unsettled for most of the day on Friday. As I was opening up the visitor centre, I spooked a female sparrowhawk that was perched on the veranda behind the visitor centre. There was also a pair of stonechats showing well in front of Mere Hide.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got to work yesterday…

Good morning. I will begin this morning with  two images that we have been sent this week that have captured some great reflections:

A mute swan:

A cow:

Christine, who took these two pictures, also captured the fiery sunset on Tuesday evening:

Image credits: Christine Nelson

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

We also received some great action shots from Andrew Collier:

A…

Good morning. It is feeling a bit more like November this morning (.i.e. its raining!) The last couple of days have felt like August! The good conditions have meant good news for photography so here are some picture that have been taken here in the last week:

I will begin with some truly exquisite pictures of a kingfisher from last weekend:

Image credits: Neil & Sarah Wright

Thank you very much to Neil and…

Good morning. We have our annual Crane talk & walk tomorrow. The event will begin with a 45 minute talk about cranes in Britain, focusing specifically on their history here at RSPB Lakenheath Fen. We will then go for a walk of around three miles to try to see the birds "in the flesh." Although sightings can be quite unpredictable at this time of year, the last sighting came on Sunday, so there are definitely birds…

Good afternoon. It has been a good week for birds of prey so I thought I would do a raptor themed blog this afternoon (which includes a sighting of a rare bird of prey on the reserve yesterday!)

Rewinding back to Saturday, regular visitors Roy and Ken counted a group of at least seven common buzzards passing over the Washland viewpoint. Here are some pictures of them:

There were also plenty of kestrels about…

We are pleased to inform you that the roadside barrier will be open at all times once again. If this situation changes, we will let you know as soon as possible.

Sammy Fraser, RSPB Brecks Community Engagement Officer writes...

This is my first guest blog on the Lakenheath Fen page, so hopefully I can live up to David’s brilliant blogs!

I work with the Brecks Team. We are based in a little office in the heart of the Brecks, in Thetford. The Brecks spans approximately a 1,000 square kilometres, encompassing both Norfolk and Suffolk in its borders. It includes the market…

Good morning. As you can see from the title of this blog post, I have already been around the reserve this morning! After having to put up with some horrible, dark, mornings recently, it was great to get up in the light for a change and go for a walk before work!

I went out armed with my camera and my first port of call was to try out the new steps that connect the grassy path near the visitor centre to the riverbank…

Good morning. As promised from my blog post on Tuesday, here are the pictures that were taken on the reserve on Monday:

A redwing:

An otter showing how long it is:

Image credits: Matt Walton

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

Suzanne and John were lucky enough to spot a grey wagtail on the veranda behind the visitor centre on Wednesday. We don't see these charming little birds very…

Good morning. I have attached the results of Sunday's Race for Wildlife below. We raised over £450 through entrance fees and over £50 from the homemade cake sale. All of this money will go directly towards our valuable work to give nature a home here at RSPB Lakenheath Fen. Thank you very much to everyone who took part. 

Here are some pictures from the day:

The start of the 2km fun run:

The winner…

Good afternoon. It has all been a bit mad here recently with Sunday's Race for Wildlife. However, there is still plenty to see and I some pictures that were taken from and around Mere Hide at the end of last week:

Some lovely shots of kingfishers:

A female reed bunting:

A long tailed tit:

Image credits: David Kenwright

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

We were treating…

Please note that the Race for Wildlife results will be posted here on Thursday. If you would like your time before them, please ring the office on 01842 863400. 

Good morning. Apologies for the lack of updates for the last two weeks, I have been volunteering for the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) at Poda protected area. Here is a picture of me helping out with a reptile survey:

Image credit: Yuri Kornilev

Anyhow, now is not the time or place for me to tell you (anymore!) about my holiday so here is what has been going on here recently:

The recent mild…

It's less than a week to go until the Race for Wildlife takes place at the reserve.  Cows have been moved, paths straightened up, and goody bags have been filled.  All we need now are plenty of runners and a little bit of luck with the weather!  So here's a quick run down (!) of the Race for Wildlife that is due to take place on Sunday 19 October!

There will be a two kilometre fun run starting at 10am, which you can…

Well as David is away enjoying himself, it has fallen to the rest of us to write a few blog posts!  It has been a week or two since we've had a reserve management update, so keep reading for guest blogger, Site Manager Dave Rogers', update on what our Thursday work party volunteers have been up to recently.

The last two Thursday volunteer sessions have been about completing odd jobs. Last week, we started on repainting…