As Ali reported yesterday, One of the ospreys from Sunday stuck around. Although it hasn't been seen yet today, it has been keeping visitors on its toes by covering a large area. On Monday, it was first located over New Fen viewpoint but then spent most of the rest of the day perched in front of Joist Fen viewpoint on this object, which will be familiar to those of you that have visited the reserve:

Image credit…

 

Visitors to Lakenheath Fen are intrigued by the construction work underway on the lawn outside the visitor centre.  Clearly the early stages of some amazing new project, but what.....

 

Photo credit: Ali Blaney – can you guess what it is yet?

 

We’ve had some good suggestions so far, the more gruesome ones won’t be featuring in this blog(!) but the closest so far is a new swimming or paddling pool.…

Yesterday was definitely a day for the "fishermen" of the bird world. Things started well with one of our regular "visitor centre" kingfishers making regular visitors to the visitor centre pond. It was so lovely to admire such a colourful bird at such close quarters. Things got even more excited at lunch time when an osprey was seen from New Fen viewpoint. Here is a photo of one of these awesome raptors…

Please note that the Beginners photography workshop scheduled for Sunday 25 August has been cancelled due to a lack of bookings.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Please note that tomorrows Saturday Saunter guided walk (24 August 2013) has been cancelled - this is mainly due to the very poor weather forecast for tomorrow.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

The lovely, sunny weather has returned and our local wildlife has been out and about enjoying it recently. After a very successful Brecks bonanza event on Sunday, I went for a walk down to Joist Fen viewpoint with several colleagues. We saw the absolutely incredible sight of hundreds of mother of pearl moths feeding on the riverbank thistles. If you are not familiar with this pretty moth, please click on its named and…

 

As the breeding season draws to an end, it’s time for us to complete our bird territory survey maps.  These are the surveys we carried out from mid April to the end of June – it feels a long time ago now.  I mentioned the theory behind the surveys in a past blog if you need to check back.  The next stage involves transferring records from our working copies onto a fresh map, concentrating on each species in…

Things are definitely starting to feel very autumnal on the reserve. The breeding season is over for the majority of species and several bird species are already starting to move south to their wintering grounds. It was a rainy day on Friday but there was still plenty to see for those that braved the showers. Two kingfishers and two bitterns were seen from New Fen viewpoint along with one bearded tit. A kingfisher was…

We have our annual August family fun day on the reserve tomorrow 10am-4pm. This FREE event is themed specifically on the Brecks. The reserve lays on the border between the Fens and the Brecks and the Brandon Fen family trail is our very own little bit of Breckland:

Image credit: David White

There will be a wide range of activities on offer so here is a list of what we will be offer:

• A Brecks Explorer trail around…

Please note that the bat night this evening has been CANCELLED due to the poor weather forecast. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

I just thought I would start this morning with two photos of creatures that I mentioned last week (and very pretty plant!) Here is the female glow-worm that we found while bug hunting last Thursday:

Image credit: David White

....And here is one of the impressive red underwing moths that spent most of last weekend roosting near the visitor centre. They really are as big as they look:

Image credit: David White

As…

 

The past week has been very busy, with volunteers putting in extra hours outside their usual days, staff trying to fit in outdoor tasks as well as indoor data work and of course, the Big Wild Sleepout.  Sometimes there are just not enough hours in a day (I think I’ve said that before...)

I’ll give praise first to our volunteers, who have really been putting in the hours above and beyond recently.  Volunteer…

I have to begin again with apologising again for the lack of photos and hyperlinks. Hopefully they will return soon! We had a pleasant surprise on Friday morning when four adult cranes were circling over the visitor centre and washland for around 20 minutes. Once it had stopped raining, there were several birds of prey out and about including a hobby and a common buzzard over Joist Fen viewpoint. A kingfisher was also…

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the lack of photos and hyperlinks in this mornings post. Hopefully the issue will be rectified soon! Our local cranes have been seen several times this week and a pair were seen from of Joist Fen viewpoint on Wednesday. Although our bitterns are coming to the end of their breeding season, they are still being seen regularly from both viewpoints. One was seen from Joist Fen viewpoint…

Please note that our Big Wild Sleepout event tomorrow evening is FULLY BOOKED. Unfortunately, we can only accommodate those who have booked places in advance. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. Please visit the Big Wild Sleepout website for details of other events in the local area. 

Please note that the moth night on Saturday August 10 has been cancelled due to lack of bookings. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

 

This was what I thought to myself last Friday, when getting ready to do some strimming.  I was walking toward the workshop when I saw the ‘mountains’ in the direction of Botany Bay.  My poor brain didn’t think anything else of it until Katherine commented on the approaching storm....

 

Photo credit: Ali Blaney – Fenland ‘mountains’

 

Photo credit: Ali Blaney - the mountains creeping…

We have thunder storms all morning on Friday and at times, the sky looked quite frankly terrifying! However, once the storms had finally blown through, it was a pleasant (if very sticky) afternoon. The local bearded tits were out and about including one at New Fen viewpoint ad four juveniles preening themselves near Joist Fen viewpoint. Several marsh harriers were seen over the reedbed and at least one kingfisher was…

When I was growing up, my favourite colour was indeed blue. I think it was mainly because my favourite "character" Thomas the tank engine was that colour. I still so love the colour blue and when I got into bird watching a couple of years after I discovered Thomas and his friends, I found that there were a range of pretty blue birds that could be seen in this country. Inevitably, the kingfisher was always the…

 

If you walk through any area of grass here at the reserve (and further afield) you’ll probably notice your steps trigger a flurry of hopping insects to move out of your way.  Like dolphins surfing in front of a boat, this bow wave of grasshoppers and crickets always makes me want to stop and take a closer look and I finally managed to hunt down a few more of our hopping friends to show you this week.  It’s been…

We had our annual staff and volunteer barbecue yesterday evening and what a lovely evening it was to! The sun was shining and it was lovely and warm. Although it happens every year, despite the fact that there was a wonderful variety of food and drink on offer, certain individuals were still kept getting distracted. Most of you can probably guess what they were distracted by, but just in case you haven't, it was our wonderful…

I was out on the reserve on Wednesday morning armed with my camera and I came across this female common darter resting on one of our direction posts:

Image credit: David White

Now, I know that it was most likely to be bathing in early morning sun but I couldn't resist letting my imagination run away with me a bit. Maybe, it was trying to tell me that if I walked that way, I would see more dragonflies. Or maybe, it…

 

As always with British summers, the heat and humidity built to very uncomfortable levels and finally reaching boiling point on Monday night.  The storm broke good and loud and I have to say it was nice listening to the sound of rain again – I’ve certainly missed it and looking around Lakenheath Fen you’d have to say the grass has missed it too!

The rain was followed by a flurry of activity here as…

Something unusual was going on yesterday afternoon. As previously reported, at least four cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint yesterday afternoon.  Given that we were already scratching our heads about this, we were even more confused when somebody came in reporting nine cranes from Joist Fen viewpoint! Apparently, a group of seven flew in and were temporary joined by another two. The group of two took exception to…

Although it is only mid-July, several species of birds are already on the move. This especially includes wading birds, that nest up in the Arctic. We have had a few "travellers" passing through this week. Two green sandpipers were flushed out of Brandon Fen on Thursday morning and a greenshank was heard flying over the visitor centre later on that day. Sadly, it was too high for us to see. This morning a group…