Rarities at Lackford

With a site so diverse and as large as Lackford Lakes, there is always something new to find, we just have to look for it. This is especially true when it comes to the small stuff such as insects, spiders and other bugs. All to often we are taken with the beauty of a Red Admiral as it basks on a leaf, or a big fluffy bumblebee as it bounces from flower to flower. We look on in awe as large dragonflies patrol the pathways grabbing flies in mid-air and consuming them without stopping. However, occasionally something else pops up as an oddball. Something that has caught the eye of a visitor, something they haven't seen before, a fly, a bee, a cricket or a spider. Often they return to the visitor centre to ask staff to help with the ID of their new discovery. Sometimes what they have seen is actually quite a common species, but every now and then something special turns up.

This is just what happened to regular visitor and keen photographer Sarah West who saw what she thought was a wasp sitting on a leaf.

An unusual wasp, or is it? © Sarah West

On showing it to me, I spotted straight away it wasn't a wasp, but a fly, a Conops. It turned out to be a the rarest of Conops flies called Conops vesicularis (unfortunately no common name) and was only the 3rd time it had ever been recorded in Suffolk! This fly parasitises hornets and some bees hence its very fooling mimicry which allows it to get close to its victims.

Early last year I asked local spider expert Alan Thornhill if he would be interested in surveying Lackford Lakes for spiders. He said he was very interested and got to work straight away setting up pitfall traps in various locations around the reserve and it was so successful, he carried on surveying right through till autumn 2017. Along the way he found some interesting spiders with varying degrees of rarity and then he found something rather special. It was special because it had never been found in Suffolk before AND it is in serious decline through loss of habitat. The spider has the name of Haplodrassus silvestris and again has no common name. It has probably been living at Lackford since it became a reserve and it's a credit to the hard work of the Trust and its volunteers that create the habitat that it still exists at Lackford today.

I myself am often seen out on the reserve when I get the chance, looking for my specialty, bees and wasps. Over the last few years, I too have made some discoveries at Lackford including another first for Suffolk this year in the shape of the Early Mining Bee, a species usually found in sand dunes in the west and north west of the country, and here it is for the first time in Suffolk and again listed as rare. When I first started working here at Lackford 3 years ago, I found around 6 Large-headed Resin Bees nesting in a piece of old timber outside the centre. This was a rare bee and this was only the 7th record for Suffolk at the time.

Large-headed resin bee capping her nest outside the visitor centre.

I installed a solitary bee hotel and this year the bee is doing very well and can be found nesting in a variety of places around the reserve. This expansion in species in turn brought another rarity to the reserve in the form of a jewel wasp known as Chrysis gracillima, only recorded in Suffolk twice before.

Volunteer James Robinson managed to photograph this Silver-washed Fritillary whilst doing a dragonfly survey.

Silver-washed Fritillary © James Robinson

Now these butterflies are not particularly rare, more of a localised species. However, until James got this photo, this butterfly had never been recorded at Lackford ever before, so it's quite rare for here.

Now we have the opportunity to extend the nature reserve by another 77 acres of prime Breckland grassland habitat. This will not only provide nesting sites for birds such as Stone Curlew, but will also be home to a whole host of insects too. Who knows how many rarities may be living there?

Without doubt, it would seem that all around us there are things waiting to be discovered, we just need to take the time to look at the little things too.


By Hawk Honey - Visitor Officer

Children discover wildlife at Lackford this summer

Children and Summer go as well together as fish and chips. Where there is sunshine and open spaces you can be assured the children will follow and even when there isn’t sunshine you needn’t worry for the joy of jumping in puddles is more exciting than a classroom any day!

This Summer has been no different and the reserve has been a hive of activity with throngs of people calling in daily. For the first summer ever we have been offering families the chance to do self-led pond dipping! Watching the excitement on their faces as they toddle off with nets clutched in their hands and curiosity on their faces couldn’t be better.

Summer is a time for children to step away from technology and really connect with the outside world. Here at Lackford we have had more family events and activity days than you could imagine and each one has brought a new flurry of excitement and joy!

At the start of the holidays we had our Family Wild play Wednesday! This morning was all about families coming together to play in our woods. We had a mud kitchen where children whipped up magic soups followed by courses of mud pies and cupcakes. Not quite full we also made wild art on the woodland floor and explored our senses on our blindfold trail. By the end of the morning mums, dads, grannies, and grandads were all happily playing with their young ones and trying to pull them away at the end was a challenge!

Come mid-summer we were going on Barefoot safaris where we squelched through mud, tip toed over pebbles and swished through long grass. We even had a chance to see what lived beneath our feet before making clay versions of these Minibeast!

Around this time our young wardens had their summer celebration and to top off a brilliant year we decided to have a Crayfish boil! The children loved learning how to catch the crayfish safely and legally and we tested out different bates (pedigree chum works best!). Once we had pulled them up we took them back to the workshop and boiled them up for lunch. The sweet taste of crayfish on a summers day washed down by lemonade can’t be beat!

We finished off our summer with our fun with science days where the children made solar smore ovens out of cake boxes and even though it was cloudy they were thrilled to find that at least the chocolate had melted slightly! During our science day, we also let off bottle rockets using bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar and watched them soar high into the sky and then in the afternoon we mixed up bouncy balls and made towers using marshmallows and spaghetti!

Overall it has been another amazing summer at Lackford Lakes and although summer may be over it won’t be long till we get some excited school children turning up on coaches’ eager to learn!

By Sophie Mayes – Wild learning officer

A 30th birthday present for Lackford

We said back in January that 2017 is shaping up to be a special year for Lackford Lakes and we were right! Not only are we celebrating its 30^th birthday, we now have a chance to extend the reserve by 77 acres.

Thirty years ago, Bernard Tickner bought the part of the reserve known as The Slough and gifted it to Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Thanks to his commitment and vision, the reserve has been transformed from a series of gravel pits …

… to a spectacular and diverse nature reserve, teeming with wildlife.

We now have an amazing opportunity to add something a little bit different – big skies and wide open landscape.

The land we now have the chance to buy is adjacent to Lackford village and adjoins similar fields that the Trust purchased back in 2005:

It is a wide, open space which has not been cultivated for over 20 years and is gradually reverting back to grass heath, typical of the Brecks. The grass has been kept short by the constant nibbling of rabbits, exposing the dry, flinty soil and this helps create the perfect conditions for a whole host of specialist plants and animals.

 

View across the new land

Linking the new and existing land together will create a much larger area for Breckland species like the enigmatic Stone Curlew which has been recorded as nesting on the new land in recent years.

A rare habitat

Breck grass heath has been hugely impacted by competing land uses during the last century. Modern farming techniques, house building and large-scale forestry has reduced it by 85% in just 50 years. We now have a rare to chance to protect a slice of this unique land.

We have just launched a fundraising appeal to raise £200,000 towards the land purchase. The response has been amazing and we've already received nearly £20,000 of donations. To donate, you can visit our Just Giving site or call us direct on 01473 890089.

30^th Birthday celebrations

To mark the reserve's 30th birthday, we have a weekend of activities, including bug hunts, moth traps, pond dipping, trails & crafts, taking place on Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th September from 11am. We look forward to seeing you there!