Lakenheath - Autumn 2011

Staff news
Dave Rogers, our new site manager, started on September 12, and has spent the last six weeks settling in and making plans to get stuck into some serious reedbed management! Steve Wiltshire, our reserve assistant for the past four years, has also left us for pastures new. He’s not gone far, though, joining the Wildfowl and Wetland Trusts team as Warden at Welney. We wish him all the best.

Visitor centre and reserve
Visitor numbers have been steady throughout the last few months, and attendance to events has generally been very good. We’ve had an excellent season for recruitment and have just surpassed by some margin our membership target for this year; most of these memberships are down to one volunteer, John Wightman, who seems to have the knack for persuading people to join! Work on the reserve has now turned to the annual willow bash, strimming reeds and all the other ways of improving visitors’ experience. Plans are also afoot to start rejuvenating some of the older areas of reed bed (now 14 years old!), with a mix of cutting and grazing. Now is the perfect time of year to do this, as water levels are low and disturbance of birds is minimal.

Breeding season 2011 – update
Our final bittern total stayed at seven nests, despite many long hours trying to confirm an eighth! The final marsh harrier tally was 18 nests and an amazing 45 young fledged. We currently have a roost of about 15 marsh harriers, two of which have wing tags. The tagged birds are thought to come from somewhere in Norfolk, but we’re still trying to find out details.

Wildlife highlights
Large flocks of fieldfare and redwing have been recorded in the last week or so, a sure sign winter is on its way. A flock of up to 22 whooper swans have been present on the washland. The cranes reappeared at the reserve on October 29, after being absent for nearly a month; we’re not entirely sure where they’ve been but there have been extra cranes over at the RSPB Nene Washes and WWT Welney reserves. Aside from the marsh harrier roost, we’ve had a ringtail hen harrier over the last few days of October, and the occasional sighting of peregrine has been an autumnal treat. A short-eared owl has been seen in the area — not actually on the reserve, but a good record nonetheless. A report of a wryneck on the public footpath on October 24  had staff pulses racing, but so far there have been no other reports.

Events
Don’t forget, we have a wide and varied events programme to suit all interests and abilities. If you would like to find out more, please have a look on the website www.rspb.org.uk/lakenheath, or contact David on 01842 863400, or email Lakenheath@rspb.org.uk. Hope to see you soon!

Alex Hamilton