A warm Halloween

Well, what unseasonably warm weather we're having of late, so much so, that butterflies are still on the wing down here at Lackford. There have been reports of Peacock's, Brimstone and Clouded yellow and that's not the only insect to be seen, Common darters have also been spotted by our visitors.

Peacock butterfly.

At this time of year, people begin to find butterflies in their sheds and outbuildings, sometimes they even find them in their house. It's quite fair to think that they have become mistakenly trapped and many people catch the butterfly and release back outside. But you shouldn't. Not many people realise this, but some species of butterflies actually hibernate for winter by spending their time tucked away from the cold and the frosts in an outbuilding or shed. Here, they will wait patiently for spring's arrival and begin the search for a mate as soon as the temperature begins to rise.

So if you find a butterfly in your shed, the best thing you can do to help it, is to leave it alone. And if you find one in your house, carefully catch it (glass and paper, like a spider) and place it in a shed or garage, somewhere it will be able to find its way out of unaided and somewhere that isn't heated, otherwise it will emerge too early.

Birds

This weeks sightings include all the usual suspects at the feeders, but there has also been some new seasonal sightings such as Goosander and Redwings. Redwings are a species that spends it summer days much further north than the UK such as Iceland and Scandinavia. Come the winter, as food in their summer lands becomes scarce and temperatures fall, they head south into Europe and the UK in search of our winter berries, which they like to gorge themselves upon. Only a few have been spotted so far, and as the weeks roll on, many more are expected to arrive, along with their larger cousin the Fieldfare.

The beautiful Fieldfare

Unfortunately, we don't have a photo of a Redwing to show, but this is where you can get involved. If you have a photo of a redwing, especially if it was taken at Lackford, then we would love to show it here on the blog. Obviously, we can't pay you for it, but we will credit your photo. In fact, if you have any photo's you would like to share with us that were taken at the reserve, then please get in touch, we would love to share them. You can email us at lackford.centre@suffolkwildlifetrust.org

The Tree Sparrows spotted for the first time in 2 years last week, have not returned sadly, so they were maybe just passing through. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed they make a return. A new visitor to the feeders at the centre was a Coal tit and Snipe are still showing well down at Stegall's as is the building of the new hide which our Reserves Volunteer Team are doing a grand job with. 

New hide under construction at Stegall's

Snipe taken today by Peter Rutt

                           

Events

One of our events this week was the Family Night Walk where everyone got to hear Tawny Owls calling, saw some bats flying, went on a torchlight mini-beast hunt, made witches potions and broomsticks. 

Witches broomstick.

They also got to do other stuff such as owl pellet dissection and making stick skeletons.

Some fantastic stick skeletons.

A great turn out.

If you would like to attend one of our many events, then keep a check on our events listings on the right-handside of this blog and book up early, as often, our events get fully booked.

We hope you have a fantastic Halloween weekend and that you come visit us soon.

Happy Halloween!