Long-tailed duck, long time coming.

Well what a surprise! As you may have seen on social media or heard on the Lesley Dolphin BBC Suffolk radio this week, Lackford has a new visitor. Fresh in all the way from Scandinavia and a very rare visitor for inland waters, an adult female long-tailed duck has appeared on the reserve. These ducks are coastal birds and usually are seen much further north than Suffolk. So rare it is, that this is the first time in 20 years a long-tailed duck has appeared at Lackford. The one that showed up in 1995, stayed for 7 months according to resident bird ringer Colin Jakes.

Regular visitor Barry Woodhouse managed to get this shot of the bird from Bess' hide.

Female long-tailed duck by Barry Woodhouse

The duck is often seen on Long Reach, but a scope is advised as it divides its time from being in front of the hide to being far away at the back of the lake. It's a diving duck, which spends a lot of its time under water, for up to 30 seconds. So a bit of patience will be required.

Another view by Malcom Hupman

At times the Bess' hide became quite busy with lots of eager visitors wanting to get a view and no-one went away disappointed.

Standing room only at Bess'

Pop into the visitor centre on your arrival to find out where the bird, as well as many other things, is showing.

It's not long now.

Well, it only feels like last month had just turned spring and christmas is almost upon us. The year has flown past, it must have been fun, so they say. So, getting ready for the festive time, we now have our christmas cards in stock.

A fine selection of cards to choose from.

We also have a Lackford christmas card if you want to show your friends and family where you spend your time throughout the year.

Christmas time at Lackford Lakes by Michael Coulter

There are 6 cards to a pack, which are very reasonable priced between £2.75 & £2.95 with all proceeds going towards the Trust.

We have plenty of new stock in the shop too with lots of ideal gifts for the naturalist in your family.

Something for everyone in our shop.

A new special offer.

It's winter time and now more than ever, your garden birds need their feed. That's why here at Lackford, you can take advantage of our special offer. Every time you buy a small bag of bird food from us at Lackford, we will stamp your loyalty card. Collect 5 stamps and you'll receive your 6th bag FREE! So why not pop into today and get your loyalty card from the counter with your first bag.

Our special offer.

Despite the warm weather

Despite the unseasonably warm weather of late, we now how firewood back in stock to keep you warm when the weather does take a turn to chilly temperatures. It's £6 a bag and can be bought from the visitor centre. 

Sightings

Kingfisher continues to show around the reserve, favorite spots to see it are Bess', Atlas, Double-decker and Bill's hides. Goldeneye have arrived and have been spotted on the sailing lake and from Bess'. Wigeon, teal, pochard and shoveller are increasing in numbers and can be seen at various places across the reserve.

Another oddity turned up last week in the shape of a black swan. This is most likely going to be an escapee.

Black swan by Barry Woodhouse

The swan like to move around a bit from one end of the reserve to the other, but Plover lake is its favorite spot at the moment.

Nuthatch, goldcrest, treecreeper, long-tailed tits and siskin are regularly being spotted down at Ash Carr. 

It's an interesting time of year at Lackford where birds are coming in to spend their winter months and this can be seen every evening when the gulls come into roost on the sailing lake in their thousands.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Otter at the centre!

The otter still continues to show at Lackford and even came to the visitor centre for 20 minutes on Wednesday, much to the delight of all the visitors in the centre, although the ducks in the pond were not too happy about such a visit.

Otter at Visitor Centre pond photographed by Stephanie Holland.

The otter was thought to be a young male/female and by the amount of energy it was using by swimming rather fast around the lake creating large bow waves without breaking the surface, it most definitely had the energy to be a young one. Needless to say, everyone who visits the centre, eagerly peers out of the windows in the hope it has paid a return visit. 

Kingfishers still continue to be seen from most of the hides around the reserve with most sightings at the visitor centre, the double-decker, Bill's and Bess' hides. Snipe are also becoming a common spot, especially at Bernard's hide. Wigeon and teal can also be seen increasing in numbers and little egrets are having a good time fishing by standing on the weed in the middle of the sailing lake. The hobby's haven't been seen for a while now and are most likely on their way back to warmer climes. Latest arrivals to Lackford are redwings with several flocks totalling around 100 birds seen in the past week overhead. reports of fieldfare in the surrounding countryside will hopefully mean that these will also be seen here soon.

Other birds we await the arrival of are gooseanders, goldeneye, pintail and bittern of course. Who will be the first to spot the arrival of these beautiful birds?

Something else that's been spotted of late in the evening flying over Lackford are small groups of starlings. Last year, we had around 17,000 starlings murmurating above Lackford and two years before that, the numbers were nearer 30,000. So with fingers crossed, we're hoping that they will return again this year and hopefully, in large numbers too. Watch this space and we will keep you posted. 

An unusual sighting of the lucky kind!

We get many visitors to Lackford Lakes and from time to time, people report to us unusual sightings of things they have spotted on the reserve. Well a young David Ashford returned to the centre with a beaming smile after he found this rarity, a 4-leaf clover!

David Ashford with his 4-leaf clover.

On the subject of unusual things, we now have Earth stars appearing in Ash Carr, the wooded section of the reserve. What are Earth stars? I hear you ask. They are a form of fungi that look like a star. Here's a photo of the ones on the reserve at the moment.

One open Earth star with two more waiting to open (bottom right).

Closer view of the Earth star.

Now is a good time to get down to Lackford if you want to see these beautiful fungi as they won't last long. Be sure to pop into the visitor centre on your arrival and a member of the visitor team will direct you to the right location.

When you park up in the car park, have a look at the weave fencing surrounding the car park. If you look closely, you might see a fascinating insect known as an ichnuemon wasp. These are long (about 6cm), black and thin with orange legs and a long ovipositor.

A female ichnuemon seeks out her prey.

These are likely to be Dolichomitus sp and they are on the hunt for wood boring beetle larvae that have infested the wood. They use their long ovipositor, which is not a stinger, to drill into the wood down to where the larvae are munching away and lay an egg. The egg later hatches and devours the beetle larvae.

Ovipositor in action being drilled into the wood.

Other insects still being spotted around the reserve are the hornets and wasp nests, which are still doing well. Peacock, brimstone, small copper and brown argus can still be spotted on the sunnier days around the reserve.

On the subject of butterflies, listen to visitor officer Hawk Honey talking about overwintering butterflies on BBC Radio Suffolk with Lesley Dolphin at 2:10pm, 6th November.

Christmas cards

Yes, it's that time again and we now have a full stock of wonderful Christmas cards on display at Lackford.

Xmas is on its way!

We also have lots of new stock that would make ideal presents, so why not pop in and have a look around.

Starlings

As many of you may remember, last year saw a starling murmuration over Lackford with numbers around 17,000 birds. They haven't started murmurating here yet, but reports say that the birds are beginning to be sen in large flocks in the surrounding area at Lackford. So hopefully, it won't be long. Keep those fingers crossed.

Stoats and Starlings

Well there hasn't been much change of late with sightings on the reserve. Goosander, Snipe and Goldeneye are still showing well and Siskin, Redwings and Fieldfares are also being seen. There were still Common Darter dragonflies still being spotted on Wednesday. 

We had a possible sighting of a Goshawk on Sunday, unfortunately, no photo. One for you to keep your eyes open for and if you get a photo, we would love to see it.

There seems to be a Stoat living in a hole in front of the visitor centre and spent most of today (Friday) catching and bringing back Shrews to his hole. Again, no photos, but we might try and get the trail cam set up to see if we can get some good pictures of it.

One new sighting this week however, was that of a Grey Wagtail by Sarah Steggall and what's more Sarah sent us the photo of said Wagtail, thanks Sarah.

Grey Wagtail © Sarah Steggall

The Sparrowhawk has also been making regular visits to the feeder area outside the centre, looking for an unsuspecting Blue tit or similar. David Ward sent us this photo of it flying around the reserve.

Sparrowhawk © David Ward

 David also shared his pictures of our most favourite visitor to the reserve, the Kingfisher.

Kingfisher with fish © David Ward

Diving Kingfisher © David Ward

People have also been sharing their photos with us on Twitter (@SWTLackfordLake) as well. Here's one from Nick Ford

Kingfisher by Nick Ford

If you would like to share your photos with us on the blog, we would welcome them. Just send them to us in an email lackford.centre@suffolkwildlifetrust.org

Starlings!

Tonight we had around 800 starlings fly in and roost on site. This is a huge increase to the 100 or so last week and we can hope that it will only increase and that the murmurations just get bigger, such a fantastic sight.

Winter Dusk Walk

There are still places available on our Winter Dusk Walk with Site Manager Will Cranstoun on Friday 21st November 2-4pm. This will be a very informative walk looking at our winter wildfowl including the spectacular Gull roost and is good for all ages. Whats more, it's only £3 per person, but you will need to book beforehand to secure your place. You can do this by either calling the centre on 01284 728706 or by email lackford.education@suffolkwildlifetrust.org Don't miss out!

Christmas Cards

Have you bought your Christmas cards to send to friends yet? If not, why not come down to us and buy your cards here from our lovely Christmas collection.

Our lovely Christmas cards from £2.75 a pack

You can enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of cake and look for Kingfishers whilst you decide what cards to buy. But be quick, they're going fast!

  

Stoats and Starlings

Well there hasn't been much change of late with sightings on the reserve. Goosander, Snipe and Goldeneye are still showing well and Siskin, Redwings and Fieldfares are also being seen. There were still Common Darter dragonflies still being spotted on Wednesday. 

We had a possible sighting of a Goshawk on Sunday, unfortunately, no photo. One for you to keep your eyes open for and if you get a photo, we would love to see it.

There seems to be a Stoat living in a hole in front of the visitor centre and spent most of today (Friday) catching and bringing back Shrews to his hole. Again, no photos, but we might try and get the trail cam set up to see if we can get some good pictures of it.

One new sighting this week however, was that of a Grey Wagtail by Sarah Steggall and what's more Sarah sent us the photo of said Wagtail, thanks Sarah.

Grey Wagtail © Sarah Steggall

The Sparrowhawk has also been making regular visits to the feeder area outside the centre, looking for an unsuspecting Blue tit or similar. David Ward sent us this photo of it flying around the reserve.

Sparrowhawk © David Ward

 David also shared his pictures of our most favourite visitor to the reserve, the Kingfisher.

Kingfisher with fish © David Ward

Diving Kingfisher © David Ward

People have also been sharing their photos with us on Twitter (@SWTLackfordLake) as well. Here's one from Nick Ford

Kingfisher by Nick Ford

If you would like to share your photos with us on the blog, we would welcome them. Just send them to us in an email lackford.centre@suffolkwildlifetrust.org

Starlings!

Tonight we had around 800 starlings fly in and roost on site. This is a huge increase to the 100 or so last week and we can hope that it will only increase and that the murmurations just get bigger, such a fantastic sight.

Winter Dusk Walk

There are still places available on our Winter Dusk Walk with Site Manager Will Cranstoun. This will be a very informative walk looking at our winter wildfowl including the spectacular Gull roost and is good for all ages. Whats more, it's only £3 per person, but you will need to book beforehand to secure your place. You can do this by either calling the centre on 01284 728706 or by email lackford.education@suffolkwildlifetrust.org Don't miss out!

Christmas Cards

Have you bought your Christmas cards to send to friends yet? If not, why not come down to us and buy your cards here from our lovely Christmas collection.

Our lovely Christmas cards from £2.75 a pack

You can enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of cake and look for Kingfishers whilst you decide what cards to buy. But be quick, they're going fast!