Birds a plenty!

The reserve got to see some snow this week, which created a lovely wintery scene for many photographers brave enough to face the chilly elements. 

Snow covered Lackford

One of these brave souls was Adi Sheppard who managed to grab this lovely shot of a Song Thrush with an all important snack that it had managed to find despite the snow covered ground. Thanks for sharing Adi.

Song thrush taken by Adi Sheppard

Some of you may remember last weeks photo of a Yellow-legged gull seen on the sailing lake. This gull is just one of many thousand gulls roosting on the sailing lake, which really is a sight to see. Jo Sweetman posted a photo to our Facebook page of the gull roost.

Gulls coming in to roost on the sailing lake. ©Jo Sweetman

Jo managed to grab another photo of a Bullfinch, which unusually sat by the visitor centre for a good 20 minutes before flying off

Bullfinch by Jo Sweetman

The gulls are not the only birds to see in charge numbers at the moment, strangely, we still have our Starling murmuration happening outside the visitor centre. Although the numbers are not near our pre-christmas murmuration, they really are still mesmerising to watch and still draw a crowd.

On Camera

The cameras are still proving to be a hit with our visitors and wildlife too. This clip shows 5 different species visit the bird feeder post in under 2 mins.

Mike, the centre manager compiled this video of our feeder cams on our Facebook page, which shows a new visitor to the mammal cam, a vole (possibly field vole). plus much more.

Sightings

Raptors have been getting spotted at the reserve of late with our first sighting of a Red Kite.  Peregrine and Marsh Harrier have been seen over Plover lake, Sparrowhawk over the sailing lake and a Buzzard over Ash Carr. 

Also spotted at Ash Carr were a Grey Wagtail and a Tree Creeper.

Goosander's have been spotted on the Slough, Sailing lake and Plover lake, Goldeneye at the Sailing lake and Hawker pool, Little Grebe at Bess’ hide and Snipe at Slough. We still have our Bittern showing at Steggall’s and Pintail at Plover.

Bullfinches have been spotted around the reserve including the one pictured above outside the visitor centre, what better way to enjoy your hot drink and cake whilst looking at a beautiful male Bullfinch.

Don’t forget to add your sightings to our board whenever you visit, you can find the board situated inside next to the map of the reserve. The Red Kite and Peregrine bring our bird species list for Lackford up to 92 species, the list can be seen here.

Don’t forget to join in our #LackfordPhotoChallenge by getting a picture of a duck doing something different than just sitting there looking duck like. Harder than you think! Don’t feel that this is just for those who use social media either, anyone can take part, just email your photos to us here at lackford.centre@suffolkwildlifetrust.org and we’ll post them on here on the blog for you.

Wild for the Weekend

Don’t forget, next weekend sees the start of our new themed weekends, which start with Winter Ducks. There’ll be something for everyone to enjoy, including trails and spotter sheets and guides around the reserve. It’ll be running all weekend, so pop in to the visitor centre and find out more.