A welcome return

Yes, a very welcome return this week to the very endangered Red Data Book species. Yes, turtle dove's have been heard and spotted  around the reserve, but only solitary or pairs of birds have been spotted at this stage. 

Another new visitor to the reserve this week is our first dragonfly, which has always been present at the reserve lurking at the bottom of a pond, but has now emerged into adulthood to begin the summer days looking for a partner. A broad-bodied chaser female was spotted and photographed by Tony and Sandy (@tonyandsandy) on twitter.

Broad-bodied chaser by Tony and Sandy

They also managed to capture this beautiful and a first for this year, brown argus butterfly.

Brown argus by Tony and Sandy

Butterflies have been in abundance this week too with still lots of orange-tips, small white, green-veined white, speckled wood, comma and peacocks about. 

Comma by Duncan Fletcher Brown

Another bunch of new arrivals came  in the shape of long-tailed tits and was captured by Terence Chaplin.

5 newly fledged long-tailed tits await for the parents to bring back food. © Terence Chaplin

Terence even spotted this slow worm making its way along the path near Reed hide

Slow worm by Terence Chaplin

More damselflies have been spotted on the reserve this week and our wildlife guide Colin Robson managed a photo of a blue-tailed damselfly.

Blue-tailed damselfly by Colin Robson

A grand day out

We had a lovely review this week from a couple of visitors at Lackford, who enjoyed their day so much. they decided to write a blog about it. You can read all about their adventure in their excellent blog here.

Sightings

Well, the sightings are still coming in and there's lots to be seen here at Lackford, as the sightings boards testifies to and the eagle eyed among you will have noticed we are now on 127 species of bird at Lackford.

Sightings board at Lackford

Our newest species to hit the list are a pair of redstart and turtle dove, which we mentioned earlier. Common sandpiper, hobby's, cuckoo and the warbler's (Cettis, garden, reed, sedge, willow, etc) can be seen from all around the reserve, starting in the car park where many are heard when visitors get out of their cars.

Reed warbler by Ian Goodall

Marsh tit with spiders web nesting material by Ian Goodall

Kingfisher's are still nesting down at Hawker pool, although they are often spotted as a blue flash as they dart back and forth from the nest.

Buzzard's, sparrowhawk can be seen from time to time around the reserve and we are getting more sightings of red kites drifting over. This species has made a spectacular recovery since breeding projects began in the late eighties/early nineties and have spread eastwards across the country ever since. So in time, these magnificent birds will soon become a regular sighting at Lackford.

SPECIAL BAT WALK 23RD MAY

As part of our themed Wild for the Weekend -Things with Wings event on the 23rd May, we will be having a bat walk at Lackford to explore that we don't often see. Places are limited, so booking is essential and you can do this by phoning 01284 728706. 

Don't miss out, book your place now!

One Swallow, does not a summer make

Aristotle once said, “One Swallow, does not a summer make...”. Well it’s a shame he wasn’t at Lackford this week then, when yesterday (Monday), 10 were seen above the centre. The first were spotted over Lackford by our regular visitor and contributor Ian Goodall on April 1st (of all days), over Long Reach where Bess’ hide is situated. Ian managed to get these shots from Bess’ hide.

Swallow © Ian Goodall

© Ian Goodall

So, what does this mean for Lackford? It means that there’s a very good chance that a lot of Spring arrivals will start arriving. Blackcap has, after a lot of false sightings, eventually turned up at Steggall’s and Ash Carr and there’s a lot more to come, just take a look at our Spring arrivals list, which can be found pinned to our sightings board in the visitor centre.

Plenty more to come at Lackford.

So with the wind direction set to change to a nice easterly/south easterly this week, we are expecting a lot of new arrivals at Lackford. Why not come down and see if you can help us spot these as they come in!

Activities at Lackford

We’ve had quite a few activities at Lackford this week, which were well attended by children enjoying the Half-term break. The Springtastic event was one of the sessions that was fully booked and enjoyed by all despite the windy weather.

The children and their creations at the Springtastic event.

Judging by all those smiley faces, a good time was had.

Out and about exploring the reserve.

And the activities are set to continue this week with our Egg Quest event on Thursday 9th April. The morning session is fully booked and due to the high demand, we have organised an afternoon session too from 2-4pm. But act quick as this is already half full and filling up fast. To book, call 01284 728706.

Sounds of Spring!

This weekend will also see the next Themed weekend in our Wild for the Weekend programme. The Sounds of Spring will explore the many sounds you can hear in the wild at Springtime and if you pick up a spotter sheet at our visitor centre, you can follow the trail and see if you can work out the sounds situated along the route. There is no charge for the activity, but a donation would be appreciated. Sounds of Spring starts this weekend 11am - 4pm.

Sightings

Well as we are aware, Swallows and Blackcap  have arrived on the reserve and more are to come. 3 Med Gulls have been spotted from the Steggall’s hide along with the Egyptian geese and their goslings.

Egyptian geese and goslings © David Ward

The Canada goose is still on the nest near the Double-decker hide and David sent us in this picture too.

Canada goose on the nest © David Ward

This time of year its not all about chicks and nests, there are territories to defend and unwanted attention to fend off and new member and novice photographer Pat Cutting caught this fantastic action shot of two Canada geese at odds with each other.

Time to scarper © Pat Cutting

Ian Goodall managed to capture these stunning shots of two pairs of Great Crested Grebe’s defending their territory. 

© Ian Goodall

© Ian Goodall

© Ian Goodall

© Ian Goodall

© Ian Goodall

© Ian Goodall 

© Ian Goodall

© Ian Goodall

The Nuthatch is still down on the Lackford Stump as well as the Marsh Tit and Coal tit and many others. Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers are being heard everywhere, but particularly in Ash Carr. Chiffchaff is to be heard everywhere around the site and Cettis Warbler’s are heard mainly around the Sailing lake path and near Bill’s hide. 

Nuthatch posing © Tracie Emerson

Red Crested Pochard can still be seen at Fullers Mill Hide, but they are tending to stay towards the far end of Mill Deep lake. On the raptor front, 10 Buzzards were seen circling over the centre car park and a Sparrowhawk was also spotted displaying over the centre. The Kingfisher has been a bit elusive of late and we put this down to that they may be nesting around the Double decker and Bess’ hides. The female is probably on the nest and the male is busy catching food. 

The sightings board.

This is how the sightings board looked as of yesterday, don’t forget, when we are open, you can find the board inside the visitor centre next to the map. We need your sightings so that others may see what’s about. 

Possibly the best Nuthatch in Suffolk!

It's been all over Twitter, has also been seen on Facebook and has even made an innocuous tree stump a local celebrity. Yes, the Lackford Stump, as it has become to be known, is the frequent stage for our resident Nuthatch's feeding antics. Many photos have been posted right across social media of this beautiful bird coming down for a treat. Regular visitor and photo contributor Barry Woodhouse shared some of his photos of it recently.

Female Nuthatch © Barry Woodhouse

Male Nuthatch © Barry Woodhouse

Of course, the Nuthatch isn't the only bird taking advantage of the Lackford Stump. Regular visitors to the stump also include Marsh, Coal, Great, Blue, Long-tailed tits and Dunnock. The stump is right next to the path, so if you decide to visit the stump to take photos, please be aware, the path and those who walk on it come first.

Great tit with peanut © Barry Woodhouse

Blue tit © Barry Woodhouse

"Look Ma, no wings!" Coal tit © Barry Woodhouse

Dunnock © Stuart Finley

It wasn't going to be long before other creatures took advantage of the stump either. Regular visitor and photographer Barry Woodhouse also shared these pictures to Twitter using our @SWTLackfordLake handle and #lackfordlakes hashtag (thanks Barry).

Grey squirrel taking advantage of the stump © Barry Woodhouse

New arrivals

There have been some new arrivals this week on the reserve, but they didn't fly in, they broke in. Egyptian geese hatched their young this week down at Steggall's.

Egyptian Goose and gosling © Rich Berry

Thanks to Rich Berry for sharing this lovely photo on our Twitter page. Another visitor who got some great shots and posted them to our Facebook page was Stuart Finley.

Egyptian goose and young © Stuart Finley

© Stuart Finley

Another new arrival was a bit of a surprise for the Visitor centre staff. Although we know we have Tawny owl's on site, we didn't expect one to come to the feeder cam in the wee hours. Although the food there wouldn't be to its liking, the owl was obviously using the post, which stands 7ft high, as an observation post to look for rodents. This was the first visit on the 24th March where we got to see a close up of his feet and talons.

The next visit was a few days later where it swooped on to one of the poles that hold the feeders. This time we got to see more of its head and its ability to turn its head right round.

Plans are afoot to make a small adjustment to the camera which will allow us to move it back a bit from the post and allowing us to see the owl in full, for it seems that he is a regular visitor and our visitors have enjoyed watching the video in the centre.

Moving away from birds, we’ve had the moth trap out this week and despite the very changeable weather of late, we managed to trap around 6 moths of three different species.

From left-right: Hebrew Character, Clouded Drab and Small Quaker

Some of the early moths can be a bit on the dull side, but stay with us and things will soon change. An exciting find on the reserve this week in two separate places were newts! Yes, year old Smooth newts that had spent most of the winter hidden away were found.

Smooth newt found by the reserves team.

Back to bird and Canada geese, we have a few, have a nest and Alan Reynolds grabbed this shot to share on Twitter.

Canada goose gently tends her eggs © Alan Reynolds

Alan also managed to grab this cracking photo of a buzzard flying over the reserve.

Buzzard © Alan reynolds

 Another Twitter user @TopkitKev managed to get this shot of a Treecreeper this week.

Treecreeper © @TopkitKev

Remember, if you want to share with us your photos that you’ve taken at Lackford, please email them  to us at lackford.centre@suffolkwildlifetrust.org with your name. Just put ‘For the blog’ in the subject field, thanks.

A big sorry if you sent us a photo that hasn’t been included here, we get quite a few photos sent to us now and we don’t have space for them all. But let that not deter you from sending in photos, we want to see them and we’re working on something new, so watch this space!

Events at Lackford!

We have the Naturally Art workshop for 5-10 year olds on Sat 4th 10-12pm. Pre-booking is essential and you can do this by phoning the reserve on 01284 728706.

We also have the Egg Quest Family morning on the 9th from 10:30 - 12:30. Spaces are disappearing fast, yet if we have enough bookings, we may hold an extra event in the afternoon from 2:30 - 4:30pm. Again, pre-booking is an absolute must, due to the popularity of this event!

Sightings

Well, the species count still continues to climb here at Lackford, with the number now standing at 105 species this year so far. The three new species this week were a Common Scoter on Long Reach, from Bess’ Hide. Don’t all go rushing down there now, it didn’t stop long and was soon on its way again. We did have some photos of the bird sent in, but due to a small technical issue, we can’t show it right now. However, we will post it in next weeks blog.

The 104th bird that helped the count rise were a pair of Curlew which were spotted from Bill’s hide at the start of the week and have been spotted on several occasions since. The 105th bird was spotted by our resident bird expert Paul Holness who, whilst leading a walk around the reserve on a wet Sunday morning, managed to spot a Jack Snipe, which was with two common Snipe and was seen again from Bill’s. Buzzards have been seen on several occasions and some displaying Goshawk’s too. Goldcrest, Nuthatch, Tits, Treecreepers, Redwing and Green Woodpecker have all been spotted down at Ash Carr. 

Redwing © Barry Woodhouse

We still have some Goldeneye on the sailing lake and Red Crested Pochard can still be seen from Fullers Mill hide. Great Crested Grebes are still displaying at Atlas hide and there are still some Lapwing about at Steggall’s. Redshank are still being seen from Bill’s hide as well.

Chiffchaff can be heard from nearly everywhere on the reserve and Cettis warblers are heard calling from the path around the sailing lake.

On the insect front, large queen Bumblebees have been spotted feeding from the catkins on the reserve this week and Suffolk’s County Hymenoptera (Bees, wasps and ants) Recorder, Adrian Knowles, found a small Two-coloured Mason Bee. This little bee actually builds its nest in empty snail shells and camouflages it by making a wigwam of grass over the shell. Adrian went on to tell me that these are usually found on the wing in early April, but he’s never found one this early before!

We have yet to have a confirmed sighting of a Blackcap yet, but it is due any day soon. Colin Jakes, our resident bird ringer believes that once the wind changes to a nice South Easterly, the birds will come flocking in.

Last, but not least, we thought we would leave you with this beautiful photo sent in to us by Matt Horsham.

© Matt Horsham

Lackford’s Got Talent!

Well the reserve team have been quite busy this week making a slight alteration to the paths near the Double Decker hide. This was necessary as the open area led to confusion for some, causing them to be a bit lost.

The big machinery was called in.

Using some of the Poplars that were cut down a few weeks ago, a barrier was put in place.

The poplar trunk was then covered with Breckland soil.

By covering the logs with the soil, a unique habitat has been created for invertebrates to live in. In turn, this will benefit other wildlife that will feed off the insects within.

A natural barrier.

This natural barrier will keep people on the paths and hopefully not lost. Then they can enjoy the pleasure of the reserve without a care in the world.

Help for our little friends!

As many of you may know, our hedgehogs have been in serious decline for sometime now with populations down from over 30 million in the 1950’s to just over 1 million now. This trend is not good and we must do all we can to help our spike little garden friends. They provide a valuable service in our gardens eating such pests as slug, snails and leaf beetles. However, the increase in vehicles on our roads, nice clean tidy gardens, pesticides and shiplap fencing to define the borders of our gardens, have not been favourable changes for the hedgehog.

We can do little things to help hedgehogs by reducing our use of pesticides in our gardens, leaving a small gap of a few inches under our fences and garden gates, leaving a pile of leaf little or just let the leaves accumulate a bit around your garden. If possible, you can give them a real boost by providing them a shelter for them to raise young in and/or hibernate in during winter.

An empty wooden box should suffice, along with any leaf litter you can leave lying around. The hedgehog will collect her own nesting material and drag it to the box. We have a wonderful volunteer called Bob who makes hedgehog boxes for the Trust with all proceeds going towards the Trust and these are sold at Lackford with instructions for only £25. 

Hedgehog nesting boxes for sale at Lackford.

They do have a tendency to sell quickly, so make sure you get yours and give Suffolk’s hedgehogs (and your garden) a helping hand.

Your photos!

Many of you have been answering the call to share your photos and wow, what a talented bunch you are, keep them coming.

The Red Crested Pochard is still visible from the Fullers Mill Hide and was captured by Joe Jackson who sent his photo in via email: lackford.centre@suffolkwildlifetrust.org (put ‘For the blog’ in the subject line).

Red Crested Pochard © Joe Jackson

Joe also managed to find a spot where the Nuthatch’s are nesting and grabbed these wonderful shots as they flew to and from the nest.

© Joe Jackson

© Joe Jackson

Chiffchaff’s are in full swing with their song now at Lackford and are often seen from time to time too.

Chiffchaff © Joe Jackson

The Great Crested Grebe’s have been displaying down at Atlas hide and we’ve been getting some great photos sent in. Jon Winnan sent us these:

Having a break © Jon Winnan

Close up © Jon Winnan

A member of the visitor team caught this shot in mid display.

And when they’re not displaying, they have to build up that energy and feed. Greg Veness caught this shot of one of the Grebe’s making off with a spikey, but tasty Perch. He shared it with his followers on Twitter by using our Twitter name (@SWTLackfordLake).

© Greg Veness

Jon also caught this Snipe showing it’s plumage off.

© Jon Winnan

© Jon Winnan

Barry Woodhouse also sent us his images of a Kingfisher he captured here at Lackford.

© Barry Woodhouse

© Barry Woodhouse

© Barry Woodhouse

© Barry Woodhouse

We would like to thank all of you for your images and please keep them coming. If you have any images that you have taken at Lackford that you want to share with us, then email us with the words ‘For the blog’ in the subject line and we will do our best to feature them.

Sightings

Not 1, not 2, but 3 Sand Martin’s have been spotted over the sailing lake this week, a sure sign that the weather is improving. A female Marsh Harrier was seen flying past the visitor centre too.

Female Marsh Harrier.

Our yearly total is now up to 102 today thanks to a Common Crane seen flying south over the reserve. Peregrine, Red Kite’s and Buzzard’s have also been spotted flying over too! 

Red Crested Pochard as mentioned above at Fuller Mil hide, Cettis Warbler can be heard from the path along the sailing lake where Goldeneye can be seen bobbing around. The Kingfisher is still showing up at the visitor centre pond from time to time and Chiffchaff’s can be heard and seen at various points around the reserve. Siskin, Coal tit, Marsh tit & Nuthatch have all been showing well down at Ash Carr. Here’s photo one of our staff managed to get lately.

Nuthatch © Hawk Honey

Snipe have been seen down at Steggall’s and Bill’s hide on the Slough. Also spotted on the Slough have been Shelduck, Heron’s, Redshank and Teal.

Redshank seen from Bill’s hide.

Don’t forget to pop into the centre when you arrive to find out what’s happening, the staff are very friendly and don’t bite. Also let us know what you’ve seen regardless of how common or unimportant you think it is. We often get novice birders visiting the centre and people from abroad on holiday who have not seen birds we think are quite common.

Also, if you use Twitter, do pop in and say hello, it’s good to put a face to a Tweet from time to time.

Hope you all have a good week, see you next time.