Well the weather of late seems most un-June like, yet the wildlife doesn't seem to mind too much as things are carrying on pretty much as normal at Lackford. This includes the kingfishers at Hawker pool which have now fledged and can be seen on various parts of the reserve.
 |
| Newly fledged kingfishers by Joe Jackson on Twitter (@EyesOnWildlife) |
Our regular visitor and contributor to the blog Ian Goodall also managed to get some shots of one of the adults visiting and leaving the nest hole shortly before the young fledged.
 |
| Adult visiting with food. Note how the fish's head is pointed outwards so the young take it the right way. |
 |
| Young fed, off to find some more. |
 |
| Kingfisher in action by Shawn Pearce |
Big thanks to everyone for sharing their fantastic photos, really appreciated.
You put the ring where???
A very unusual photo appeared on Twitter via Rich Berry this week, of an unusually ringed bird.
 |
| Ringed Greylag 'FJH' by Rich Berry |
After a little digging we were able to find out more about this bird via the person responsible for ringing it, Lee Barber, Recoveries officer at BTO Thetford. Lee emailed us to say:
The bird you have seen are part of a monitoring program with the aim of finding out where Greylag and Canada Geese move to after they have been ringed and neck collared during their annual moult. I have attached a poster that gives a bit more detail into this project. The bird you saw was an adult male ringed at BTO HQ, Thetford in 2014. This bird has been interesting as it has not been seen away from the BTO since being ringed and hasn't been reported for some time. The age code 4 means that it hatched before the current calendar year when it was ringed. The age code 2 means it was seen as a fully grown bird (i.e. not a chick). It is good to hear this bird is still going strong...
Lee also sent us the recapture history for FJH:
 |
| FJH's recapture history |
At first when we began digging, it was thought that FJH was part of an Icelandic ringing project. However, as we can see, FJH comes from much closer to home. But still an interesting find and if you see anything like this at Lackford, please let us know so that we can inform others. Big thank you to Rich for sharing this photo and well done for spotting FJH.
What's the point of nettles?
Let's face it, nettles are not everyone's idea of a garden plant. No-one actually plants nettles in their garden, yet they are a very important plant in our ecosystem as Rich Berry proved with this photo taken last week on the reserve.
 |
| Nibbly caterpillars enjoying the nettles. |
Yes, these caterpillars love nettles and we love the caterpillars, especially as these are the caterpillars of the beautiful peacock butterfly. One to keep an eye out for when you visit Lackford.
Another one to watch out for at Lackford are our beautiful bee orchids. These can be seen along the path leading from the centre to Bernard's hide. East Anglian columnist Nicola Miller shared her photo of the bee orchids on Twitter:
 |
| Bee orchid by Nicola Miller (@NicMillersTale) |
Sightings
Well as we already know, the kingfishers are showing very well and after weeks of only being seen at Hawker Pool, they can now be seen across the reserve with sightings coming in from Double-decker, Bernard's and Reed hides.
Raptors are also showing well with daily sightings of red kite, hobby, sparrowhawk and buzzard over the reserve.
Adrian Sheppard spotted this water rail yesterday at Reed hide.
 |
| Water rail by Adrian Sheppard |
The great crested grebe and their chicks can still be seen from Bess' hide and the red crested pochard still has three chicks and can be often seen at Fuller's Mill hide. Shelduck's still have seven chicks and can be seen from Bill's hide. There was a touch of drama today at the centre when a female mallard brought her chicks to the centre pond and abandoned them! She flew off shortly after arriving with the chicks, which left the onlooking visitors feeling a bit anxious and worried. But thankfully, after about 20 minutes, she returned and calm was restored to the centre.
The butterflies and dragonflies are showing up well at the reserve with sightings of meadow brown, ringlet, painted lady and large skipper and emperor dragonflies also being spotted on the reserve. The best place to see these are on the summer trail and the path towards Bernard's hide.
Tony and Sandy (@tonyandsandy) had a very productive day recording all these beautiful moths at Lackford recently
 |
| A wide selection of moths seen at Lackford (left to right: Longhorn moth, silver ground carpet, straw dot, cinnabar moth, clouded border, snout and a geometrid moth) |
If you would like to see more moths close up, then don't forget to come along on our Wild for the Weekend on the 4th and 5th July, where we will be displaying some of the moths caught in our traps here at Lackford. This is always a popular event and we will be displaying our moths at 1 pm on each day that weekend. Don't miss out!!!
Don't miss this either!
Our new provider of optical equipment, Viking, will be at Lackford this weekend (27th June) to demonstrate their range of optics. If you think you deserve a new pair of binoculars or are thinking of getting a scope perhaps, or even just want to peruse and try some out, then come on down between 10am - 4pm in the visitor centre.
No comments:
Post a Comment