All things small.

Well what a week it’s been at Lackford, with lots of new arrivals to be seen. A common sight this week has been lots of ducklings and goslings wandering around with their very protective parents keeping an ever watchful eye over their precious young. One of these new families was our only pair of red crested pochard’s who were spotted swimming around happily showing off their new additions.

Red crested pochard and young.

Ben Alder managed to capture this shot of the Canadian geese and their young down near Ash Carr and posted it to our Facebook page.

Lackford lakes is ideal for families © Ben Alder

A little bit further afield and harder to see are the chicks of the shelduck’s, but it’s still worth trying to get a peek if you can and the best place for this is either at Bill’s hide or the double-decker hide looking arose to the Slough.

Shelduck’s and young

We also have several great crested grebe’s nesting around the reserve and the best place to see this is at Bess’ hide where 2-3 nests can be seen, one of which is almost in front of the hide. It won’t be long now before we begin to start seeing the grebe chicks, fingers crossed.

Great crested grebe on nest outside Bess’ hide.

If you go to our Youtube channel, you can see the above grebe doing some bond affirming head shaking.

Moorhhen’s and coot’s  are also hatching chicks on the reserve at the moment and some of these are actually visible on the visitor centre pond. However, here is a clip from Reed hide taken earlier this week.

Of course, it’s not just about the waterfowl. Josephine Sweetman visited Lackford recently and her sharp eye managed to capture these superbly camouflaged treecreepers.

Newly fledged treecreepers © Josephine Sweetman

Such amazing camouflage © Josephine Sweetman

As the weeks progress, we are bound to see many more fledglings around the reserve and we look forward to seeing your photos of them. If you are lucky enough to capture these in the viewfinder of your camera and want to share it with us, then please send it as a .jpg file to lackford.centre@suffolkwildlifetrust.org where we will do our best to feature it in the blog. Or you could share it to our Facebook or Twitter (@SWTLackfordLake). We look forward to seeing your photos as do many of our expanding army of followers.

Sarah Steggall emailed us her photos from her visit this week. Sarah was lucky enough to capture another two new arrivals, banded demoiselle and red-eyed damselfly.

A male banded demoiselle © Sarah Steggall

Red-eyed damselfly © Sarah Steggall

Dragonflies and damselflies can be seen in most places around the reserve as was the case earlier this week when several were ticked off our ‘Return of the Dragons’ list, which can be seen in the centre.

Busy as a bee!

This time of year sees a lot of bees buzzing around the reserve, only a couple of weeks ago, a swarm of honeybees escaped from a hive on an adjacent property and spent the night sleeping on a fencepost on a non-public part of the reserve.

Honeybees resting on a post.

Not a lot of people realise this, but in the UK, there are around 250 species of bee. 24 are bumblebees, 1 species of honeybee and the rest are known as solitary bees. These are small bees that do not live in social groups like honeybees and bumblebees. Instead, they create their own burrow, or find a previously created burrow and fill it with pollen and an egg before sealing it up to allow it to develop over the winter before hatching the following year to begin the process all over again.

Some of these bees can be found on the reserve and they are usually much smaller than honeybees. One of these species of bee that has already been found this year on the reserve is the two-coloured mason bee (Osmia bicolor). This bee is rather special in that it lays its eggs inside empty snail shells before filling the shell with small gravel and then it goes off to collect bits of straw and grass to build a teepee around the shell to help camouflage it.

Then there are leaf cutter bees that find old holes in wood or even the holes in bamboo canes that many people have in bug boxes inter gardens. These bees do the same thing but create a chamber inside the hole out of very carefully cut pieces of leaves, before laying an egg in the hole and filling it with pollen and then sealing the chamber with another perfectly cut piece of leaf.

Some bees are tiny, so tiny that they will build their nest chambers inside holes left by nails removed from timbers.

A tiny (7mm) mining bee.

Some bees to keep an eye out for on the reserve are tawny mining bees, early mining bees and chocolate mining bees.

Chocolate mining bee

Early mining bee

Brown carder bee

A mining bee seals off a chamber in a bamboo cane.

Some of these bees are not mining bees, for just like in the bird world there are cuckoo bees! These bees are kleptoparasites of mining bees and do not build nests or chambers for their young. Instead, they look for the nest holes of other bees and when the host bee is away, they sneak in and lay an egg. This egg will hatch before the egg of the mining bee and will eat all the provisions stored for its original host. Cuckoo bees even exist in bumblebee species, where a similar looking in appearance queen bee, will seek out a nest of its host species, sneak in and will kill the host queen, then it forces they worker bees of the host species to rear the young of the cuckoo bee.

If all this talk of bees has whetted your appetite for more, there will be a one day course on mining bees next year at Lackford, details of which can be obtained by phoning 01473 890089.

Wild for the Weekend

This weekend is Wild for the Weekend -Things with Wings. Come down and see what you can find on the reserve. We will have Wildlife guides around the trails to help you spot the things on your spotter sheet and at 1pm, we will be showing the moths that we caught in our traps the night before. 

It’s not only the things that fly in the daytime either, we will be holding a special bat walk on the Saturday (23rd) to hear and see the bats that hunt on the reserve at night. This will start at 9pm and will end around 11pm. This event has limited spaces and BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL. Please phone 01284 728706 to do this, price is £2.50 per person.

Sightings

Turtle dove’s have been spotted and heard on the reserve this week. The best place is on church walk in the early morning or late evening. Nightingale is still singing at the reserve, although not as much as in previous weeks. This week might be the last chance to hear this beautiful song. Hobby’s can still be seen around the sailing lake and over the double-decker hide. Common sandpiper has been spotted from time to time at Steggall’s hide and redshank from Bill’s or double-decker.

Red kites are being seen on a more regular basis at the reserve now and it won’t be long before they are a common sight on the reserve. Hirundines are gathering in large numbers now and often the skies over the reserve are often filled with swifts, swallows and house martins. However, we have yet not been able to coax the swifts into using our swift boxes.

Reed, sedge, garden, willow and cettis warblers can still be heard singing around the reserve, many of these just from the centre car park. Another bird often heard but not seen on the reserve is the cuckoo. This is often heard calling around the sailing lake. Lesser whitethroat and whitethroat can be heard and seen down towards Reed hide and treecreepers and nuthatch’s in Ash Carr. 

Don’t forget to pop into the centre to see the sightings board when you arrive, things move around all the time and it’s worth checking first. Also please pop into the centre to add your sightings to the board regardless of how common you may think it is. We have visitors from across the UK and further afield who don’t see the birds that we get in their regions. 

Stoat was seen to chase and catch a rabbit down at Ash Carr this week as well as still being seen around the visitor centre much to everyones delight. Also spotted this week and causing a commotion for some birds were otters. These were spotted from Bess’ hide and captured on camera by Andy Johnson and share on Twitter (@SWTLackfordLake).

Otter gets mobbed by a black-headed gull © Andy Johnson

Tucking into a tasty crayfish snack © Andy Johnson

A close up shot from © Alan Reynolds

Not the loch ness monster, it’s an otter © Alan Reynolds

Butterflies are still everywhere to be seen and this will be one of the last weeks where you will get to see orange-tip’s as the end of their season approaches.

Don’t forget, we want your sightings, so pop into the centre and let us know, you can even sit down with a nice slice of cake and a cuppa tea whilst you tell us about it. 

In full song!

Things are getting busy on the reserve with lots of reports on a daily basis of the various wildlife that resides here. It's not just birds that are being spotted, as the weather gets warmer, many insects are beginning to emerge and plenty of butterflies have been spotted this week including Small copper, Speckled wood, Peacock, Small white, Orange-tip, Green-veined white, Brimstone and Common blue. 

Peacock butterfly © Sarah Steggall

Green-veined white © Sarah Steggall

Speckled wood © Sarah Steggall

And a Speckled wood in its more normal pose © Rich Berry

Also spotted outside the visitor centre recently emerged from its winter sleep under the soil, was a Cinnabar moth. Unfortunately, it made its getaway and flew off to find a partner before anyone got a chance to get a photo. However, if you manage to get a photo of one on the reserve, then please do send it in to us so we can share it with others (lackford.centre@suffolkwildlifetrust.org). Many people are also spotting another beautiful moth on the reserve, the Ruby Tiger moth.

Ruby Tiger moth.

The reserve has been buzzing to the sound of various Hoverflies and bees this week and we have yet to spot our first Dragonfly. The first of which usually emerges in April, the Large Red Damselfly, one to keep your eyes peeled for.

Nick Elsey and Rubyna Sheikh sent us these pictures from their latest visit. 

Alderflies mating

Hoverfly Eristalis pertinax on Blackthorn blossom.

There was even a cute little jumping spider found outside the visitor centre by Visitor Assitant Hawk Honey.

A cute jumping spider Marpissa mucosa.

So the invertebrates are out in force at Lackford at the moment and we're pretty sure there's more to come. Thanks to everyone who sent in their photos, very much appreciated.

Owl news!

Our Tawny owl has been visiting its regular perch again and unlike last time where it brought back a rather unappealing (and unimpressed) toad, this time it had something much more palatable (if you're an owl of course) to eat, a mouse. All can be seen here in the video which is can also be seen on our YouTube Channel.

At the end of the video you will also see a clip from our mammal box, which is only a few metres away from where the owl sits. Here you can see the mice play fighting over who gets what feeding area in the box, totally unaware of the horrors going on outside.

Bank Holiday Weekend!

Lots going on at Lackford this Bank Holiday weekend including our new Wild for the Weekend  theme, Maybugs! On Saturday and Monday, our insect specialist Hawk, will be out and about on the Kingfisher trail helping you find out more about the insects at Lackford and on Sunday, Visitor Officer Mike will be running pond dipping sessions between 11-12 noon and 2-3pm (£1 per person). Just pop into the centre when you arrive to register your interest.

Sightings

The talk this week is not so much sightings, but the sounds on the reserve. The Nightingale has been quite melodious of late, singing near the centre in the bushes between the education meadow and the ringers hut. Many people have been coming into the centre remarking on the amount of warblers (Cettis, Garden, Willow, Sedge and Reed) they can hear whilst walking around. 

Garden warbler in full song © Barry Woodhouse

Cuckoo’s have also been heard calling this week from around the sailing lake and down at Ash Carr too. Blackcap’s and Chiffchaff’s have also been in full song around the reserve. Whitethroat’s and Lesser Whitethroat’s have also been spotted around the reserve too.

Whitethroat singing © Barry Woodhouse

Male Blackcap adds his voice to the chorus © Rich Berry

Chiffchaff © Rich Berry

There have been some new arrivals too this week with Common and Arctic Tern’s on the Slough and Sailing lake. Also, we had a brief visit yesterday from a pair of Black-tailed Godwit’s on the Slough. These have brought our species total for 2015 up to 125 birds!

Common Tern over Sailing lake © Barry Woodhouse

The Kingisher’s, who have been elusive of late have been found to be nest building on Hawker’s pool in one of the false banks. The pair have been displaying well, sitting outside for up to 20 minutes or more for the last couple of days.

Kingfisher at Hawker pool  © Sarah Steggall

Hobby is being seen more often the last couple of days with several sightings from the Double-decker hide, as well as being spotted over the Sailing lake and the Slough. Curlew was also spotted on Sunday on the Slough.

Curlew with some tern’s in the background © David Mackey - Macks Photography

Other sightings include Goldcrest, Nuthatch, Marsh tit and Treecreeper in Ash Carr. Lots of Swift’s, Swallow’s and House Martin’s all around the reserve. Red Kite spotted at height drifting over the Car Park. Buzzard’s are quite regular towards northern side on the reserve. 

Big apologies to Colin. A small technical issue wouldn’t allow me to upload your Nightingale photos to the blog. Will make sure this is sorted by next week. Sorry.

We Need Your Sightings!

Regardless of how unimportant you think your sightings are, we still need them. Only this week, one visitor was amazed to see that we had Egyptian geese as she had never seen one before because she lives in Wales. Yet, to most people living in and around water around East Anglia, Egyptian geese can be quite a common sight and are often not reported. So, regardless of how common you think it may be, we still want to know so that we can let others know. So pop into the centre and let our staff know so we can add your sightings to the board.

Photography competition!

As you can see from the blog and recent posts, there are some excellent photographers amongst you and now’s the time to enter your photos to Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Photo Competition. All details are available on the website and the competition doesn’t close until November, so plenty of time to get that winning shot! In the meantime, if you’ve got a photo that you took whilst on the reserve that you would like to share, then please send it to us at lackford.centre@suffolkwildlifetrust.org with the words ‘For the blog’ in the subject line. We cannot promise your photo will get in, but we will do our best.

A big thank you!

Once again, a big thank you to all our contributors, whether your photos were published or not. All the photos sent in, help us to show the diversity of wildlife that exists at Lackford and helps make Lackford just that bit more special. Keep them photos coming in, thanks.

Incoming!!!

Well, as predicted, the spring arrivals have made a big push and we've seen lots of new arrivals this week. This was the Spring arrivals sheet at the start of last week:

Last week's arrivals list.

And this is how it stands after this weekend:

This week's arrival list.

As you can see, the lull in the cold westerly wind has allowed a large influx of migrant birds to arrive.  A lot of these sightings are thanks to you, our visitors to the reserve who come back into the centre after a wander around and let us know what's been seen, thank you.

The Willow Warbler has been heard singing in the car park and as you can see from above, we still await the Garden and Reed warbler, the latter of which should appear any day soon as it has already been spotted at one of our nearby reserves Redgrave & Lopham Fen on the 10th April.

One of the first to lead the way last week was a Cuckoo, which could be heard in Ash Carr, and two lucky visitors, Jane and Ken Rowe, actually got to see it. However, the weather changed again and it is thought that the bird has moved on as it hasn't been heard since. But fear not, according to the BTO Cuckoo Tracker, many of the tagged cuckoo's are yet to arrive back. So plenty more to come.

Another bird that's been a bit elusive this week is our Kingfisher's. Often a familiar and popular sight at Lackford, however, now is the breeding season and the females are most likely sitting tight on the nest whilst the male is off out on the constant hunt for food to feed the female. There have been a few glances of the birds around the reserve, but not many where the bird is sat perched. So keep your eyes open, they are still around, just a little busy, that's all.

One bird that has been seen and heard in increasing numbers this week was the Blackcap. 

A singing Blackcap.

A not so tasty snack!

Those regular visitors to Lackford know that our cake is a lovely tasty snack to reward yourself with after a long arduous walk watching all the wildlife that is here. Hard work, but someone has to do it! However, there was one who found what it thought was a tasty snack, but was not impressed. Who? Our regular night time visitor to our feeder cam, the Tawny owl. But this time, he brought along a catch, an unfortunate toad. However, it didn't take long for the owl to realise that toads are not good food and the scene ended well for the poor toad who made his escape.

Toads have a couple of defence mechanisms that help stop it getting predated upon. The first is that they emit a foul tasting poison from their skin. This causes the predator to be sick and secondly the toad when attacked will puff itself up and make itself as rigid as possible, again making it awkward for it to be consumed. This last defence can be seen in the video just before the toad launches itself of the feeding post. It's also interesting to note that the feet and under belly feathers of the owl are clearly quite wet, which means that it actually took a dip in the shallows to catch the toad as opposed to catching it on dry ground.

Not just birds

As the temperature rises, it's not just the birds that are coming out to play. The insects too are beginning to emerge with lots of sightings of various butterflies this week including Comma, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, Red Admiral, Small White and Green-veined White. New visitor Robert Quadling got some amazing shots of the insects that were about last Thursday and shared them on Twitter (@SWTLackfordLake).

Green-veined White © Robert Quadling

Beautiful Peacock butterfly © Robert Quadling

Plenty of these now to be seen, Bee-fly © Robert Quadling

As you can see from the above photo, Bee-flies are also in abundance at Lackford. These are flies that look like bees and are parasitoids of mining bees. They seek out the holes of mining bees and then flick their eggs from their tails into the hole of the bee whilst hovering over them. The species above (Bombylius major) is known as the Dark-edged Bee-fly and is quite common in Southern England. 

If you see or photograph an insect whilst walking around Lackford and want to know more about it, then pop into the centre and ask our staff, or send your photo to Hawk, or insect man at hawk.honey@suffolkwildlifetrust.org and we will endeavour to help you.

Another regular sighting this week has been the Stoat and one person who was lucky enough to grab a photo of it was regular visitor Ellie Stones who shared her picture of it on Twitter.

Peek-a-boo Stoat. © Ellie Stones

Spring holiday events

We had some events on over the Easter break and one of the was Egg Quest. Demand for this event was so high, that an afternoon session had to be set up to cater for it with over 90 people attending.

Activities for all.

Daisy with her self made mouse mask

Collages and big smiles

Bringing the art out in kids

A selection of the collages that were made.

Thankfully, the weather stayed lovely and sunny and everyone had a good time. If you would like to attend one of our events at Lackford, then please see our Forthcoming events panel on  the right hand side of this blog, or alternatively, you can look at our What's on guide for the whole of Suffolk here.

Sightings

Well, as you already know from above, lots of new things about. But there was also another new arrival that wasn't on the list and that was Little Gull. These have been varying in numbers all week from 2 -12 birds seen at the sailing lake and also at Steggall's. Barry Woodhouse managed to get some shots from over the Sailing lake.

Little gull in flight © Barry Woodhouse

Little Gull © Barry Woodhouse

Other sightings include the Red Crested Pochard's at Fullers mill hide, the Great Crested Grebe's are now nest building near Bess' hide and this is also thought to be where the Kingfisher's are nesting too. Ash Carr is still good for Nuthatch, Coal and Marsh tit, Blackcap, Goldcrest and Treecreepers. Redshank, Oystercatchers, the occasional Goshawk and Red Kite can be seen from Bill's hide and Chiffchaff's can be seen and heard nearly everywhere from around the reserve.

Tufted Ducks, can be seen at the Sailing Lake and at Steggall's and the Sparrowhawk has been seen from various parts of the reserve.

A pair of Tufted Ducks © Barry Woodhouse

House Martin's were also spotted over the sailing lake and the centre which brought our bird species total up to 118 birds for 2015

The current bird species list for 2015 so far

Remember, if you have sightings you wish to share or add to our board, please do so by popping into the visitor centre.

The Spring Arrivals

Well, the glorious weather this weekend has seen a rise in visitors to the reserve and we’re not just talking Humans either! A welcome herald of spring was heard calling at the reserve after its long journey from far flung lands, a Chiffchaff! The first on our Spring Arrival’s sheet and bringing our bird species for the year up to 99. Who will be species 100? Will it be the Sand Martin who is also due to arrive shortly? If you spot one of those listed below whilst visiting us, please come into the centre and let us know. You can see our species list here.

Chiffchaff leads the way!

The arrival of the Chiffchaff is excellent timing for our themed Wild for the Weekend starting next weekend on the Signs of Spring, where you and the family will be able to learn a lot more about the Chiffchaff along our trail, whilst looking for wildlife to see using our spotter sheet. The event is free, just pop into the Visitor centre on arrival to pick up your spotter sheet and look out for a Guide in the Hide who will help you spot the more elusive birds!

The glorious weather also brought out our first two butterflies of the year, a Small Tortoiseshell and a Brimstone were spotted as well as several queen bumblebees. The Great Crested Grebe’s that arrived a couple of weeks ago are also feeling the spring warmth and have been seen displaying down on Plover Lake.

Great Crested Grebes displaying © Ian Goodall

We want your feedback

Have you visited Lackford Lakes recently? If so, we would like to hear your thoughts via a very small (only 10 questions) survey which you can find here. Your feedback is warmly welcomed.

Calling for volunteers

An opportunity has arisen at Lackford for volunteers to join our Visitor Team. If you would like to get involved by talking to and serving visitors, helping to create and promote events at Lackford and have a keen interest in wildlife, then get in touch. You can find out more here.

Naturally Art

This weekend was a Naturally art weekend where children get to express themselves by creating art inspired by nature. This month, the kids got busy with clay!

Daniel gets started on his clay project

The kids really created some masterpieces.

Everyone had a great time.

If you would like your child to go to a Naturally Art workshop, what are you waiting for? Our next workshop is on 4th April 10am -12pm for 5 -10 year olds. The cost is £4 per child and they will need to bring an old shirt with them. The next workshop is a Bookmaking Workshop, making books about a local legend “The Mystery of the Green Children” These workshops are very popular and you will need to pre-book by calling the centre on 01284 726708.

Sightings

As you know already, the Chiffchaff has been heard on the reserve. The Kingfisher has been busy too of late and was captured magnificently in mid action by Ian Goodall with a small larvae of sorts.

Female Kingfisher taken at the visitor centre pond by Ian Goodall.

Cettis Warbler’s have also been heard around the reserve. Nuthatch has been showing well down at Ash Carr along with Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Bullfinch and Grey wagtail. Out on the lakes, up to 7 Grey Herons have been spotted on the Slough along with Teal, Shelduck, Tufted Duck, Oystercatcher and Black-headed gulls (380+).

Greenfinch have been spotted on Church walk feeders. Water Rail, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Snipe, Red Crested Pochard, Green Woodpecker, Marsh tit, Reed Bunting, Goldeneye, Goosander and Little Egret have also been spotted around the reserve. 

On the mammal front, Muntjac’s have been seen from Bernard Tickner’s hide and the Stoat  has not only been seen from the visitor centre, but also around the car park, so watch out for the one when you arrive. On the mammal cam in the centre, a Common Shrew has found a soft spot for peanuts!

Buzzards, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk have also been seen from the visitor centre.

The sightings board is getting busy.

As you can see the sightings board is beginning to get busy, please pop in and let the staff know what you’ve seen, regardless of how common or uninteresting you may think it is. One person’s muck, is another person’s brass! They can then add it to the board. 

We’ll leave you with a photo taken by the Visitor team manager Mike Andrews this morning of Lackford and the beautiful day that lay ahead.

Glorious blue skies over Lackford visitor centre.