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.

Bags of Help!

Well things are really looking good here at Lackford Lakes. The artworks up around the Slough have now been completed and many of the visitors are liking the new improvements. The area around Reed hide has been opened up and re-profiled and is now called the shallows. This should bring the waders in closer to the hides and has already enticed in a pair of snipe and some oystercatchers.

Another TV

Yes, those kind people at Hughes have kindly donated us another TV for the centre at Lackford. The first TV donated to us by Hughes relays all the activity from our wildlife cameras straight into the centre. But the new TV will show your wonderful wildlife images in the centre. At the moment, the TV is currently showing some drone footage of Lackford taken by our volunteer and facilitator in getting the new TV, John Lord. It’s also showing some wonderful images of our winter ducks taken by regular contributor Ian Goodall.

New TV from Hughes.

We want to keep the images seasonal and with spring just around the corner, we want to see your images of those spring arrivals, courtship activity, etc. All we ask is that the image be a high quality jpg 1080 x 1920 and has to be taken at Lackford. Please email your photos to us at lackford.centre@suffolkwildlifetrust.org We can’t promise to use everyones photos, but we will do our best.

Another camera

Yes, more good news, Handykam has kindly donated us another camera to be used at Lackford. This is a welcome addition to the current three cameras we have as we get even more views of what is happening around the centre. We were planning to use the camera in an owl/kestrel box mounted on the centre, but we found out that there is some work that will need to be carried out soon on that part of the building and a nesting bird would scupper those plans. But fear not, Visitor Officer Hawk Honey put on his thinking cap and has come up with ‘Pond Cam’!

Now, visitors to the centre, can see what is happening below the calm surface of the pond outside on the TV inside the visitor centre. 

And in this clip, we see a mallard drake feeding quietly before the female comes in and stirs it all up and shows him how it’s done.

A more unusual and less seen creature from the one above can be seen swimming past on our Facebook page.

Bags of Help!

From this Saturday, Tesco shoppers will be able to cast their vote for Lackford Lakes and help decide whether we receive £8,000, £10,000 or £12,000 towards improving the site.

The supermarket has teamed up with conservation group Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help campaign in hundreds of regions across England and Wales.

The scheme will see three community groups and projects in each of Tesco’s 390 regions awarded grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the five pence charge levied on single-use carrier bags.

The public will vote in store from 27 February until 6 March on who should receive which amount.

At Lackford the Bags of Help initiative will allow us to resurface a section of the Kingfisher Trail to improve access for pushchairs and wheelchairs. 

But if shoppers vote for us to receive £10,000 or £12,000 the Trust will be able to resurface more of the path, replace a wooden bridge on the Kingfisher Trail and purchase a new mobility scooter.

You can vote for Lackford by shopping at Tesco at St Saviours Interchange, Bury St Edmunds IP32 7JS

For more information click here

Recent works at The Slough.

The recent earthworks at The Slough have now been completed and everyone is liking the end result. As you can see, The Slough has been re-profiled in an attempt to bring the waders and other wildlife much closer to the hides. This new area is now known as The Shallows.

The Shallows from the Double-decker hide.

This new area along with a few other changes means we’ve now got a new map, which can be seen in the visitor centre alongside the new TV and sightings board.

March events.

The year is zipping along and already we find ourselves in March, where does the time go? We’ve got lots of events lined up for this month and something for everyone and they can all be found here or from the listing on the right if you’re on a desktop computer. But don’t leave it too long as these events begin to book up early, so don’t miss out. 

Lots of fun at Naturally Art

Paul’s Monthly Guided Bird Walk Wed 9th

Easter opening!

Yes, Easter is almost upon us, but that doesn’t stop us here at Lackford because we are open ALL WEEKEND including Bank Holiday Friday and Monday. So if you’re stuck for something to do, do pop down and see us.

Sightings.

Our bird species list continues to grow here at Lackford and we’re now up to 87 species for the year! Latest on the list is a peregrine that was spotted from Steggall’s hide flying over. Our newest arrival this week saw not 1, not 2, but 3 red-crested pochard, two males and a female. A pair of these successfully raised some chicks here last year and we wonder if any of these are those chicks? One of the males has gone down to Wilson’s Flood and the other pair are sitting at Mill Deep. 

Red-crested pochard by Ben Moyes

4, yes 4 kingfishers were observed fighting at the weekend at Hawker Pool by the false kingfisher bank. The following day there were 3 with 2 males trying woo a female. Has spring sprung????

Great-crested grebes have been doing their bonding dance on Long Reach and this was seen and captured by one of our wildlife guides Jim Palfrey.

Great-crested grebes do their dance of love!

Bittern hasn’t been seen in the last week, but this does not mean it isn’t there as bitterns are an expert when it comes to camouflage. However, regular visitor Stuart Finley managed to photograph this bittern as it flew past Reed hide.

Bittern in flight

Tree sparrows have been heard from the field feeders and plenty of bullfinch, siskin, redpoll, goldcrest and marsh tits have been spotted around the reserve, especially Winter hide and Ash Carr.

Buzzard’s and marsh harrier’s have been regularly sighted these last few weeks drifting lazily over the reserve and snipe, oystercatcher and goosander’s can still be seen on The Slough and the long-tailed duck is still here and often seen on Hawker Pool or Long Reach among other places. See the staff to find out her latest location before you go off hunting for her.

The otters  have been sighted occasionally around Hawker Pool and we are still getting our several thousand gulls roosting on the Sailing lake overnight with the odd rarity amongst them such as Iceland gull.

Don’t forget to pop into the centre when you arrive to check out where all the latest sightings are before you walk round.

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!

Long-tailed duck, long time coming.

Well what a surprise! As you may have seen on social media or heard on the Lesley Dolphin BBC Suffolk radio this week, Lackford has a new visitor. Fresh in all the way from Scandinavia and a very rare visitor for inland waters, an adult female long-tailed duck has appeared on the reserve. These ducks are coastal birds and usually are seen much further north than Suffolk. So rare it is, that this is the first time in 20 years a long-tailed duck has appeared at Lackford. The one that showed up in 1995, stayed for 7 months according to resident bird ringer Colin Jakes.

Regular visitor Barry Woodhouse managed to get this shot of the bird from Bess' hide.

Female long-tailed duck by Barry Woodhouse

The duck is often seen on Long Reach, but a scope is advised as it divides its time from being in front of the hide to being far away at the back of the lake. It's a diving duck, which spends a lot of its time under water, for up to 30 seconds. So a bit of patience will be required.

Another view by Malcom Hupman

At times the Bess' hide became quite busy with lots of eager visitors wanting to get a view and no-one went away disappointed.

Standing room only at Bess'

Pop into the visitor centre on your arrival to find out where the bird, as well as many other things, is showing.

It's not long now.

Well, it only feels like last month had just turned spring and christmas is almost upon us. The year has flown past, it must have been fun, so they say. So, getting ready for the festive time, we now have our christmas cards in stock.

A fine selection of cards to choose from.

We also have a Lackford christmas card if you want to show your friends and family where you spend your time throughout the year.

Christmas time at Lackford Lakes by Michael Coulter

There are 6 cards to a pack, which are very reasonable priced between £2.75 & £2.95 with all proceeds going towards the Trust.

We have plenty of new stock in the shop too with lots of ideal gifts for the naturalist in your family.

Something for everyone in our shop.

A new special offer.

It's winter time and now more than ever, your garden birds need their feed. That's why here at Lackford, you can take advantage of our special offer. Every time you buy a small bag of bird food from us at Lackford, we will stamp your loyalty card. Collect 5 stamps and you'll receive your 6th bag FREE! So why not pop into today and get your loyalty card from the counter with your first bag.

Our special offer.

Despite the warm weather

Despite the unseasonably warm weather of late, we now how firewood back in stock to keep you warm when the weather does take a turn to chilly temperatures. It's £6 a bag and can be bought from the visitor centre. 

Sightings

Kingfisher continues to show around the reserve, favorite spots to see it are Bess', Atlas, Double-decker and Bill's hides. Goldeneye have arrived and have been spotted on the sailing lake and from Bess'. Wigeon, teal, pochard and shoveller are increasing in numbers and can be seen at various places across the reserve.

Another oddity turned up last week in the shape of a black swan. This is most likely going to be an escapee.

Black swan by Barry Woodhouse

The swan like to move around a bit from one end of the reserve to the other, but Plover lake is its favorite spot at the moment.

Nuthatch, goldcrest, treecreeper, long-tailed tits and siskin are regularly being spotted down at Ash Carr. 

It's an interesting time of year at Lackford where birds are coming in to spend their winter months and this can be seen every evening when the gulls come into roost on the sailing lake in their thousands.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

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.