• The latest from Lakenheath Fen - 18 November 2022

    Hello to all and welcome to the first blog in a few weeks. Various other things have got in the way of me sitting down to update you all about the wildlife sightings and news from the reserve recently, but here we are at long last. A fair few of our November days so far have been wet ones- sometimes windy too- and although this doesn't make for quite as nice a walk as a sunny blue-sky day, we have welcomed every drop…

  • News from Lakenheath Fen - 22 October 2022

    Welcome to our latest blog. We have a few bits of news to share with you, but I will start with the latest wildlife sightings from the reserve as that's the best bit!

    The wildlife at Lakenheath Fen

    The past couple of weeks have seen the departure of a few summer visitors to the reserve- such as what is likely to be the last hobby sighting of 2022 (11 October) and possibly the last house martins (13 October). Other…

  • The first changes of autumn - 1 October 2022

    I thought that given we have seen quite a few changes in recent days on the reserve- all related to autumn- that it was time to write another blog. Strange white domes of various sizes have begun to appear across the reserve trails, especially in shady spots with a build-up of leaf litter. Once they spring up, they grow quickly and the biggest on the reserve (along the entrance track) that we know of is about 40cm wide…

  • This week's wildlife in pictures - 28 August 2022

    I thought i'd devote this weeks' blog to the amazing array of images kindly shared with us by our visitors. As I write this, we had half a day of rain on 25 August- the first real amount for months- and although we need hundreds of thousands of litres more to fill the reserve, it may have saved us from drying out completely at spots such as New Fen, and was so desperately needed. We hope for more in the coming weeks,…

  • All you need to know about our Race for Wildlife - 16 October 2022 (11am-2pm)

    Hello and welcome to the latest blog. Tomorrow I will talk about our wildlife in a separate blog, but for today my keyboard is devoted to telling readers everything they may want to know about our upcoming Race for Wildlife; what it is like, what to expect, and most importantly- how it helps our wildlife!

    Almost every year in early autumn we hold our Race for Wildlife- I say 'almost' because for two years we have had to…

  • News from the reserve - hot weather, dragonflies and the Big Wild Sleepout -12 August 2022

    News from the reserve

    As I write this blog, I hope we are on the cusp of some rainfall at long last, which is forecasted for early next week (15-16 August). It is badly needed, because the reserve has never been so dry in it's 27-year history. The main pool at New Fen is 46cm below what it was on this day last year, so we really are struggling for water. At the moment, we have enough to keep the fish and invertebrates…

  • High summer at Lakenheath Fen - 24 July 2022

    Hello to all and welcome to the latest blog. As you will well know yourselves (especially thanks to last weeks' heatwave!) we've had some very warm weather in the southern half of the UK and we reached 40c here in the sunshine, as most did! What we sadly didn't see as it cooled off was any rain, which is what we really need- the reserve is incredibly dry. If you visit us soon you will see the Washland has only very little…

  • Moths and more... the latest from RSPB Lakenheath Fen - 24 June 2022

    Hello to all and welcome to the latest blog. We eagerly await the arrival of our new moth traps on Tuesday, but we just couldn't wait that long so Katherine kindly brought her own trap in last night and we caught a huge variety and number of moths. For those enthusiasts, the list is below:

    Setaceous Hebrew character 6 Ghost moth 1 Eyed hawkmoth 15 Poplar hawkmoth 11 Lobster 1 Elephant hawkmoth 2 Ci…
  • The week in sightings at Lakenheath Fen - 5 June 2022

    Hello and welcome to the latest blog from the reserve. As I write this, it is drizzling on-and-off outside and we had 45mm of rain overnight which the reserve really needed, after a dry winter and spring. 1 June was officially the first day of summer, so here's to hoping the season ahead gives us plenty more much-needed rain. This week has been an interesting one- with three scarce species putting in an appearance in…

  • The sky is filling up - 20 May 2022

    Wildlife news

    Hello and welcome to the latest blog. We have noticed a proliferation in flying insects of all kinds across the reserve recently. Butterflies, dragonflies, mayflies, beetles and hoverflies are everywhere you look especially on warm days. It is getting tricky now to find a St. Mark's fly, which is a very stark contrast to the abundance of them around St. Mark's Day (25 April annually) when they were everywhere…

  • Waders, butterflies, hobbies and a dragonfly - 24 April 2022

    Hello and welcome to the latest blog- and there is an awful lot to mention! We have nearly all of our Spring migrants back now, and the arrival dates are below:

    Avocet

    8 February

    Dunlin*

    9 March

    Bittern (booming)

    13 March

    Garganey

    19 March

    Ruff*

    21 March

    Black-tailed godwit*

    23 March

    Sand martin*

    6 April

    Swallow

    7 April

    Sedge warbler

    8 April

    Willow warbler

    11…

  • Wildlife sightings and news from the reserve - 31 March 2022

    Hello and welcome to the latest round-up from the team here at Lakenheath Fen- we have been spoilt for sightings lately, especially on the Washland with a wealth of ducks up there, including up to 56 avocet, 2 garganey, 4 shelduck, 3 ruff, 109 black-tailed godwits and a little egret, all on 30 March. Black-tailed godwit numbers have reached as high as 300, and we believe that at least one of them had a coloured leg-ring…

  • The first days of Spring at Lakenheath Fen - 16 March 2022

    I think we can call this the first blog of Spring 2022, given that we have now had a couple of migrant birds in and a few insects on the wing too. Our first record this year of chiffchaff came on 7 January but since the beginning of March, they have been heard singing and spotted by visitors almost every day, during spells of warm weather. As with blackcap, it is impossible to know if these 'early birds' are genuine migrants…

  • Longer days and singing birds- February so far

    Hello and welcome to the latest blog from our little piece of Fenland. We have been gifted with some really beautiful days here in February so far- we've had lots of sunshine but some cold starts to those sunny days! And the past couple of days have seen plenty of wind, which the marsh harriers love- at least eight were in the air across the reserve yesterday when Dave, Luke and myself went out on a drive through…

  • A round-up of our latest sightings - 28 January 2022

    Wildlife Sightings

    Hello and welcome to the latest blog from RSPB Lakenheath Fen. The first month of the year has produced some fantastic sightings and in total our bird list for 2022 now sits at 78 species, thanks most recently to a red kite yesterday (27 January) and recent highlights of corn bunting, Bewick's swan, barn owl, woodcock and mistle thrush. A wintering chiffchaff singing on 7 January also helped! Below…

  • Welcome to 2022 - Our sightings so far!

    Hello and welcome to the first blog of 2022! We have had some very mixed weather- New Years Day was sunny, mild and very pseudo-Spring, but since then each day has got a little colder and today we arrived at work in -4c conditions! However there was a beautiful sparkly frost adorning every surface and there was plenty of activity on the balcony bird feeders as they filled up after a cold night- long-tailed tits joined…

  • Winter wildlife at RSPB Lakenheath Fen - 27 November 2021

    As I write this I can see a great spotted woodpecker using the bird feeders at the Visitor Centre- he is enjoying the suet-filled coconut shells and the peanuts there. He represents a bit of a change in the variety of birds that have been using the feeders recently- now we are at the beginning of winter, reed buntings and marsh tits are making use of the feeders and there is a small flock of around thirty siskin that…

  • The latest from RSPB Lakenheath Fen - 6 November 2021

    This week on the reserve has seen huge fluctuations in the weather- November started very cold and with a frost on Monday night (1 November) and yet yesterday was a glorious day- still chilly but very sunny and bright and this encouraged out a few hardy butterflies (mainly peacocks) and quite a few common darter dragonflies. Our visitors, including those on our morning guided walk, really enjoyed seeing them as it won…

  • Redwings, whoopers and barn owls - the latest from Lakenheath Fen (20 October 2021).

    Wildlife sightings from the past week

    Hello and welcome to the latest blog- last time I was writing one of these, we were somewhere between the seasons- we still had hobbies here and plenty of dragonflies, but the days were shortening and the temperatures dropping. In the middle of October, we well and truly have lost our summer migrants now, with the last hobbies seen at the start of the month. Hobbies tend to hang around…

  • Summer's end and Autumn's arrival - 24 September 2021

    Hello to all and welcome to our latest blog. I was treated (for work reasons) to a lovely long walk down to the furthest reaches of the reserve- Botany Bay- and back on Wednesday so this has certainly helped me to get a handle on what's about and what to include in this week's blog! The reason for my jaunt was to finish off our Signage Audit- a piece of work that involves photographing, measuring, describing and mapping…

  • A whistlestop tour of our sightings this week - 3 September 2021

    Hello to all and welcome to a short-but-sweet blog. I'm running a bit short on time to write a full blog this week but without wanting potential visitors to miss out on the latest sightings from the reserve, below is what we have seen so far in the past week. We are now onto the third day of autumn and a couple of cloudy days begun the month but today we have had glorious sunshine, bringing out the butterflies and dragonflies…

  • The latest from RSPB Lakenheath Fen - 18 August 2021

    Hello and welcome to the latest blog- I am sorry I haven't written one for a few weeks but in the lead-up to our Big Wild Sleepout, things were a bit manic and I didn't have the time to sit down and write one. The Sleepout was a big success with our families enjoying a chance to get out on the reserve in a family-friendly setting, to spend a night camping here and listening to the sounds of the night. There was a lovely…

  • Lakenheath Fen's Big Wild Sleepout (14-15 August 2021) - What to expect...

    Hello and welcome to a blog written especially for those attending this years Big Wild Sleepout! Below is an itinerary for what we have planned for the evening and the morning following the Sleepout. It should be a fantastic event and there is always a lovely family-friendly atmosphere with lots of opportunities to get close to wildlife, get active and learn about nature.

    Itinerary:

    On the Saturday (14 August):

    • At 5p…
  • Dazzling Dragonflies and Beautiful Butterflies - 15 July 2021

    Hello and welcome to the latest blog. We are now well into the throes of summer and this is reflected in the insects you can see on the reserve at the moment- the most common butterflies are meadow browns, ringlets and large whites, with plenty of small and large skippers on the viper's bugloss flowers when the sun is out. Small heath and red admiral are also common species at the moment, and we should soon begin…

  • An update from RSPB Lakenheath Fen - 25 June 2021

    Hello and welcome to this week's blog. We've had a variable week in terms of weather, but on the warmer days we have been seeing plenty of dragonflies and butterflies. Bitterns in flight are one of the current highlights as females fly short distances across the reedbeds to find food to feed their youngsters. While they don't 'boom' like the males, they will sometimes make a grunting sound as they fly- have a…