Summer is still with us.. but for how much longer 

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 a noticeable increase of migrant hawker dragonflies along with ruddy & common darter and brown hawker.

painted lady © Greg Veness

 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 been reported 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

black-tailed godwit © Joe Jackson 

Eyes to the sky

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.

osprey © Greg Veness

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.

kingfisher © Larysa Flack 

kingfisher © Larysa Flack 

Time for a clear up

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.

tree sparrow © Lackford volunteers  

tree sparrow nest © Lackford volunteers

Whats on at Lackford

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.

grey heron © Larysa Flack 

red eyed damselfly © Joe Jackson

SWT Lackford Lakes

Well the weekend and this week so far have been one minute sunshine and then the next rain, but it has not stopped the wildlife here at Lackford Lakes.

Fledging birds have been seen all over the reserve despite the terrible weather. Blue tits, treecreepers, long-tailed tits and blackcaps are being spotted all over. The kingfishers have been visible around the Hawker Pool. The parents have been seen carrying large fish to the nest bank so please keep your eyes open for fledging Kingfishers!

Last weekend a spotted flycatcher was seen for the second time at Lackford feeding over the centre pool. It is often perched on the edge of the branches and will dart in and out to catch its dinner. If you do see this amazing bird please let us know in the visitor centre!

Damselflies and dragonflies are being seen all over Lackford. Look out for their striking colours and the beating of the wings flying past you.   

Four spotted chaser © Joe Jackson 

Sadly our dragonfly & damselfly identification on 25th June is now FULLY BOOKED. But... do not fear, every Saturday throughout June at 1pm we will be doing Discover the moths of Lackford. 

There is no need to book but be ready at the visitor centre just before 1pm.

The above video was taken at lackford two weekends ago and shows some of the species that are around at the moment.

Over the last few days our bee orchards have been flowering. We have at least 3 in bloom at the moment with many more preparing to burst into colour in the coming weeks.

One other event that has taken place this week is the appearance of a good range of butterfly species:brown argus, speckled wood, green veined white, red admiral and holly blue but on the top of the list is the painted lady making its appearance for the first time.

Great crested grebe on its nest © Gregory Veness

There are no new birds to add to our list but a count of 100 lapwing are on The Slough, along with the odd common tern.

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.

The best in Suffolk

As may know, last weekend was Bioblitz weekend at Lackford Lakes and what a wonderful weekend it was with people coming from far and wide to be part of it. One family traveled all the way up from Dorset just for the Bioblitz and said they enjoyed every moment of it.

The Bioblitz got underway with a bird walk led by our bird expert Paul Holness with over 50 species of bird being spotted in the 2 hour walk. Dr Simone Bullion then led the setting of the mammal traps, which was attended by several families interested as to what we might find scurrying around in the undergrowth.

Dr Simone Bullion demonstrates small mammal trapping.

As the sun set, the moth traps were set ready to catch the nights moths and then we moved on to the other night's flying creatures, bats. Lots of people turned up for the bat walk, which was led by Bill Landell from Suffolk Bat Group and Visitor Assistant Hawk Honey. The evening was ideal and it wasn't long before the first bats of the evening were out feeding much to the delight of those in attendance who all had bat detectors leant out by the visitor centre and the bat group. The evening was filled with the sounds of clicks from the detectors and "ooo's" from the spectators as the bats wheeled and dived around them.

A glorious moonrise whilst watching bats

Everyone returned form the bat walk to get wonderful views of the night sky with the help of the Breckland Astronomical Society
The Sunday morning had a glorious start with sunny warm skies, which looked, and proved promising for the day ahead. First off, we had to find out what the moth traps had caught. There was quite a variety of moths in the trap, including a couple of hawkmoths and some beautifully coloured ruby tiger and August thorns.

Hawk Honey shows visitors Terry and Peter some of the moths caught.

Black arches

Hawk with a pine hawkmoth

Colin Jakes, our resident bird ringer held a drop in session showing and explaining to people why birds are rung and Martin Sansford from the Suffolk Naturalist's Society and Suffolk Biological Records Centre led a Breckland's plant walk, identifying and recording all the plants they came across.

At 9:30am, it was time to empty the small mammal traps and once again Dr Simone Bullion was on hand to lead the proceedings. The traps were pretty successful overnight catching several bank voles and the odd wood mouse. Unfortunately, no shrews were caught, which would have added to our records.

Education officer Emma Keeble and spider expert Alan Thornhill led the minibeast and spider walk, which was eagerly attended by several children as was the always popular pond dipping which turned up many dragonfly and damselfly larvae.

The reserves team of Will Cranstoun, Giles Cawston and Joe Bell-Tye led the afternoon wildlife walk across the reserve pointing out many of the reserves special features and wildlife. This moved on to a Dragon & Damsels walk led by Suffolk County recorder for Odonata (dragonflies) Adrian Parr. This saw those on the walk going to parts of the reserve that is usually closed off to the public.

Finally, the day was brought to a close by bee expert Adrian Knowles and butterfly expert Rob Parker leading the bees and butterfly walk.

Rob & Adrian explore the shrubs looking for butterflies & bees.

During all of these events, Suffolk Biological Recording Centre were on hand to record all of the findings over the 24 hour period. The one thing we did not expect to find, but were happy we did, is that we broke the Suffolk Bioblitz record by recording the most amount of species in 24 hours! Yes, 657 species were recorded, but that number is set to change as some recorders need to add their findings and some other records also need to be verified or discounted. Amazingly, over a 1000 records were submitted over the 24 hour period and for this we would like to say thank you to everyone involved who help make this Bioblitz Suffolk's best ever. This includes all the volunteers who helped on the day, the experts from SNS and SBRC and the staff, not only from Lackford, but head office too. Last but not least, a big thank you to everyone who attended and enjoyed themselves looking for wildlife at Lackford. If you would like to see what was recorded, then click here

In other news...

The juvenile kingfishers continue to show well across the reserve, hotspots continue to be Bess', Atlas and double-decker hides and Hawker pool. Another visitor that is becoming more and more frequent and has been seen nearly every day in the past week or so is the otter. Several photos have been sent in to us and shared via our Twitter and Facebook accounts.

© Allan King 

© Barry Woodhouse

© Duncan Fletcher-Brown

As said before, the kingfishers are showing well too and again the photos have been coming thick and fast.

 Juvenile female kingfisher © Barry Woodhouse

© Barry Woodhouse

Juvenile male © Allan King

Little grebe's are also being spotted around Fullers Mill hide with their young and a snipe was reported from the Slough at the weekend.

Little grebe © Barry Woodhouse

The great spotted woodpeckers are still being seen at the feeders outside the visitor centre.

Great spotted woodpecker © Barry Woodhouse

Of course, Lackford isn't just about birds. A great variety of other wildlife has also been spotted around the reserve as seen and photographed by our many visitors and contributors to this blog, which we thank you all for.

Brown argus © Rich Berry

And with wings shut © Jim Palfrey

Dragonflies have also been in abundance as the weather is perfect for them to hunt and mate in.

Southern Hawker © Jim Palfrey

Duncan Fletcher-Brown got three for the price of one in this shot of the butterflies nectaring on hemp agrimony on the kingfisher trail.

Painted lady, meadow brown & peacock © Duncan Fletcher-Brown

Volunteer wildlife guide Joe Myers happened on this 22 spot ladybird and got a photo of it just before take off.

Lift off! © Joe Myers

And this ladybird lookalike, but not a ladybird, was this fungus beetle.

Fungus beetle 

A slightly unusual find was made by visitor assistant Hawk Honey when he came across this robber-fly with common blue damselfly prey along the summer trail.

Nom, nom, nom.

Last but not least, we had some amazing footage of an unexpected visitor to the mammal box this week.

Hi Ho slither away....

Well the hot days of summer have eventually fell upon us and with it the burst of insect activity that comes with hot summer days. Dragonflies are in abundance across the reserve and our largest native dragonfly the emperor dragonfly can often be found patrolling the pond outside the visitor centre. Elsewhere, black-tailed skimmers, broad-bodied chasers, banded demoiselles, red-eyed damselfly and many more odonata can be found. 

Black-tailed skimmer by Rich Berry

Four-spotted chaser by Colin Robson

This abundance of dragonflies has brought in one of its top predators, hobby’s, which can often be seen flying over the Slough or Mill Deep catching and eating their catch on the wing, an amazing sight to see.

The kingfishers have been quite active of late and are often seen down at the double-decker hide. Mind you, it pays to have a little patience and wait for a bit if you want to have a good chance of seeing this beautiful little bird. Several visitors got some cracking shots of this striking bird.

Ellie Stones managed this lovely shot.

Rich Berry caught this juvenile perched.

Stephen Whayman shared this action shot on Twitter

Sorry if you’ve sent us photos which haven’t been included here, but our telephone/internet situation at Lackford still hasn’t been resolved and therefore we have no access to our emails at present. The situation is completely out of our hands and we hope will be resolved soon, so watch this space.

Butterflies are another species that’s been taking advantage of the hot spell with many meadow brown, gatekeeper, ringlet, painted lady, red admiral, comma, large skipper’s and many more being seen around the reserve.

Ringlet by Rich Berry

Large Skipper by Colin Robson

Comma by Colin Robson

A pristine looking Red Admiral by Colin Robson

On the subject of Lepidoptera, last weekend saw the next instalment of our Wild for the Weekend themed weekends with Summer Wildlife. As usual, the moth traps had been set up overnight and the warm overnight temperatures meant there were to be some wonderful finds in the trap.

Plenty of Elephant Hawkmoths were in the trap

A male Drinker moth

We even had a visit from our largest resident moth the privet hawkmoth pictured below.

A Privet Hawkmoth

As usual, the moth sessions were well attended and the gasps of amazement were all around as beautiful moth after beautiful moth were lifted from the trap.

Monday opening!

As most of you will know, the visitor centre has always been closed on Monday’s (except for Bank Holidays). Well this i set to change for the period of the school summer holidays and as from Monday 27th July, the centre will be open on every Monday up till Monday the 31st August. So now you can enjoy coffee and cake after your walk every day of the week!

Yes, the Bioblitz soon approaches and our website is now live and can be viewed here. Please have a look and book onto any of the events you would like to attend. The events are free, but numbers are limited, so don’t miss out!

It’s not just wildlife.

Lackford is renowned for its biodiversity when it comes to wildlife, but as Ellie Stones proved, it’s also a place to get some stunning scenic shots, especially sunsets, and shared this lovely photo of the visitor centre on our Twitter.

Sunset in reflection of the visitor centre. Ellie Stones

And finally...

By now, all of us would have seen the weasel riding on the back of a flying woodpecker. However, David Offord managed to capture this series of fantastic photos from Bess’ hide of a damselfly hitching a lift on the head of a swimming grass snake!

Who would like to add a caption? 

A big thank you to David and all of our other contributors to the blog, keep your photos coming and don’t forget, Suffolk Wildlife Trust have a wonderful photo competition that’s free to enter and has some great prizes. You can find out more here.