Don't miss out!

On Sunday 26 February we are going to be closing late! You asked us to open later so the Draper and Lapwing hides will be open until 6.30pm!

John Bridges (rspb-images.com)

No guarentees that the barn owls will be seen though!

The great grey shrike is still here!

It's been seen towards the Kingfisher Hide, by the tree with the bat boxes on it!

Very exciting! Well I'm off to try and see it!

Exciting news!

On Friday a pair of kingfishers were seen at the bank going in and out of one of the holes! It's looking good for this year! Fingers crossed everyone!

 Fab picture by Malcolm Housden, this was the Rye Meads pair seen at the Kingfisher hide a couple of years ago!

Keith Bedford managed to get these pictures of the great grey shrike:

So it's still there, it's been moving around a bit - it started on the main path between the Ashby and Lagoon hides, then far end of the lagoon seen from the Tern hide, then across to near the Kingfisher hide, back to the main path and the latest report has been near the Kingfisher hide again!

The great grey shrike is the largest of the…

Don't miss out!

On Sunday 19 February we are going to be closing late! You asked us to open later so the Draper and Lapwing hides will be open until 6.30pm!

John Bridges (rspb-images.com)

No guarentees that the barn owls will be seen though!

We stayed open late last weekend, and had lovely views of the barn owls, as well as lots of other wildlife!

Andy Johnson took these lovely pictures:

This is…

Good morning!

There was a great grey shrike on the reserve this morning! Very exciting!

It was spotted on the main track between the Ashby and Lagoon hides... It's a bit flightly, so fingers crossed we'll see it!

Hi all,

So I go away for a few days and I miss all the exciting stuff... smew, goosander, eagle, day flying barn owl....
Wow! :)

So Joan write a few days agout about the white-tailed eagle that flew over, well Paul Mowbray got these amazing pictures!

WOW!

A day that starts with a fly over white-tailed eagle at Rye Meads is always a good day, but we've also had a day-flying barn owl over the meadow, a pair of kestrels taking over the nearest barn owl box (the barn owls are still using the far box), a perched buzzard, a water rail eating a dead coot on one of the trails, and great views of Alice the fox! The sky has been blue, and despite an inch or two of snow, it's been…

A white-tailed eagle was spotted today at lunchtime drifting over the reserve heading in a south-east direction. This is presumably the same bird seen at East Hyde in South Bedfordshire earlier.

Joan Childs

Site Manager

Don't miss out!

On Sunday 12 February we are going to be opening later! You asked us to open later so the Draper and Lapwing hides will be open until 6.30pm!

 John Bridges (rspb-images.com)

No guarentees that the barn owls will be seen though!

What will we see?

Morning all,

Watervoles are small mammals that are quite widespead in Europe. They live around banks of slow moving rivers, streams, ditches, ponds and other waterways. They watervole population fell drastically (the drop was a loss of 90-95% of the whole population) between the 1960's and the 1990's. There has been lots of effort from conservation organisations to help this creature, and the numbers are growing.…

Hello everyone.

How are you doing? Keeping warm?
The temperature is dropping so it's going to freeze, don't forget that your garden birds and other wildlife will have trouble in the weather (so why not put out some food and water for them!)

I thought I would let you know what has been seen over the last couple of days.

The barn owls are still about, but they are not coming out until dusk, so near closing…

Good morning,

I'm excited to say the reserve is open today but we might close early.

There is still lots of snow and the side roads are slippy so be careful!

Morning all.

I'm sorry to say that the reserve will be closing today - there is alot of snow and it's dangerous for us to try and get in!

Stay safe everyone!

Hi all!

Earlier I mentioned that the bittern has been seen (as well as water rail, redwing, fieldfare, siskin, loads of ducks and more)...

Well we went out again and stood on the ramp (the big zigzag ramp and stairs that leads down near the Ashby hide)... it's very easy to walk past this are, but do stop and have a look!

Do stop and have a look - we had great views of bittern, water rail, sparrowhawk (it landed in…

Afternoon all,

So far today we've had some nice sightings!

The bittern has been showing off. It's been seen from the steps/ ramp leading down to the Ashby hide - keep an eye out by the reedbeds foropen water and scan the reedbeds for any blobs that light brown colour!
There's been a water rail running round there as well.

Over at the kingfisher hide there has been some lovely views of redwing, fieldfare,

Morning everyone,

How are you today?

Last weekend (Saturday 28 and Sunday 28 January) there was a weasel running around outside the Rye Meads visitor centre this morning, in and out of a brash pile by the pond dipping area and visiting our feeding station.
Keith Bedford managed to get get these pictures:

Great pictures!

The easiest way to tell the difference between weasel and stoat is that a stoat has a black…

The Rye Meads Ringing Group reported that there was a great grey shrike near Lagoon 3 (the most southerly one on the reserve) yesterday. We haven't been able to find it since, but we have people out looking! Also, a dunlin this morning. Great birds for Rye Meads!

Joan Childs, Site Manager

Slightly odd blog title I know... but we've had quite alot of questions recently about some brown things next to the path... so I thought I would do a blog post and explain all!

Just over the first bridge along the edge of the path, and up the banks there are things that currently look like this:
 
These strange brown things are actually giant puffball mushrooms!

In summer you may have noticed them looking more like…

Morning all,

Did you all take part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch?

Has any one seen the small wasp nest, about the size of a golfball, in the back of the Warbler Hide?

Andy Schofield, who is the RSPB warden from The Lodge nature reserve, identified it as a paper wasp nest.

Photo by Andy Hawksworth

The whole thing is essentially made from papier mache – chewed wood mixed with wasp saliva to…

Have you taken part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch?

Let's make it the best year ever!

You can submit your results on the RSPB website - www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch

Or you can post in your results,  pick up a postal form at the reserve or why not come over to Rye Meads and do the birdwatch at our feeding station!

The weasel has continued to show well during the day around our bird feeding station, and the fox turned up well before dusk giving everyone great close-up views and photo opportunities! There's quite a crowd gathered!

Joan Childs, Rye Meads Site Manager

A weasel has been running around outside the Rye Meads visitor centre this morning, in and out of a brash pile by the pond dipping area and visiting our feeding station. It's very bold!

It's the Big Garden Birdwatch weekend and you can come to the reserve to make your count if you wish - there are plenty of birds on the feeding station, and there's always the chance of seeing the weasel too. Or, come in and pick up…

Evening all!

How are you all doing?

Just a quick blog to tell you about the wildlife highlights!

There has been masses of fieldfare around over the last couple of days! There was about 100 on the grassy area next to the visitor centre yesterday!

Today we've had great views over at the lagoons including: 2 green sandpiper, snipe,  lapwing, hundreds of teal, 5 shelduck, grey wagtail, common gull, and masses…

Evening all!

How are you?