Today I'm going to talk about our 'wildlife windows'.  They mainly involve some strimming work.  Not everyone is pleased when we strim but the vast majority of visitors realise it has to be done and I can assure you we only do it when and where it is needed!  As mentioned last week, we’ve been concentrating our recent efforts on the bays along reedbed edges.  These bays open up small windows into the reedbeds…

The photographers have been out in force this week and have really helped to showcase some of the reserve’s wonderful wildlife. I will begin with the red footed falcon. Our regular Saturday, Monday and Wednesday volunteer John Wightman appeared with these this morning:

Photo credit John Wightman

Although it has been a difficult bird to photograph, here is the Savi’s warbler:

Photo credit: Miles…

The late may Bank Holiday has a habit of producing one or two rare birds and this weekend has been no exception. As many of you know, as well as having small numbers golden orioles in the poplar woods, a male red footed falcon has now been present for almost three and a half weeks. I wasn’t working this weekend (it was my Dad’s 60^th birthday celebration, happy birthday to him!) so I had a feeling that something…

The recent strong, northerly winds have made the reserve feel rather wintery once again. We have also been treated to several large rain and hail storms over the last couple of days. This has made wildlife watching a bit more difficult than usual, especially as far as our golden orioles are concerned. They have been even more elusive than usual and have not been calling much. There seems to be a male and a probably female…

You'll be pleased to hear that the bench replacement work has begun!  Last Thursday, after our weekly bittern listen (more on that later) we loaded up the truck and trailer and headed off to Joist Fen viewpoint.  Surprisingly, for this time of year, the sun was out and it was nicely hot for such back-breaking work.  Once you see the photos of the new benches you'll understand why it was back-breaking - these benches…

 Firstly, we would like to aplologise for the lack of updates this week. We have been very busy and hopefully normal service will resume this week. Anyhow, don’t you just love May?! Several factors conspired to make this past weekend the busiest of the year so far. Not only had at least one golden oriole arrived, the rather smart male red footed falcon was still around and entertaining visitors:

Photo credit:…

Just a quick note that a golden oriole was cat calling and making a few subdued fluty sounds  In West Wood this morning. Better late than never!  Here is a picture of a male from last year:

 Photo credit: Paul Foster

It has been another amazing week here at RSPB Lakenheath Fen. It was hard to know where to base yourself on Sunday: On the one hand, you could be at New Fen viewpoint watching the male red footed falcon pelting around the sky with the local hobbys. On the other hand, you could stay around the visitor centre, where we had three cranes and a red kite circling overhead (although not at the same time unfortunately!) Two

Not a reference to any sort of trouser malfunction you’ll be pleased to hear but rather the feeding frenzies taking place over the reedbeds at the moment.  The weather is the cause – low pressure and the low cloud base are bringing the insects down and in turn the bird species that feed upon them.  At New Fen North in particular with the poplar woods on three sides, the predators and their prey are taking…

Firstly, please excuse me if I don’t sound completely coherent this morning, I have lead two dawn chorus walks in the last two days! As you will hear later though, they were both rather good! I will begin though with a quick summary of the end of last week:

The weather was distinctly patchy on Friday but it was rather bright in the morning. I couldn’t resist going to take some photos of the water violet

A noticeable change has taken place at Lakenheath over the past week or so – insect numbers are definitely on the up!  This is good news for all those insect eating animals out there and they are of course fascinating individuals themselves, so I’m weaving some appreciation of the smaller creatures into my blog this week.

Last weeks volunteer party started with an early morning bittern survey, listening…

The last couple of days here have just been magical! The weather has been fantastic and there has been plenty to see. Things started well on Sunday morning with a grass snake swimming across the visitor centre pond. Here is a picture of one from later on in the day:

Photo credit: Tim James

The ring ouzel was seen in Brandon Fen and there was a report of a lesser whitethroat singing near the washland viewpoint. A

 Well, it turned out that Friday was definitely a day to be out on the reserve with lady luck on your side. Things started exceptionally well with a ringtail Montagu’s harrier flying west along the river which is a rare spring record indeed. Those of us who were in the office had to be contented with great views of a grass snake swimming across the visitor centre pond! This, of course was fantastic to see.

A ki…

This is just a quick note to say that a male red footed falcon appeared on the reserve at lunchtime. It was first seen over New Fen North at around 1pm. It then spent some time feeding with the hobbys over Joist Fen viewpoint. If you are not familiar with this species, its basically the Eastern European equivalent of the hobby and a very rare bird here indeed! Here is a picture of the female that was seen here in May 2008…

I will begin this morning with two record shots of the purple heron from Tuesday evening. Many thanks to Ian Goodall for sending them over:

Photo credit: Ian Goodall

The bird was seen again on Wednesday evening at around 6.30pm. It was seen in flight between Joist Fen viewpoint and the railway line in a roughly south easterly direction.

As usual, there has been plenty going on here this week. The ring ouzel and…

I'll start off with the ssssnakes (and the dragonfly of course), just to keep you happy!  The benches are finally in place and they look amazing, even if we do say so ourselves!  Katherine and our volunteers installed them nice and securely by the dipping platform last week:

Photo credit: Ali Blaney - Katherine with volunteers Phil and Robert

Photo credit: Ali Blaney - Dragonfly bench

I think you'll agree…

Please note that the nocturnal nature camp out on Friday May 3 has been CANCELLED due to lack of bookings. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. There are still placed available on the following camp outs:

• ·         Camp out and dawn walk Saturday June 1 & Sunday June 2
• ·         Moth camp out Saturday July 6

If you are interested in booking places, please follow the links above.

Just a quick one: There was a distinctive hazy mist when I drove into work this morning. I had a good feeling about today. It’s May 1 and we have had a touch of east in the wind. This usually brings in something unusual. Sure enough, when I turned my computer on, I found an e-mail with some photos of a purple heron that was taken here yesterday afternoon. Well fancy that!

If you are not familiar with these birds…

There has been a distinctive northern feel to some of our sightings over the last couple of days. Three northern breeding summer migrants have featured rather prominently: A ring ouzel, a wheatear and two whinchats.

The ring ouzel, which is presumably the same male that has been around on and off all week was seen around the Brandon Fen family trail on Friday morning:

Photo credit: Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

Shortly…

Please note that the marsh harrier & bittern walk on Sunday is FULLY BOOKED. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused. The next early morning guided walks with places available are:

• ·         Dawn chorus walk Sunday May 12 4.30am-7.30am
• ·         Dawn walk Sunday May 19 4am-7am

 If you would like to book places on either event, please click on the event name for more details.

There has been so much going on here over the last week! I will try to update you on the most exciting bits! Things started well on Sunday with a group of ten bar tailed godwits circling over the washland. This included two birds in their eye catching brick red breeding plumage. A greenshank was on the river just west of the washland pool and two cranes were visible near Joist Fen viewpoint.

There was a little trickle…

The benches that is....but more on those later!

This week has been a mixture of office work (never the popular choice as spring is springing outside!) and a good bit of survey work to cheer us up.  Dave and I have finally finished the Annual Report, which summarises everything that happened at Lakenheath Fen in the financial year 2012/13.  Let me tell you - a LOT happened!  It covers not just habitat management but events…

Yesterday was certainly a day to be remembered yesterday. Although it was really rather frosty first thing, the sun shone for most of the days and by the afternoon, it was really rather warm.

There was plenty to be seen on the reserve. The early bird (ers) and photographers saw two cranes and our first cuckoo of the year from Joist Fen viewpoint. I went out for a walk around the new trail off of the Brandon Fen family…

It has been rather windy this week hasn’t it?! I will start with posting some pictures of yesterday’s rather spectacular Fen blow:

This amazing phenomenon is caused by high winds whipping up the peat and turning the sky almost brown. Yesterday’s “blow” was certainly the most spectacular one that I have seen since I have worked here.

Despite the wind, there has been plenty to see…

I'm starting with a quick note to all readers - the blog is about bird song, if you're not familiar with the songs of the birds mentioned, click the links and you'll be taken to a page where you can listen to a brief audio clip - much recommended!  

It's time to start tuning in to the new warblers that are singing around the reserve.  As I approached Botany Bay down the western end of the reserve this…