After the recent cold snaps, winter is starting to lose its grip and signs of spring are starting to emerge over the reserves. On 13th March a Small Tortoiseshell was seen at Radipole and a Brimstone over at Lodmoor. Great Crested Grebes are starting to show signs of their characteristic courtship dancing.  On 14th March a Spoonbill put in an appearance at Radipole.  A pair of Bitterns, one actually booming were seen over…

The two top subjects of discussion this month - the weather and the Ross's Gull! The arctic weather conditions brought in some interesting species to Radipole including Dunlin, Fieldfares and Avocets. The icy view from the Discovery Centre picture window below.

Ross's Gull

The Ross's Gull, the third record for Dorset, which first appeared on 21st February stayed around Radipole for two weeks.  The gull…

February is proving to be a sunny but chilly month.  Despite the cold there are signs of spring everywhere.  Around the reserve new bright green spring growth and flowers are tentatively starting to make an appearance. In some areas the spring Daffodils are already flowering.  Another welcome sign is the carpet of Sweet Violets up on the Buddleia Loop. There is a myth that you can only smell the fragrance of the flowers…

Happy New Year everyone!  

This is a good time to see one of Radipole Lake's star species - our resident Marsh Harriers.  Currently there are two males at Radipole and one male over at Lodmoor.  No females have seen as yet.  Photographer Paul Williams captured these stunning shots of the male coming in to land.

Photo Credit: Paul Williams - website: www.paulwilliams.photography

The Marsh Harriers are frequently…

A beautiful Autumn day at Radipole Lake today. Bearded Tits and Cetti's Warblers are chirping in the reed beds.  Gulls and Ducks are making the most of the calm still waters on the lake outside the Discovery Centre Window.  The Hooded Merganser, Kingfisher and Little Egrets have all been seen today.  The sunny weather has brought a small influx of Red Admiral Butterflies and Red Darter Dragonflies.

The Discovery Centre…

Radipole Lake has a number of bats recorded on the site including Daubenton's (some times known as the Water Bat), Serotine, Noctule, Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle and Nathusius' Pipistrelle.  Daubenton's is one of our common species, mainly found in woodlands but roosts close to areas of water including lakes, rivers and canals.  Obviously Radipole Lake is an ideal location with large areas of open…

This morning's unexpected guest was a Spoonbill having a snooze up at the Viewing Shelter on the Buddleia Loop.  More commonly seen at Arne or over at Lodmoor, it was a very welcome visitor at Radipole Lake today.

Also about today was the Hooded Merganser diving up around the concrete bridge.  The water was so clear, it was easy to see "Hoodie" feeding in the bottom of the river bed delighting visitors watching…

September continues to be a good month to see our resident Kingfishers.  They have been regularly visiting their perches and two were seen flying across the lake this morning.  They are so close that we can take photos using the 360 degree screen in the Discovery Centre.  Teal, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebes, Shoveler, Grey Herons and Little Egrets are also about.  Though it's overcast today, butterflies and dragonflies…

Beautiful day in Weymouth.  Up at the Viewing Shellter, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard and Kestrel were seen scanning the skies. A Water Rail skulking in the reeds, Little Grebe, Black Tailed Godwits, Grey Heron, Teal, Gadwall, paddling around the lake. Lots of butterflies and dragonflies are still on the wing in the hedgerows.  The Star of the Show again has been our resident Kingfisher, regularly landing on the perches outside…

The big news for the past few days are the two rare sandpipers over at Lodmoor, blown off course from America after Storm Aileen. Both vagrants have been sighted today, so are still around for the time being.  The Least Sandpiper was first seen last Sunday and is the first record for Dorset.  On Monday the Stilt Sandpiper was first spotted and is the second record for Dorset.  The first record for Dorset was also at Lodmoor…

It's a cloudy, damp and rainy today, In between the showers I managed to walk around the reserve without getting wet.  Our summertime chicks are now starting to noticeably look much more adult.  The young coots chicks are now in the process of acquiring the unmistakable white Coot beak.  One of our Mute Swan families were sheltering and preening under the Weeping Willow Tree.  The cygnets now starting to lose their dark grey…

It's the first day of Autumn, where has this year gone?!  It's a beautiful day though here at Radipole Lake and our resident Kingfishers have been delighting our visitors all week.  Two Kingfishers from the Discovery Centre window only this morning.  Visitors watched as they flitted across the lake and perched on their post several times.  There are not many places you can relax with a coffee and watch a Kingfisher…

A breezy sunny morning Radipole Lake.  Not many birds about but the Mallards were on our duck feeding platform, Cormorants, Grey Herons, Great Crested Grebe, Gadwall and Mallard on the lake in front of the Discovery Centre. Still some young chicks about, our volunteer Martin Jones-Gill snapped a lovely pic of a mother Coot feeding her chick.

Late summer dragonflies were battling it out with the breeze.  The Migrant Hawker…

We are currently in the summer doldrums for birds though the ducklings and cygnets continue to delight our visitors.  Our Mallards and Gadwall are still in moult, all the Common Terns over at Lodmoor have fledged and gone.  The Marsh Harriers are doing their occasional fly past the Discovery Centre, the Butterflies and Tiger Moths can be seen in the hedgerows on the sunnier days, House Martins are flying around above the…

August is a quiet time of year for our birds.  Plenty of Mallards, Tufted Ducks, Cormorants and Grey Herons in the lake outside our Discovery Centre to keep our younger visitors amused though.  With school holidays now in full swing, the Discovery Centre is doing a roaring trade in duck food, the duck feeding platform is busy with our young visitors feeding the ducks who are no doubt very pleased :-)  

The juvenile Marsh…

A dull damp day on the reserve today.  I went for a short wander between the showers this afternoon and was immediately rewarded with Bearded Tits pinging in the reedbeds close by the Discovery Centre. Also very young not long hatched Tufted Duck and Moorhen chicks.  Our Mute Swans and cygnets family were sheltering under the large tree in the car park.  The cygnets are getting quite large now.

A positive of our wet weather…

Lovely day at Radipole Lake today.  The hedgerows are full of summer flowers, Purple Loosestrife, Perforate St John's Wort, Meadowsweet, Hemp Agrimony which are attracting the butterflies.  Our Pyramidal Orchids are at their peak with over 30 counted.

It was lovely see our Pochard family of mum and 5 chicks near the bridge by the Discovery Centre.  Where the water was clear you could see the chicks diving down and…

It's the last day of June and tomorrow we start the second half of the year.  Things are definitely changing are the reserve.  This morning i counted 35 Pyramidal Orchids near the Kingfisher Gate.  There are still a few Southern Marsh Orchids around but most have gone over.  Two Bee Orchids are on their last flowers and our Brown Bee Orchids are nearly in fruit.

Coming in to flower now and turning the reserve pink…

If you pop down to Radipole Lake in the next few days you all see all of Radipole Lake's Orchids all in flower.  All these photos were taken this morning.  

The heatwave last week has brought out our Pyramidal Orchids, the last of the reserve's orchids to flower.  The first one was seen earlier this week but this morning 25 were counted coming into flower. The snap above also has a small white Crab Spider which…

Bee-ootiful day today at Radipole Lake.  Three Brown Bee Orchids now growing close to each other and in full bloom.  The typical Bee Orchids and the Southern Marsh Orchids and the Southern Marsh Orchids are all still in bloom.  Other wildflowers blooming are Wild Celery, Meadow Vetchling, Tufted Vetch, Water Figwort, Perforate St John's Wort, Poppy, Dog Rose Common Vetch.

Birds about today are the Marsh Harrier, a…

Yes, the Brown Bee Orchids are back for their 9th year!  In true fickle Bee Orchids style they have decided to move to a new location on the reserve.  The good news is they are much closer to the Discovery Centre. This year we have 2 Brown Bee Orchid variants.  The photo on the left shows one of the plants has blooms where the lower lip is brown, the other plant has blooms where there is some coloration on the top part of…

The flowers are starting to bloom in earnest now.  The hedgerows are full of Hedgerow and Cut-Leaved Cranesbill, Hemlock Water Dropworth, Hogweed, Creeping and Meadow Buttercups and many others.  Today a visitor reported finding a Bee Orchid on the reserve.  As regularly visitors to Radipole Lake know, this is the site for our famous "Brown Bee Orchid" Ophrys apifera var. atrofuscus (discovered in 2008 by little…

We have finally managed to hit 20 degrees at Radipole Lake!  Today has been glorious, blue skies and no clouds to be seen.  The Daffodils in front of our Discovery Centre Marsh Harrier has been replaced with the summery Red Valerian.

Up at the new Viewing Shelter, the reserve cattle had made their way over to the island and had sprawled out over the grass to make the most of the cool breeze. The Mallard ducks were enjoying…

Feeling creative? Want to express your love of nature through photography? We'd love you to enter our fun competition - you MUST use a camera phone to take the photo and it MUST be taken at RSPB Radipole Lake or RSPB Lodmoor in Weymouth.  Have fun!

Enter in the over 16 or under 16 age group.

Enter up to 10 images per person in any of our 3 categories:

• Wildlife
• People in Nature
• Celebrating Habitats (landscape…

Our new Viewing Shelter has been open for a couple of months now and visitors are currently getting superb views of the Marsh Harriers over the scrape.  The male has mainly been seen as the female is on the nest.  Photographer Paul Williams has very kindly given us permission to use some of his amazing images that he has taken from the Viewing Shelter. Some of them are below:Paul captured a dramatic moment where a food parcel…