A new look!

Well, as many of you will know, the visitor centre has been closed for the last week as we have had a bit of a change and a refurb. We’ve changed the layout of the shop and the reception area and added some wonderful new technology to bring you even closer to the wildlife that goes on around the centre. We’ve got new large maps that show the reserve in greater detail too.

The old look of the visitor centre

Our new sightings, map and membership area

Big change to the reception area

We still have bird food for sale, but notice the new addition!

Yes the volunteers and reserves team have been hard at work painting, varnishing, making and creating a new look to the centre. One of the newest additions to the centre is the wildlife camera TV which was very generously donated to us by Hughes Electrical of Stowmarket. This allows our visitors to see the wildlife that goes on around the centre via some new cameras that have been set up.

We currently only have 3 cameras in position and these are a bird feeder cam placed on top of one of the feeder posts outside. 

Not a speed camera, but the new bird feeder cam.

The small mammal, or critter cam placed inside a box which is buried into a bank of earth near the pond and a nest box cam fitted to a brand new nest box made by Wildlife Gadgetman, Jason Alexander.

A Robin checks out what’s on offer as a Blackbird patiently awaits his turn in the background.

A Long-tailed tit grabs a snack

A mouse having a nibble on critter cam

As yet, we have nothing to show from the nest box, but with fingers firmly crossed, we hope to get some new tenants soon!

We were supposed to have some new tables and chairs in the centre, but unfortunately, they’ve been delayed by a couple of weeks. But we still have goodies in sale in the shop which has been re-sited in the centre.

Lots of wildlife goodies to buy.

So why not come on down and pay the new look visitor centre a visit for yourself, we still sell hot drinks and cakes and you might even get to spot a Marsh tit on the feeder cam or spot the mouse on the critter cam like our video shows

Marsh tit.

Sightings

Bullfinches continue to be spotted around the reserve along the Church Walk, car park and the Kingfisher trail by the Sailing lake. Whilst looking for Bullfinches along the path, look out for the Yellow-legged Gull on the sailing lake. Up at Bill’s Hide on the Slough, 8 Goldeneye have been reported with the males beginning to display.

New for this year we’ve had two separate sightings of a Merlin on the reserve, so one to keep an eye out for! Bittern is still showing at Jason’s pool and the right hand pool at Steggall’s, which was captured in these superb photos from Ian Goodall:

© Ian Goodall

© Ian Goodall

© Ian Goodall

Up, up and away!!!

Photographer John Lord came to the reserve last week and with a special licence was able to capture these superb images of Lackford and of Steggall’s hide using a drone.

The visitor centre, sailing lake and Slough at top © John Lord

Looking westwards at the new hide at Steggall’s © John Lord

Steggall’s from above © John Lord

Please note: These photos were taken under licence and permission needs to be gained before any drones can be operated on site.

That’s about it for this week, please pop in and see us and the changes we’ve made at the centre, we always look forward to seeing you.

84 Species and counting.

Well the new year has seen lots of visitors to the lakes here at Lackford enjoying the frosty still mornings and various wildlife around the site.

Lovely crisp mornings at Lackford.

We've also had some wet weather of late too, but don't let that stop you from looking for signs of wildlife on the reserve. This week, the footprints of a particularly large mammal was found in the mud on the reserve.

Red Deer slots

Many people have been visiting the reserve to start off their years birding list and Lackford is the ideal place to get this started with 84 species of bird recorded so far. Some are easy to find such as the Gulls in their 15,000 strong roost on the sailing lake, our STILL murmuring Starlings in the evening whose numbers are down to about 3,500 (but still impressive), or Egyptian Geese. Then there are those regular, but not always guaranteed, visitors such as the Kingfisher and Bittern and then there are the much harder to find species such as our Tree Sparrows, Water Rail and Brambling. Good for those who like a challenge!

Egyptian geese in flight

Mistle Thrush finds a tasty snack

Lapwing have been spotted on the reserve in numbers around 500 this week as well as a large amount of Gadwall, 146.

Lapwing

Gadwall on the centre pond.

Watching wildlife

A good time to visit the reserve at this time of year to see some wildlife has to be the afternoon. A nice walk around visiting the various hides, you will get to see some of the Goosander from Bill's hide on the Slough, Egrets have been seen flying around the reserve too. Then you may get to see the Bittern which comes into roost around 4pm at the double-decker hide. Then watch as an influx of Starlings begin to murmurate in front of the Visitor Centre. There's so much to see here despite it being the middle of winter and as Nick of Norfolk said on Twitter:

Nick's tweet on Twitter

A big thank you goes out to Nick and all of our other members too. Without our members, none of what we do at Lackford, or our 49 other reserves, would be possible.

Goldeneye

And it's not all about birds either, the winter season provides plenty of photo opportunities such as the various fungi which can be found and with a recent report from the BBC about the huge increase in flowering plants in winter this year, some are bound to be found at Lackford.

Turkey-tail bracket fungus

Hazel catkins in the middle of winter.

Don't forget the little ones

This time of year when the overnight temperatures plummet, finding food on a regular daily basis becomes a matter of life and death for some of our smaller birds. So it's important to keep your bird feeders and bird table topped up with bird food and easy access to unfrozen water.

We have a variety of bird food for most birds for sale at Lackford in various size bags including the much loved sunflower hearts which are a vital source of energy for small birds such as tits.

A welcome visitor at bird feeders this time of year, the Long-tailed tit.

All change

As mentioned in previous blogs, there are some wonderful changes coming to Lackford this year. So that we can implement some of these changes, the Visitor Centre will be closed from Monday 19th January - Thursday 22nd, re-opening on Friday 23rd. 

We hope this doesn't cause you too much of an inconvenience.

Till next time, take care.