How on earth is it December already? This year really seems to have flown by!

I've got another busy week ahead so here are some more recent sightings for you:

I went up to the Washland viewpoint on Thursday afternoon and a winter plumaged great crested grebe was on the river. A mixed flock of siskins and redpolls were also feeding in the alders behind the visitor centre. 

It was a nice morning yesterday morning and I saw…

As December is now almost upon us, I have attached our Christmas opening times to this blog post.

If you cannot access the attached document, our Chrismas opening timeas can also be found here. 

Please ring 01842 863400 or e-mail: lakenheath@rspb.org.uk; for more information. 

Good morning. I have now returned from my week off and caught up with what I needed to catch up with so here are some recent sightings from where I left on on Sunday 18 November. I will start off though with an image of Brandon Fen looking rather frosty from that day that I haven't shared yet:

Image credit: David White

Sunday 18 November

I went up to the Washland viewpoint mid-afternoon and saw two stonechats. Shortly…

Good morning. I will be away from a week from tomorrow so before I go, here are some recent sightings from last couple of days. On Friday, three redshanks and a black tailed godwit were showing well from Joist Fen viewpoint. Warden Katherine went down the reserve and saw a great white egret near Joist Fen viewpoint. She also saw a stoat and found some otter spraint in the same area. 

Yesterday morning, a great crested…

Good morning. Now that the community pages are back up and running again and I have worked out how to use them (!), here are some sightings from the last week:

I had a pleasant surprise in an unusual location last Thursday afternoon when I found a smart brown spotted pinion moth in the men's toilet. Talk about glamorous! 

In the misty sunshine on Friday morning, at least a dozen bearded tits were showing well from the…

Good morning. Now that the community pages are up and running again, I thought I would give them a try and share with you this image that was taken last Tuesday from our visitor centre window:

Image credit: John Ingham

As you can see, it shows two kingfishers perched up at the back of the pool. What we love so much about this image is that the bird on the left looks a bit like a penguin. Fancy that! 

Shortly after this…

Good morning. After today, I won't be able to blog until at least the beginning of next week so here are some recent sightings from the last couple of days. 

On Sunday, a mistle thrush was singing in front of the visitor centre and a migrant hawker was on the wing in the afternoon  sunshine.  Some lucky visitors saw an otter from Mere Hide and a red kite flew over Joist Fen viewpoint. A peregrine also flew over the…

Good morning. There has been plenty to see on the reserve over the last couple of days so here are some recent sightings for you:

On Friday. there were several interesting records entered into our visitor centre log book. Here they are in the order that they were written:

• Lapwing: 120+ Washland viewpoint
• Redshank: 1 Washland viewpoint
• Sparrowhawk: Perched up at the edge of the visitor centre pond
• Siskin: Visitor…

Good morning. We have had some changeable weather so far this week so here are some sightings and pictures from the last few days.

Starting off where I left off on Sunday, we could hear a Cetti's warbler singing in the afternoon sunshine from our office window. There were also still several dragonflies on the wing, with at least one migrant hawker and several ruddy darters flying around near the visitor centre. 

Good morning. We have had some changeable weather recently so here are some recent sightings from Thursday afternoon onwards:

On Thursday afternoon, a green sandpiper was seen from New Fen viewpoint and around half a dozen bramblings were seen in Brandon Fen. Meanwhile, further down the reserve, Site Manager Dave saw a bittern in flight over the far end of the reserve.

It was really rather chilly on Friday morning.…

Good morning. There has been plenty to see here recently so here are some more recent sightings from last Saturday onwards: 

A bittern was seen from New Fen viewpoint mid-morning. Two great white egrets and a green sandpiper were seen along the riverbank.

I went for a walk around the reserve in the afternoon and I saw two little grebes in the river. A flock of at least 30 fieldfares flew south over East Wood and a s…

I am very pleased to share this link of some more photographs from our Race for Widllife on Sunday 14 October:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/165518413@N04/?; 

Thank you very much to reserve volunteer Cat Serpant Barrett for sharing them with us. 

Good morning. Suddenly, it is feeling really rather autumnal on the reserve. The sightings from the last couple of days have reflected that, so without any further ado, here they are:

I went up to the Washland viewpoint mid-afternoon on Thursday and counted at least 350 lapwings in the afternoon sunshine. There were also three redshanks feeding in a typically energetic fashion nearby.

It was really rather foggy first…

Good morning. Now that our Race for Wildlife is over for another year, things are starting to get back to some semblance of normality on the reserve! Although it is a relatively quiet time of year on the reserve, here are some sightings from the last week:

Last Thursday, Warden Emma and volunteer Darren saw five great white egrets near Joist Fen viewpoint. They also saw a bittern in the same area. Meanwhile, closer to…

Good morning. Now that the reserve team have had a bit of time to catch their breath, here are some photographs from our Race for Wildlife on Sunday 14 October:

Image credits: Dave Rogers

I hope you like these and more will follow later on in the week. 

Thank you again to everyone who took part. Despite the soggy weather, it was a great event. Thank you also to the team here for their…

Good afternoon. Our Race for Wildlife is over for another year! A total of 122 people took part on a slightly soggy mid-October day.  I have attached the results to this blog post.If you have trouble reading them, please e-mail: lakenheath@rspb.org.uk; 

Thank you very much to everyone who took part and to the team of staff and volunteers that organised and ran the event. Some photographs of the event will follow later…

Good morning. I will begin by posting an image of a willow emerald damselfly that reserve volunteer Mark Brown took near the visitor centre last week:

Image credit: Mark Brown

On Sunday, a flock of around 40 fieldfares were roaming around the reserve. It is good to know what there northern thrushes are starting to arrive. Good numbers of redwings were also present, which were nice to see. 

I went for a walk before…

Good morning. If you are taking part in our Race for Wildlife on Sunday 14 October, here is some important information for you.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, the race begins at 11am. Registration will take place in the visitor centre, which is a short walk from the car park. The start for both the 5k and 10k is around a 10 minute walk (or five minute jog) from the visitor centre. We therefore suggest that you…

Good afternoon. I just thought I would share some lovely pictures with you that have been taken on the reserve over the last couple of weeks. As you can see, variety is definitely the spice of life on the reserve at this time of year! 

Spoonbill on the washland (22 September):

Spoonbills on the washland (22 September):

Bearded tits (22 September):

Image credits: David Gowing

Male bearded tit (22 September):

Good afternoon. Apologies for the lack of updates recently. I have been on holiday and the reserve team have been very busy over the last couple of weeks.

I will return with a more detailed recent sightings post over the next couple of days but in the meantime, here are some recent highlights:

Crane – Now likely to be off-site feeding with the Fens wintering crane flock.

Bittern – One from Joist Fen…

Mere Hide will be closed tomorrow (until around 4pm) as we undertake some essential maintenance work, both on the hide itself and in the area in front of the hide.

As the hide has now been in place for a good few years, we’re going to take advantage of the autumn sunshine and give the hide a coat of paint, in order to keep it in prime condition.

We’re also going to be doing the annual reed cutting around the back…

Good morning.

If you read our blog regularly, you may know that several of the team here are into steam locomotives. I am proud to be one of them, so here is a picture of 60009 Union Of South Africa passing the reserve early last Saturday morning:

Image credit: David White

On Saturday afternoon, three black tailed godwits were showing well from the Washland viewpoint and a peregrine was hunting overhead. Two whi…

Good afternoon. I will begin by sharing some images of the view from Joist Fen viewpoint at various points over the course of the day. As you will see, the reserve team were busy strimming!

Image credits: Emma Cuthbertson

In terms of recent sightings, there are still cranes present and at least three were seen north of the river near Joist Fen viewpoint on Thursday. A bittern was at the edge of the…

Runners and nature-lovers of all ages and abilities are being invited to take on a cross-country run in aid of wildlife on Sunday 14 October, in RSPB Lakenheath Fen’s Race for Wildlife.

The event has become a fixture in the reserve’s calendar, and with less than 50 places left for this year’s Race, the RSPB is encouraging people to register now to avoid disappointment.

Runners can choose between 5k…

Please note that the reserve team will be strimming in front of Joist Fen viewpoint tomorrow (Thursday 6 September). We apologise for any temporary disturbance and inconvenience caused.