It's all kicking off!

Yes, spring already we hear you cry. It only seemed like last week when we were getting over new year and now we have our first sping arrival in the shape of a chiff chaff, which has been seen and heard chiff chaff-ing away along the path between the visitor centre and Bernard's hide. Another spring visitor that's also been seen and heard is a blackcap on the sailing lake path near the bench. Dunnocks can be seen around the reserve singing from the calling posts. This spring activity comes just in time for our spring activities here at Lackford.

We've got lots happening here at Lackford this spring starting with our Spring safari activity day on the 31st March where we will be looking for wildlife in the streams, lakes, ponds and woods of Lackford Lakes.

On the 1st of April, we have Family Friday where you can explore the reserve to see how many springtime challenges you can complete.

Our regular Naturally Art workshop is on the 2nd April as well as our wildlife weekend the Sounds of Spring, which runs throughout the weekend. This is the time of year when the air is filled with the sounds of birds calling for a mate. How many different species will you hear? Are birds the only thing you'll hear? On the Sunday, you can take a Wildlife Wander with the guides on a tour of the reserve and see some of the wildlife that lives at Lackford and how they are getting ready for spring.

On the 5th April, we have Love bugs and crazy daisies activity morning for 4-7 year olds, where they can go on a hunt for the mini beasts that inhabit the reserve.

At the end of the week on the 8th April, we have Young wardens who will be sharpening the conservation skills by working on the reserve.

There's always plenty happening at Lackford, don't forget to check out our forthcoming events list on the right of this page, or click on the link at the top.

Another first for Lackford!

Yes, another species has been recorded for the first time at Lackford in the shape of a raven, two in fact. The were spotted deep in combat with a pair of red kites over the sheep fields by several people and thankfully, captured on camera by our regular visitor and contributor Ian Goodall.

Two ravens circle one of the red kites © Ian Goodall

In pursuit, the raven identified clearly by its size and diamond shaped tail © Ian Goodall

Tables turned, the red kite dives after one of the ravens © Ian Goodall

Quarrel over, the red kite drifts majestically away © Ian Goodall

This just goes to show that even when the weather is overcast, raining or dreary, that the action doesn't cease. A big thank you to Ian for allowing us to use these photos.

Another unusual capture.

This weekend saw the kingfishers displaying well around the reserve, especially at the false bank at Hawker Pool. 

Male kingfisher approaches the false bank © Ian Goodall

However, another regular visitor Alan Theobald managed to capture this unusual situation at Bernard's Hide.

Kingfisher with a Great Crested Newt © Alan Theobald

Yes, the male kingfisher managed to catch and eat this great crested newt at Bernard's pool, which just goes to show that the lakes don't just have fish and crayfish in them, there's newts too. Thank you Alan for sharing.

It doesn't stop there, yes, there's more. Barry Woodhouse, another regular contributor managed to get a photo of this very shy individual also at Bernard's hide.

Water rail © Barry Woodhouse

Water rail are more often heard than seen with their screaming call being emitted from the reed beds, but of late, several have been showing well sneaking out of cover.

Elsewhere on the reserve, everything has been getting busy as spring finally gets under way. Our Visitor officer even caught this black-headed gull trying to chase off a mute swan, which in turn was seeing off a canada goose. 

Back off!! © Hawk Honey

So as we've seen, it doesn't have to be all blue skies and sunshine for you to see lots at Lackford, there are things happening all the time, so don't miss out!

Sightings

Red-crested pochard are still being seen mainly from Steggall's hide on Wilson's Flood near the pontoon. Shelduck have grown in number and we now have about a dozen that can be seen on The Slough along with oystercatchers, redshank, teal, shoveler and the odd kingfisher and snipe.

Snipe have also been showing very well at Bernard's hide, with the occasional jack snipe turning up from time to time. As seen above, water rail are also being spotted here too.

In Ash Carr, nuthatch, siskin, grey wagtail, goldcrest, great spotted woodpeckers, marsh tit, coal tit and treecreepers are regularly being spotted. Plenty of wrens are also being seen around the reserve too.

Wren looking for insects © Hawk Honey

Barn owl has been spotted on some evenings from the Double-decker hide. Buzzards are a regular spot over the reserve and red kite are also getting seen more. In the fields next to Ash Carr, look out for a pair of kestrels often seen perched in the lone tree.

Kestrel pair in Ash Carr field

Also in the field this weekend, 70+ redwing  were spotted feeding up getting ready for the long flight north.

Redwing getting ready to leave © Barry Woodhouse

Don't forget, soon the spring migrants will be arriving at Lackford and we want your sightings. So if you think you've seen a new arrival, please pop into the centre and let us know.

Happy New Year!

Well a big happy New Year to everyone and we hope the holiday period went well for all of you and your families. The New Year here at Lackford got off to a wonderful start with the centre being open on New Years day, and the turn out to Paul's New Year's Day Bird Walk saw many people in attendance. this helped get our Year's Bird list off to a fine start with 62 species of bird being spotted on the first day. You may remember, we ended 2015 with 136 species of bird seen at Lackford and already on the first day, we're almost halfway there. 

The bird list at the end of New Year's Day. We know it say's 60, two were not reported till later, which
were Common Gull and Magpie.

Currently, the list now stands at 75 with a new bird for Lackford being added last week. Over the last weekend, there were several reports of a great northern diver on a lake not too far from Lackford. However, on Tuesday it disappeared, only to turn up on our Sailing Lake. Big thanks to our resident birder Paul Holness for spotting it. Regular visitor to the lakes and photo contributor to the blog Ian Goodall, managed to get these cracking shots. Thanks Ian.

Great Northern Diver on the Sailing lake by Ian Goodall

 It only stayed for a short while before flying off in an easterly direction. We hoped that it would land on the east lakes and join our Long-tailed duck, who is still showing well on Hawker pool and Long Reach, but alas, it wasn't so.

A little bit of work

Many of the visitors to Lackford may have noticed we've been having a bit of work done on The Slough. Thanks to an anonymous donation, we are re-profiling The Slough in an effort to bring the wildlife closer to the hides. The work will involve making some new spits of land closer in, creating a shallows and removing some small amount of reed-bed.

The view from Reed hide

As you can imagine, the wildlife that usually frequents The Slough has decided to move to the East Lakes part of the reserve with many of the teal, gadwall, shoveller and others being found on Mill Deep and can be seen from Fullers Mill hide.

The major work started just before Xmas and should be completed towards the end of the month. There will also be some revamping and moving of the hides and we will keep you posted as to what and when this is happening.

The new shallows being created.

Yet, come the evening when the work has stopped, the goosanders still come in to roost on The Slough and whilst some of these photos were being taken, a kingfisher flew by. So it hasn't put off the wildlife that much and not before long, everything will be back to normal and hopefully even better than before.

Wildlife rescue

Just before Xmas, our resident birder Paul Holness found an injured male kestrel on the reserve. Despite there being no obvious injuries, the bird could not fly and so we contacted Phoenix Bird of Prey Rescue who came and collected the bird. Their vet found no injuries either and it was most likely suffering some bruising. A couple of weeks of rest saw the bird return to full health and then returned to Lackford for release back to where it was found.

Paul with the kestrel shortly before release. Thanks to Jo Daffin.

A new booking system

We have a new online booking system in place for all events and activities at Lackford. All events are now bookable through the Trust's What's On page, or by clicking on the link to the right of this page in our 'Forthcoming events' section. For those of you who do not have internet access, you can book up by calling our head office on 01473 890089. We can no longer accept bookings at Lackford as we previously did, sorry.

It's not just photos!

Lackford is often frequented by photographers getting snapshots of our wildlife. But this week Richard Thewlis posted some of his lovely paintings of the Lackford wildlife on his Twitter account (@RThewlis) and has agreed to share them here, thank you Richard. I think you will agree, they are lovely paintings.

Teal by Richard Thewlis

Lapwing by Richard Thewlis

According to Richard, these were "Mad rush paint sketches". It would take me an age to paint something like this and still wouldn't be anywhere near as good as these paintings.

Sightings

Well, as previously stated, the long-tailed duck is still present on the reserve and can usually be found on either Hawker Pool or Long Reach, it's always best to pop in to the visitor centre to find out it's latest location on the day.

Siskin and redpoll have been seen altogether in large flocks around the visitor centre. Bullfinches have also been seen in their glorious winter colours around the visitor centre and the car park. Grey wagtail has been spotted on several occasions on the overflow car park and in Ash Carr near Hawker Pool. Goldcrests have also been a common sight at several places around the reserve, but especially in Ash Carr. Here you can also find some siskin flocks, marsh tit, nuthatch and treecreeper.

On the lakes, we have plenty of goldeneye, tufted duck, teal, pochard and wigeon in attendance. Little grebe can often be seen from Fullers Mill hide and little egret from Bess'. Kingfisher has also been showing well at Bess', Atlas and Steggall's as well as at the visitor centre. Here a jay has become a regular visitor to the feeder cam.

Great spotted woodpecker can also be seen visiting the nut feeder at the centre too. The gull roost on the sailing lake is still quite a sight to see, with over 10,000 birds coming in to roost every night. For those who like a challenge, there are still the odd rarity to be found amongst them such as yellow-legged gull. What else will be found and can be added to our ever increasing list?

Don't forget, no matter how insignificant you think your sighting is, please let the vitiator team know, you may add a bird to our species list that hasn't been recorded yet!

Seasons greetings!

Well christmas is almost upon us and soon the visitor centre will be closing for the Xmas period. Below is our opening times over the festive season

Sat 19th - Open
Sun 20th - Open closing at 4pm
Mon 21st - Visitor centre closed
Tue 22nd - Visitor centre closed
Wed 23rd - Visitor centre closed
Thu 24th - Visitor centre closed
Fri 25th - Visitor centre closed
Sat 26th - Visitor centre closed
Sun 27th - Visitor centre closed
Mon 28th - Visitor centre closed
Tue 29th - Open 10am
Wed 30th - Open
Thu 31st - Open
Fri 1st Jan - Open
Sat 2nd Jan - Open
Sun 3rd Jan - Open

These time are for the visitor centre only, the reserve will be open during the usual times (the toilets are only open when the centre is open) and what better way to get away from the busy festive activities. You can find plenty of peace and quiet here at Lackford and spend time looking for some of the winter wildlife that's around at the moment.

There is a Christmas activity morning for 4-10 year olds on the 22nd December - 10.30am-12.30pm. The perfect opportunity to drop the kids off for some festive crafts and trails while you pop out and do some last minute christmas shopping! Spaces are still available, but booking is essential though so call us to book on 01284 728706.

Don't forget to check the right side of this blog to see our other activities.

Jay's can be seen around the reserve stocking up on winter food by stashing it away in a secret hidy-hole somewhere, a bit like squirrels. 

Jay getting food from our feeder cam.

Elsewhere, kingfishers are still to be seen fishing at the various lakes on the reserve. Of late, we've had a male kingfisher who has taken very well to the visitor centre pond by spending up to a couple of hours at a time catching small fish.

Kingfisher by Ian Goodall

The feeders at the visitor centre have been very busy too with lots of great, blue, coal and marsh tit's visiting the feeders. Look out across the pond and you may also see the odd reed bunting amongst the reeds.

Reed bunting by Ian Goodall

Don't forget to check out the various hides around the reserve and look out for some winter specials such as goldeneye and goosander.

Male goldeneye by Ian Goodall

A beautiful male goosander by Ian Goodall

Works on the reserve

This week and going on till February next year, there will be some major work going on at The Slough. This will involve some machinery and the wildlife around this lake and Jason's pool, may move off to other lakes around the reserve. The work will improve the Slough making it even better for wildlife and visitors too and bringing the two closer together we hope. Over the festive period the work will cease, but will be resumed in the new year. So whilst the work is ongoing, it would be best if you concentrated your viewings to the East Lakes trail (Fuller's Mill, Bess', Atlas and Steggall's hides) and avoid the Double-Decker, Reed and Bill's hides altogether. 

The New Year

As always, the centre will be open on New Year's day and what better way to start the new year with a guided walk with our bird expert Paul Holness. There will be 2 x 2hr walks, the first starting at 10:30am then at 1:30pm. The cost is £3 and there's no need to book, places will go to a first come, first served basis.

Then on the 2nd Jan, we have our first themed weekend of the year Bedtime at Lackford. Starting at 1pm, we will have wildlife guides placed around the reserve reporting and showing people where to see the various birds coming into the reserve to spend the night. You can go out with the guides or stay in the centre to see the reports coming in and being posted to our sightings board. There should be 1,000's of gulls arriving along with goosanders. Reed buntings will be seen diving into the reeds and if we're really lucky, we may get to see a few starlings too!

Gull's coming into roost on the sailing lake.

Sightings

We have now officially moved into winter and now we can look forward to a few months of watching winter ducks and the winter roosts we have at Lackford.

Starting with the ducks, winter is when these look best.  We have thousands using the reserve from the smallest the teal to the ones we only see in the winter, the goldeneye and goosander.  Other ducks to look for include tufted duck, pochard, wigeon, shoveler and gadwall.  The unusual duck - the long-tailed duck is still here and is now approaching its six week.  It is often on hawker pool

Winter is also a time when the feeders at the centre are the busiest.  Lots of blue tits and great tits can be seen.  The coal tit and marsh tit make quick appearances from time to time.  The great spotted woodpecker and jay are also making regular appearances.  We are just beginning to see a few others like chaffinch and blackbirds using the feeding area - they should become more common as the winter progresses and it gets colder as it should be.

Still at the centre - the kingfisher seems to pop in daily at the moment for a bit of lunch.  We have also been watch quite a few siskin and the occasional redpoll on the trees around the visitor centre.

Winter thrushes are just starting to make appearances with redwing and fieldfare be seen in recent days.

The main attraction, comes at the end of the day so worth staying to the end - the gulls.  Thousands are now settling on the sailing lake in the last few hours of daylight.  It is a sight just to see and if you were to look carefully through them you might find a more unusual gull like a caspian gull or yellow-legged gull that were at the roost the other day.

Other birds seen going to roost include reed bunting in the reeds, little egrets flying past, cormorants and goosanders.

Teal on the reserve.

Thank you and merry christmas

All the staff at Lackford would like to thank all our volunteers, visitors and members. We wish you all a very merry christmas and hope you all have a wonderfully pleasant new year. We look forward to seeing you in 2016!

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.

Otterly brilliant

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)

                            O         2      Sighted(R)   07/08/15    JHM     "    "      "      "   " (1km,W, 32days)

                            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.

The Summer Fair

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.

Kingfisher © Ian Goodall

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.

Otter from the Double-Decker hide © Barry Woodhouse

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. 

Painted lady © Joe Myers

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.

Ruddy darter © Duncan Fletcher-Brown

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.

Hornet leaving the nest © Duncan Fletcher-Brown

Not a hornet, just a fly. © Hawk Honey

Summer Fair

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.

Hopefully we will see you at the weekend.