Lackford Lakes is a twice designated SSSI Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve situated in West Suffolk just north of Bury St Edmunds. It has 11 lakes with 9 hides and spans over 360 acres of ex-gravel extraction works. The reserve has a visitor centre that is open Tuesday - Sunday and Bank Holidays.
With the warm weather still apon us there is no let up on the dragonflies and insects on the wing. With this late summer warmth its introduced anoticeable increase of migrant hawker dragonflies along with ruddy & common darter and brown hawker.
A willow emerald damselfly is new for the year near Bess’s hide.
The first grayling of the year was seen last weekend and a purple hairstreak has beenreported recently. Along with good numbers of brown argus, common blue, peacock, red admiral, comma and painted lady butterflies, the reserve total is now at 25 species for the year.
Plently of Birds on the reserve
The birds on the reserve are stable with common sandpiper & green sandpiper and common terns as our main visitors along with our first ever black-tailed godwit this was spotted out on the Slough
Recently an osprey has been spotted over Lackford and is now being seen more often, please keep a look out for this beautiful bird as it migrates south. Also we have had a wheatear spotted on site.
The kingfishers are still putting on a beautiful show at (slough & eastern lakes) so why not pop down and see these beautiful birds. Kingfishers are a small and unmistakable bright blue and orange bird, that fly rapidly, low over the water and hunt fish from riverside perches. They will occasionally hover above the water's surface before diving for their food.
This week some of our volunteers were out and about checking our nest boxes after this years broods and came across a tree sparrow nest. We beleive that this maybe the first time they are nested at Lackford and we very much hope that we will return next year.
Smaller than house sparrow, they have a chestnut brown head and white cheeks and collar with a black cheek spot.
This Saturday 3rd September we have our family bat walk, we will leave the visitor centre at 8pm and return at 10pm. Please bring a torch with you but bat dectors will be used.
On Saturday 10th September we have our Naturally Art event. From 10 am to 12pm Art activities will be undertaken with the inspiration of the wild
Dont forget to check out our website for all our events: Lackford Lakes We look forward to seeing you soon.
Quite a little burst of warm weather of late has sat over Lackford and this has made for good views of the kingfisher and the otter, the latter seems has taken quite a liking to Mill Deep, which can be viewed from Fullers Mill hide. Visitor Assistant Hawk Honey took a stroll down there this week in the hope of setting up a trail cam to catch some video footage of the otter, only to find the otter happily fishing away just feet from him. He managed to catch this video.
The otter has been spotted on the reserve everyday for nearly a month now and it doesn't seem to be showing any signs of moving on, which is good news. Lets hope it continues to make Lackford its home.
Kingfishers also seem to be happy here at Lackford and have been spotted all over the reserve at the following hides: Double-decker, Bill's, Bess', Atlas, Steggall's and the Visitor Centre.
Kingfisher on the 'T' piece at the Visitor Centre
New for Suffolk
A first ever record for Suffolk was recorded last weekend, when Visitor Assistant Hawk Honey spotted an ichneumon wasp flying against the glass window in the centre. Hawk caught the wasp and took some photos before releasing it back outside. Later, with the help of ichneumon specialist Gavin Broad, the wasp was identified as Dusona falcator (sorry, it doesn't have a common name). This species preys on the larvae (caterpillars) of the buff-tip moth, which it paralyses and takes to a nest chamber, where it lays an egg on the caterpillar before sealing the chamber. The caterpillar will be food for the wasp larvae during the winter months until spring the following year.
On submitting a record of this find to the Suffolk Biological Records Centre, we found out that it was a first ever record for Suffolk! Looking further into the records, there only seems to be one other record of this species in the UK, which makes the find even more important.
Dusona falcator in the hand.
and from the side.
Other sightings from around the reserve have included water rail at the Double-decker hide along with green and common sandpipers. Little egret, teal, tufted ducks and little grebe have also been spotted here. Great crested grebes, hobby's, pochard have been seen from Bess' hide looking across Long Reach. As the autumn season begins to get into full swing, we are more likely to see more ducks arriving at the reserve and before we know it, all the winter regulars such as goosander, goldeneye and pintail will soon be back.
A sure sign that autumn is on the way is the arrival of wigeon on the sailing lake. 24 were spotted last week and although often seen at the sailing lake, it is always best if you pop into the visitor centre on your arrival just to check where they were last spotted, as they do like to move around form time to time. Goldcrest, nuthatch and siskin have been spotted in Ash Carr near the corner of Hawker Pool.
Goldcrest at Ash Carr by Colin Robson
A few butterflies are still to be seen on the warmer days with comma, painted lady and red admiral's still being reported.
Painted lady still seen on the reserve.
Grass snake has been seen in several locations around the reserve along with slow-worm's too.
Grass snake photographed by our wildlife guide Colin Robson
There are a few dragonflies and damselflies still about despite the cold spell and we are now seeing some migrant hawkers as well as the odd willow emerald damselfly.
Another unusual ringing!
Some time back, you may remember the image of the greylag goose with a bright orange ring neck collar being photographed on the reserve by regular visitor Rich Berry.
Unusually rung greylag at Lackford by Rich Berry
Well it would seem the greylag wasn't the only one with this unusual attire, as regular visitor and member Mike Bishop grabbed this photo of a canada goose on the reserve.
Another rung goose by Mike Bishop
We sent the information to Lee Barber at BTO who sent us back this information about the latest ring wearer.
Recapture History for ALJ
Ring No Type Age Capture Date Init Details
Canada goose
5270632 N 4M 06/07/15 DJH Nunnery lakes Reserve Nth
O 2 Sighted(R) 25/07/15 NJM Nunnery, Thetford, (1km,W, 19days)
S 2 Sighted 12/09/15 MBI Lackford lakes (14km,SW, 68 days)
Lee also went on to say
The bird you saw was an adult male ringed at the BTO Nunnery reserve this year. This bird has been interesting as it has not been seen away from here since being ringed. The age code 4 means that it hatched before the current calendar year when it was ringed. The age code 2 means it was seen as a fully grown bird (i.e. not a chick).
So if you see any other birds wearing a ring like ALJ or FJH above, then grab a photo and pop into the centre to let us know and we'll find out more about it for you.
Don't forget...
Yes, don't forget to check out what's happening at Lackford in the coming weeks by clicking on the Forthcoming Events section found down the right-hand side of this blog.
If you have any photos that you've taken on the reserve, don't forget to send them to us so we can show them off for you.
It's been a little quiet on the bird front at Lackford this week, yet the kingfishers have been showing very well and a day doesn't go by without a visitor reporting their sighting of this fantastic bird. They have been spotted from 7 places around the reserve including Steggall's, Atlas, Bess', Orchid, Bill's and the Double-Decker hides and the bench at Hawkers Pool. The current hotspot seems to be the Double-Decker and Bill's hides with many a great photo being taken by our regular visitors.
Another sighting that has become quite a regular sighting over the last 2 weeks is of an otter. It is often seen from the hides on the north side of the reserve and in particular from the Double-Decker around the overflow pipe to the left hand side. When is it best to be seen? That's the had part. It doesn't seem to have a regular timetable and has been spotted at various times of the day, it really is luck of the draw.
Green sandpiper has been spotted a few times from Bill's hide and other waders such as common sandpiper, greenshank and black-tailed godwit have been spotted from time to time. Teal, pochard and lapwings can also be seen from various locations around the reserve.
One rarity to Lackford also appeared this week in the shape of a house sparrow. We know that sparrows have had a hard time of it of late and that they are not actually rare. However, Lackford is not the usual habitat for these lovely little birds, so it was quite a pleasant surprise seeing these on the feeders outside the visitor centre.
The hot weather of late has been very good for our insects too with plenty of dragonflies and butterflies being seen on the wing around the reserve. Of these butterflies, painted ladies, peacock, small tortoiseshell, brown argus, common blue and red admirals have been many.
On the dragonfly front, we have seen a few brown and southern hawkers, common and ruddy darters, banded demoiselle's, emerald damselfly, and lots of common blue damselflies.
The hornet's nest is still present with the occupants going about their business without bothering anyone, including those spectators who watch the comings and goings. One hornet to watch out for at Lackford, is not actually a hornet, in fact, it's not even a wasp. It is actually a fly, the UK's largest fly at around 2cm long, the hornet mimic hoverfly (Volucella zonaria) is a harmless copy-cat that uses its looks for two purposes. Firstly, by looking like a hornet, it is able to sneak inside the nest of hornets without being attacked. It gets inside the nest to lay its eggs, which provide a service to the hornets by eating the detritus at the bottom of the nest and thus helping to keep the nest clean. The second reason for such a clever disguise is of course, camouflage. Not many, if any creatures actually attack hornets, so looking like one, despite being completely harmless, goes a long way in helping to survive. If you would like to see one for yourself, hotspots for these are along bug alley between Reed hide and the Double-Decker. They can often be seen nectaring on the bramble flowers.
This Sunday 30th August, sees our annual Summer Fair at Lackford Lakes. There will be lots of activities, crafts, pond dipping, stalls and much more. Although entry to the reserve is usually free, for this one day only, there will be a charge of £3 adult, £2 child.
