Friday 21 November 2014

Murmuration

Murmuration!

Last week we reported that there were around 800 starlings roosting at Lackford and that we could only hope that this would get bigger. Well it seems a lot of you were hoping too, because this week the murmuration increased to over 8000 starlings! As you can imagine, this is a sight to see and is well worth the trip. The murmuration happens right outside the Visitor Centre so you don't have to stand outside in the cold waiting for it to happen. You can come in and sit in the warmth with a cup of tea, coffee or chocolate and a nice slice of cake and wait for the aerial display to begin!

A small video can be seen here on our Facebook page. For those of you who cannot see this post on Facebook, here's some images. Hopefully, we'll get some more video that we can upload next week. In the meantime, if you have any pictures that you taken of this murmuration that you would like to share with us, please do, the link is on the right.

At ~8000 birds, this murmuration can be impressive, but don't forget, it wasn't many years ago when Lackford had over 30,000 birds murmuring here. So keep your fingers crossed. The best time to be here to grab a seat is around 3pm.

Just part of the murmuration over the Bernard Tickner hide

The path towards Bernard Tickner's hide.

Other sightings

We forgot to mention last week that Tree Sparrows were still being heard around the reserve, although not seen. So it's nice to know they are still about. Other sightings include 7 Goosanders, Goldeneye, Redwings, Coal and Marsh tits and Fieldfare, which seem to be on the increase this week. We've also heard via Twitter, that Waxwings have started to arrive on the Suffolk coastline, so here's hoping some make it further inshore too.

We also found this beauty visiting the Visitor Centre on Thursday 20th.

Peacock Butterfly looking for somewhere to overwinter.
These along with some other butterflies are always looking to come indoors now to sleep the winter out and if you find one in your home the best thing you can do is place it in your shed. Just make sure your shed has a few holes in it so that it can escape come spring.

Steggall's Hide

Work at the new hide has been proceeding well and it is now starting to look more like a hide thanks to all the work put it by our reserve team volunteers.

The walkway to the hide with screened sides.
In all weathers, the team work hard.
Looking good
Reserve Manager Will with some of the volunteers

The birds view of the hide.

Roof section on and the wonderful volunteers

Upcoming events

Don't forget to always check our forthcoming events on the righthand side of the blog, there may always be something there of interest for all. Next up is the Bird Identification and Song Guided Walk with our bird expert Paul Holness. We still have spaces, so if you're interested, get in touch and book your place!


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