We have not one, but two amazing job opportunities at Rye Meads!

We are looking for a part time Learning Officer to lead our Schools on Reserves programme, which aims to give children a chance to experience nature first-hand through curriculum linked sessions. Typical activities include pond dipping, bird watching and minibeast hunting.

It is with great sadness that we have had to say goodbye to a true friend and kind man. Rye Meads will be closed on Wednesday, 20 September 2017, while we attend the funeral of Derrick Ling. A wonderful, talented, and knowledgeable man who gave so much of himself to Rye Meads, we will miss him.

During his 40 years volunteering he was an integral part of Rye Meads, devoting time and energy, not to mention a bit of blood…

Hi All

A quick heads up for anyone visiting this week, the work parties will be busy around the Gadwall hide. We will be  clearing vegetation around the hide and on the islands, so there will be disturbance to the lagoon.

Thanks for your understanding

So August has been a month of showers, sun and lots of Kingfisher activity!  

The first thing to mention is that from Thursday 31st August, our main reception will be moved into the classrooms in the visitor centre, while we have a refit.  We expect this diversion to take place for a few weeks - signs will be on site to direct you.  

We also now have a card machine, so if you sometimes feel like you need to scrabble in…

We're two thirds of the way into 2017 now and the Kingfishers look determined to go for broke and squeeze in one last brood before the breeding season comes to an end. Their second brood of 5 youngsters fledged on the 27th (they already had 5 in their first brood back at the end of May, so they're doing well), and since then the adults have been seen mating repeatedly on several occasions; with a bit of luck they'll be…

A spot of rain did nothing to dampen anyone’s spirits at Rye Meads Big Wild Sleepout. The evening was filled with arts and crafts, pond dipping, mini-beasting, a late night walking safari, bat detection, marshmallow roasting and even a bit of campfire singsong. When asked to pick a personal highlight one young guest claimed “I liked everything!” It may have involved more sleeping under the rain than the stars but his…

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A quick update for today. The second brood of kingfishers are fledging today, 5 seen so far and they are hanging around in the trees at the nesting bank, woohooo.  Lovely stuff, the pair have already started investigating a new bank so all go for brood number 3.

Also about this week common sandpiper, eclipse drake garganey, little ringed plover, little egret, oystercatcher, lots of juv warblers, black headed…

Good Morning!

We've been advised that there are going to be roadworks happening along part of Rye Road starting from 7 August 2017 (south west of the junction with Bosanquet Road), and that the works should take 18 months to complete. From the descitption of the county order, the works involve the replacement of an existing sewer cover.

After their first lot of young fledged in June, we've been thrilled to see that our resident pair of kingfishers have successfully hatched their second brood for the year at the beginning of the month! They've been diligently taking food in and out of the nest, so hopefully we should have another large healthy group ready to fly in a couple of weeks time.

Most of the black headed gulls and their chicks have started…

Our kingfisher pair fledged their first brood on 30 May with 5 possibly 6 young seen emerging from the bank, success! The pair are already back to business excavating burrows and mating so we are waiting for the first change over to mark the start of incubation of the second clutch. We will keep you posted.

The lovely weather has bought out an abundance of damsels and dragons, cygnets and goslings, bugs and critters…

Yesterdays early wonder round revealed a greenshank on the Draper scrape along with the common sandpiper that arrived a couple days before that, nice! However later in the day we had a bit of excitement with a call from one of our regular visitors to let us know there was a wood sandpiper from the Gadwall hide, so thanks Neil for the call! I managed to nip down and get a look and a few quick digi scoped images and the…

Well it's been an exciting time here at the kingfisher hide over the last few weeks! The kingfishers have started to incubate their first brood and we estimate hatching between the 6th and 8th May. They become a little more elusive during incubation and may only be seen for changeovers every 3-5 hours.

Also in one of the kestrel boxes on the pylon, we have tawny owl and owlets...the cuteness is beyond words and they…

With the Easter holidays shortly upon on why not take a visit to Rye Meads and take part in some of our fabulous family events! We have minibeast Mondays, Family bird safaris, self led pond dipping and a nature trail.

On the 9th April, we have our Spring fun day which is going to be action packed of activities to keep the little ones busy (and the not so little ones!) Learn about nature, have a go at our trails and wildlife…

A special treat this afternoon as members of the Rye Mead's Ringing Group stopped by the visitor center with 3 bearded tit! 

These birds had been proving very elusive popping up here and there on site. But today the ringers were able to locate the birds and after some patience in to the mist net. The 2 males and 1 female were caught on the HMWT section of the reserve then processed (weighed, measured and given there…

Hi All

A light dusting of snow today but all the trails and hides are open.  Hats, gloves and scarves are needed.

Gadwall hide over 400 lapwing this morning along with ca 12 snipe, 2 shelduck, gadwall, tufted duck, shovler, and ring necked parakeet over

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Just a quick update to notify you of some habitat management we will be undertaking in February which will mean some access restrictions.

Contractors will be on site from Wednesday 8 February until 16 February carrying out scrub clearance works on the lagoon banks to create a more diverse sward and enhance wildfowl nesting opportunities. This will mean there will be no access beyond the Ashby hide on Wednesday…

Hello there!

We have had a lovely couple days here at Rye Meads with frosty mornings and sunshine the perfect weather to carry out some habitat management.

We are undertaking lots of fun work on our habitats ensuring we give nature an excellent home! The work party have been busy completing work on the island in front of the Gadwall hide ready for breeding common terns and black headed gull, fingers crossed we may even…

It's a beautiful day here at Rye Meads. The fog that covered the site yesterday has cleared to let through some blue sky and sunshine making the frost sparkle.

Despite the fog, yesterday's sightings were still rolling in with multiple bittern sightings (mainly from the Kingfisher hide), water rail, bullfinch, water vole and sparrowhawk reported to name a few. But today has far exceeded sightings with the bittern…

Yesterday we had sightings of a brand new bittern. You may remember a few months ago, we had a female (we think) bittern released on site by a local wildlife rescue organisation, which was rung before its release.  This lovely photo below  shows that this bittern has no ring, so hopefully we are now accommodating 2 on site.   Another popular bird on site at the moment is the water pipit - the photo below was originally thought…

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The Truxor, an amphibious machine, is currently on site helping out with some reed bed management work. This great piece of kit, operated by Aquaclear, is able to cut the phragmites (reed) under water from a floating position, preventing the need to drain down the area of work, which is much better ecologically. Work has had to finish early today due to a dodgy sprocket! But will hopefully pick up again on Monday…

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With another lovely October day and the work parties first bonfire of the season today we are all feeling quite autumnal. The reserve and it inhabitants are also feeling the change with cooler nights and a few misty mornings followed by bright blue sky and sun. The hawthorn berries are putting on a good show and fungi are appearing.

Bittern flying copyright TheBeardedTit@GrahamC57

Took an unexpected call from Caroline at Wildlife Welfare in the week asking if they could release a bittern on site, after it had been hit by a car in Letchworth! The team at Wildlife Welfare based in Stevenage had been in touch with RSPB HQ at the Lodge after the bird was bought in for a bit of advice and recommended us as a local reserve for release. The bittern was in good condition and after x-rays no brakes could…

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