Cambridge Local Group Newsletter - The RSPBSpotlight: Butterfly Conservation work closely with both the RSPB and the BTO and their website is definitely worth checking out. This small

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The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) registered charity in England and Wales no. 207076, Scotland no SC037654

“The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home.”

Cambridge Local Group Newsletter

Issue 122 September 2019 Welcome to the autumn newsletter and I hope you have all enjoyed an enjoyable summer. We have a great selection of talks covering a range of subjects from seabirds to moths. There is also much to look forward on the birding front with the autumn passage in full flow so there will be lots of immature and partial moult plumages to test our ID skills, especially among the waders and gulls. This is also an important time for the smaller birds that visit our garden bird feeders when they need to build up their fat reserves and search out good feeding areas that will get them through the winter. So if you stopped feeding them for the breeding season, or if you haven’t had bird feeders before, now is a good time to start and to make sure all the feeders are in good condition and full of fresh food. Even if you are a regular bird feeder you can now return to the high fat content foods such as fat balls and peanuts that you may have reduced in favour of higher protein foods for the summer. As important as food is, a good supply of fresh clean water is essential. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy; the birds in my garden drink and bathe in an old saucepan that has lost its handle. Above all don’t forget that it is vitally important that all feeders and water containers are regularly cleaned and old and stale food is regularly removed. With lots of birds visiting, we want to make sure they all stay fit and healthy. I look forward to seeing you all at our meetings which will be back in the ‘Wilkinson Room’ at St John's The Evangelist as the refurbishment is now complete. Andy Law, Group Leader.

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Contents of this issue. Guest Photographer: Jack Barnes: p. 3 ‘Spotlight’: p.4. ‘Butterfly Conservation’. Indoor Meetings: p.5 Forthcoming Fieldtrips: p.6/7 Recent Fieldtrips: p.8-18 Around the RSPB reserves: p.18-21 Club Directory: p.22/23

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Guest Photographer: Jack Barnes TO SEE IMAGES FROM JACK – SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER - £10 (SUBSCRIPTION UP TO DEC 2020) Jack is an amateur photographer based in London. You can follow him and view his remarkable photographs on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JBarnesPhotos. You will find two more of his photographs towards the end of the Fieldtrip Report section of this Newsletter.

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Spotlight:

Butterfly Conservation work closely with both the RSPB and the BTO and their website is definitely worth checking out. This small feature might serve as an introduction to those Cambridge RSPB Local Group members who do not already know about the organisation as well as acting as a reminder to those of you who have been thinking about joining!

The UK has 59 species of butterflies – 57 resident species of butterflies and two regular migrants – the Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow. Five species of butterfly have become extinct in the last 150 years. The State of the UK’s Butterflies 2015 report found that 76% of the UK’s resident and regular migrant butterflies declined in abundance, occurrence or both over the last four decades. There is an active Cambridgeshire and Essex branch which has over 1000 members stretching from Peterborough in the north of Cambridgeshire to the outskirts of London at the south of Essex.

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Swallowtail at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen, June 2019. Photograph by Dave Griffiths.

Indoor Meetings. Weds. 18th September AGM - Flora & Fauna of South East England - Brian Gallop

Location: St John's Hall Hills Road Cambridge Postcode: CB2 8RN

The meeting will start with the Local Group Annual General Meeting. Full details were attached seperately in the e-mail sent with this Newsletter.

Brian has been a naturalist, speaker and photographer for many years and whilst his initial in noteterest was in birds, he soon found that the total experience of the complete natural history world became his prime interest. Brian has been fortunate to have visited many countries across the world in pursuance of his interests, both as a visitor and as a tour group leader. He was Group leader for 15 years at Tonbridge RSPB Local Group, following a spell of two years as a YOC Group leader (the RSPB junior section, now known as Wildlife Explorers). In his talks, which focus primarily on the Natural History to be found, he also tries to include an overall view of the area, in order that the audience will receive a rounder experience of the place.

Weds. 16th October - Striking, Impressive and Spectacular Seabirds - Steve Magennis

Striking, Impressive and Spectacular Seabirds - Steve Magennis Steve Magennis is a well-known photographer, who, as an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society and a self-confessed wildlife enthusiast will provide us with a most enjoyable evening sampling his exquisite wildlife photography illustrating both id features and bird behaviour of our spectacular seabirds.

Weds 20th November - Beautiful Moths for Every Season - Gianpiero Ferrari

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Gianpiero will take us on an interesting journey through a colourful presentation on the world of Moths. We hope to learn how to find and recognize them along with how they survive from predators, etc. Gianpiero has been interested in nature all his life, and has been taking photographs of every aspect of Natural History for many years.. He is now a successful photographer having won several national competitions. He is a member of many natural history organisations including Lipu UK and Giros Italia.

2019 Field Trips from September 2019 to January 2020

Sunday 17 November Field Trip

Sculthorpe Moor & Lynford Arboretum.

Meet at Sculthorpe car park at 9.00am.

Sculthorpe Moor is a Hawk and Owl trust reserve which has a variety of habitat from woodland, river, reed beds and fen. There are several feeders in the woodland that attract the woodland birds. Lynford Arboretum as the name suggests is woodland but which includes a lake and open meadows. There is a possible chance to see hawfinch here. Target birds – woodland birds, marsh harrier, red kite, hawfinch and crossbills.

Directions: Sculthorpe Moor is just off the A148 road from King’s Lyn to Fakenham. Post code NR21 9GN

Saturday 14 December Field Trip

Rutland Water.

Meet at Egleton car park at 9.00 am

This internationally famous nature reserve is managed by the Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust in partnership with Anglian Water and provides one of the most important wildfowl sanctuaries in Great Britain, regularly holding in excess of 25,000 waterfowl. The reserve occupies shore line and shallow water lagoons along 9 miles of the western end of Rutland Water and covers a total area of 1000 acres. It was created in the 1970s with the construction of the reservoir. There are over 30 bird watching hides and nature trails. At this time of the year wild fowl are out on the water and

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goosander, red crested pochard and smew are a possibility. Waders and water rail cane be seen on the shallow lagoons and shore line. Short eared owls have been seen at this reserve in the past.

Direction: from the A1 take the A606, and take the turning to Egleton. Post code LE15 8BT

January – Field trip date and location has yet to decided and will be posted on the website as soon the information is available.

Trip Reports

Fingringhoe Wick & Abberton Reservoir, Saturday, April 28th. By Rachel Lowry

A group of 12 met at Essex Wildlife Trust's first reserve, Fingringhoe Wick, overlooking the Colne Estuary. Sandmartins were spotted by some on the approach to the reserve and a nightingale, our main target for the day, was obligingly singing next to the entrance road. Swallows had just arrived back and were flying around the Visitor Centre, a welcome sight, and greenfinch, dunnock and goldfinch were spotted on the feeders. As we set off towards the first hide a nightingale was soon heard, in full song, and then another. Some of the group held back to try and glimpse the bird and eventually were rewarded with fabulous views, a first for me.

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Nightingale. Photograph by Rachel Lowry

Continuing around the reserve, a whitethroat was heard and then spotted perched high and in full view, lesser whitethroat was also heard but being more secretive, proved much more difficult to spot. Other warblers were also evident including chiffchaff, blackcap, garden, Cetti's and reed, while on the estuary, whimbrel, shelduck, great created grebes, common terns and a Brent goose were seen.

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Whimbrel at Abberton Reservoir by Norman De’Ath

With lunchtime approaching, we decided to move on to the nearby reserve at Abberton Reservoir, also run by Essex Wildlife Trust. Yellow wagtail, greenshank and black swan were added to our sightings and arctic terns in addition to common, leading to an interesting discussion about how to distinguish the 2 species particularly when distant. In addition to longer tail streamers, Arctic terns tend to have a more buoyant flight pattern and keep together in groups.

With time pressing on, a quick stop at Billets Barns was rewarded with a group of 11 whimbrel, corn bunting, a brown hare, and a possible 'Channel Wagtail'. These are the result of interbreeding between Blue-headed and Yellow-headed Wagtails in northern France and have a pale blue head and extensive white supercilium and throat. An interesting sighting and an exciting finale to a successful and enjoyable day's birding.

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Possible ‘Channel Wagtail’ by Alex Andrews (top) and Yellow Wagtail by Brenda Smith (below)

Dawn Chorus, Saturday May 4th . Report by Melvyn and Brenda Smith.

There were 24 keen birders who met at the car park at RSPB Fowlmere reserve at 05.00 on a cloudy cool Saturday. We all stood at the visitor hut quietly listening to the birds that were already singing and heard wren, chaffinch and blackcap. Doug Radford, former Warden and now retired, gave us an introductory talk before leading us slowly, clockwise around the reserve, taking us along the boardwalk. As we passed the first of the reedbeds, a reed warbler started singing. We stopped in an open area to listen for a grasshopper warbler, where it has been heard in the past. Unfortunately, not this year. As we stood we heard a willow warbler, chiffchaff, green woodpecker and a blackbird. We then moved on to hear the quick fire rattle, a bit like the start of the yellowhammer’s song, of a lesser whitethroat rang out. We stayed in the area until everyone in the group had heard the bird.

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Slowly we made our way to the Mere hide. Out on the water were mallard, teal and coot. A sparrowhawk flew quickly by the hide and several of the group managed to see it before it disappeared into the trees. Looking into the reeds from the hide a movement giving tell tailing signs of reed warbler and with some patience the bird could be seen. From here a water rail was heard but even spending time looking into the reeds where the sound came from it was unlikely that we would gain a sighting. When we moved from the hide, a couple went back to the picnic area to start cooking the bacon. The rest of the group wandered on around the rest of the reserve and along by the chalk stream where brown trout were seen and a yellowhammer added to the list.

Eventually everyone arrived back at the picnic area where bacon rolls and hot drinks were much appreciated after an early start.

Dunwich Heath and Dingle Marshes Sunday 19th May 2019

Report by Norman De’Ath and photographs of Dartford warbler, Little terns and Cattle egret with great white by Jeremy Aldred.

A rather disappointingly small group of just 8 of us assembled at the NT car park at Dunwich Heath on a pleasant lightly cloudy May morning with a light northeasterly breeze keeping things cool. We immediately saw a pied wagtail and a dunnock near the car park and the wagtail excited some interest as some thought it might be a white wagtail but after some discussion the view was that it was a pied.

We headed over Dunwich Heath in search of Dartford warbler etc and one was soon spotted on the gorse but quickly disappeared before most saw it. Another was soon found in a small scots pine and eventually showed well. We also saw a nice male stonechat perched on the heather. Looking out to sea a distant large flock of small black ducks was seen in flight and thought to be common scoter. This was later found to be accurate as we had a good view of a flock of around 300 off shore from the Coast Guard Cottages but too distant to be able to see if any velvet scoter etc were amongst them.

We continued northwards off the heath and had excellent views of a pair of stone curlew with glimpses of a couple of chicks clearly being fed by one of the adults. Returning to the car park we again saw Dartford warbler and stonechat including a pair of the latter.

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We then drove to Dingle Marshes for a lunch stop before resuming. Dingle Marshes has a very wide range of habitats including shingle shoreline, extensive reedbed, scrub and woodland. As we made our way along the shingle with some light rain coming off the sea a large white bird flying across the reserve was initially called as a mute swan but was actually a spoonbill! We soon saw several little terns flying over the shingle and as we got closer more flew up and we also saw another 25 or so near the edge of the sea. Much of this area is roped off to stop access to their nesting grounds. Just inland on the scrapes we saw shelduck, oystercatcher, mallard, turnstones, sandwich tern, greylag and Canada geese etc.

Moving inland towards the gorse and scrub we heard bearded tit and reed warbler from the reedbeds then grasshopper warbler in the gorse which was also briefly seen by some. We also saw goldfinch and a single male linnet perched in the gorse.

Moving through the woodland as the rain got a little heavier we came to a sheltered opening offering great views across some reedbed and open water. Perched just a few feet part on a gate was a cattle egret and great white egret! A little egret later flew in so we had all the egrets in view simultaneously! To add to the excitement several hobbies were seen catching insects over the water and then 2 common cranes appeared from the reedbed! The day finished with hearing a nightingale, another grasshopper warbler reeling in the reeds and finally a cuckoo on the (long!) walk back to the carpark to end a great day.

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June 15 RSPB Minsmere by Brenda and Melvyn Smith.

After a few rainy days it was lovely to arrive at Minsmere on a dry day, cloudy but with sunny intervals, where eight members of the group met.

After checking in at the Visitor Centre we made our way to North Hide. On the way we stopped at the sand bank and watched the sand martins flying around and into their holes; at several holes the birds could be seen looking out.

From North Hide we were assailed with a cacophony of sound from the many black-headed gulls, many with chicks. A marsh harrier appeared over the scrape and all of the gulls rose to mob it to show it was not welcome. Several Mediterranean gulls were out on the islands with their black heads and blood red bills. A spotted redshank was seen feeding on the muddy edges, as well as a common redshank. Near the reeds was an attentive female tufted duck, watching over her small chicks which were diving for food.

Dartford warbler by Doug Radford

Walking along the North bank we heard reed buntings singing from the top of the bushes and sedge warblers were seen flitting in and out of the reeds. A lovely four spotted chaser dragonfly was sunny itself on a reed stem and a painted lady butterfly flew by. Continuing to the beach, we stopped to look out to sea and a harbour porpoise was seen. Later, we learned that this was a common

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sighting along this stretch of coast, occasioned by the abundance of fish swimming between a sand bank and the shore.

At East hide we watched kittiwakes resting and preening on the wooden rails in the water. Out on the scrape islands were nesting common terns; although we could not see any chicks with these birds there were black-headed and Mediterranean gulls with chicks of various ages. On another island there were a few sandwich terns again with young of various ages; one of the smaller chicks was walking around with its parent following as a black-headed gull came over but the attentive parent soon saw it off. A couple of the adult terns were also seen with long fish in their bills before they disappeared into the vegetation. On the edge of a mud spit a knot and turnstone were seen.

Moving on, we dropped in at the public viewing screen. Here little terns were seen on a distant island. Nearer a sleeping little gull was pointed out to the group and a couple of ringed plover were also seen.

Mediterranean Gull by Doug Radford

Continuing our way around the reserve, we walked along the sand dunes with gorse to our right and the sea to our left. From our vantage point on the top of the dunes we had good views of stonechat and linnet, A Dartford warbler gave a short song and soon we saw it as it flew past and into a bush in front of us. Near the sluice were a couple of swallows; certainly not as many as in the past.

Back in to the reserve we made our way to south hide and here we got better views of the little terns. A spotted redshank alerted us to its presence as it called before landing in front of the hide. A couple of our group were shown kittiwakes nesting on a bank of the scrape. The nests were built up so as to appear as nests on a cliff. We wondered if the power station platform, a short distance off shore, had become over-crowded with nesting kittiwakes and these few birds had been forced to build their nests in this unusual location.

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With lunchtime upon us, we made our way back to the Visitor Centre café for a drink and lunch in the sun, on the picnic tables over-looking the sand martin bank.

After lunch we proceeded to Island Mere hide. The water levels were high and the reeds in front of the hide had been left to grown thereby excluding the possibility of spotting any waders that might otherwise have been there. There were cormorants on a wooden rail, one ‘drying its wings’ in the “Angel of the North” pose. Near the distant reeds were a pair of little grebe.

Finally we made our way up Wind Hill and back to the café where we stopped for a drink and cake. Here we caught up with Doug Radford who had arrived late from an unsuccessful Iberian chiff chaff “twitch” near Dunwich Heath. He had seen the same number of birds as us but recounted a tale of a great black-backed gull entering the black-headed gull colony to take a chick and devour it, half at a time! Sometimes birding can be gruesome but it’s all part of nature!

Evening walk at Lakenheath Fen on Wednesday 5 June by Alex Andrews

On a damp, drizzly evening, 6 of us met up for an evening walk at Lakenheath and were joined by seventh member a bit later on. Luckily, the drizzle stopped and we were left with a dull but dry evening. We started the evening looking at the bird feeders and bushes around the Visitor Centre and saw 2 young blue tits, a blackbird, a coot with 2 chicks, 2 great tits, 3 goldfinches and a reed bunting. A jay flew over and we could hear a cuckoo calling.

We walked up to the wash point and Canada geese, mallard, gadwell, shoveller , shelduck, lapwing were seen as well as a heron. There were common terns and 2 oystercatchers flew by calling. The sound of reed warblers were very much in evidence and a Cettis could be heard. A beautiful barn owl flew over the marsh area and landed on a post for us all to see. We walked along the bank hoping to see cuckoos and hobbies but they proved to be elusive. Mute swans and tufted ducks were on the water; chiffchaffs could be heard and reed buntings were observed flying about in the reeds and scrub. Rooks provided a raucous chorus, crows and jackdaws were also in evidence. A magpie was seen and the greater spotted woodpecker was heard and then seen to fly across in the poplars. Canada and greylag geese were around with their goslings. Brenda heard a whitethroat. As we continued along to the second bank of poplars, still hoping to see cuckoos we saw some swifts flyiong overhead and more swans, woodpigeons and reed warblers were observed.

We were able to have a seat at Joist Fen and, again, heard the cuckoo and saw a swan asleep on the water in front of us. No hobbies were evident so we continued our walk and saw a flock of starlings and heard a cuckoo calling in the poplars. We also saw a marsh harrier and watched a mallard and some largish chicks. Then we saw a beautiful great crested grebe with one chick swimming beside her and the other on her back which is always a lovely sight. Tufted ducks were swimming in the pools and a kestrel hovered overhead. A hobby was seen flying across briefly.

We visited Mere Hide and a sparrowhawk flew across. A cuckoo was still calling and was obviously moving through the poplars. A female cuckoo was heard briefly. On returning to the path, a large number of rooks were noisily amassing for their roost.

We stopped off at Fen View point and watched a mallard with her single chick. There was a greylag and goslings and then we were rewarded with a hobby flying over the reeds and it came nearer so we all had a good sighting.

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As the light was fading it was difficult to see the birds clearly so we set off back to the car park. Two birds flew in the distance and a couple of party thought they were cuckoos. We heard cuckoo calling again on our return but they had remained elusive throughout the evening and this was perhaps due to the dull weather. However, it is lovely to hear them and know they are still at Lakenheath Fen.

Hobby. Photo copyright Jack Barnes.

RSPB Rye Meads 7th July 2019 by Norman De’Ath

A small group of just 5 members gathered at the visitor centre at 0900 on a pleasant July morning with a light breeze and a good forecast in prospect. We were advised by the centre staff that it might be a good idea to head out to the Kingfisher hide to begin with before too many visitors arrived. En route we heard a sedge warbler and saw several butterflies including a small skipper, numerous ringlets and a green- veined white. At the hide it wasn’t long before a male kingfisher arrived briefly with some morsels before soon departing again. It soon reappeared and then perched closer on a branch stuck in the middle of the pond giving some photo opportunities. We also saw a coot family with 2 chicks and a kestrel on the pylon where there is a kestrel nest box as well as seeing or hearing reed warbler, song thrush, blackcap, wren, cetti’s warbler and great tit.

We moved on to the Warbler Hide where we saw a buzzard and red kite simultaneously but at some distance and also grey heron, swifts, numerous black-headed gulls and a possible little egret briefly and distant as it dropped out of sight! Later a hobby came and gave a great display swooping in very rapidly from height catching insects etc.

We moved on to the Gadwall hide and saw surprisingly enough some gadwall and also mallard, pochard, shoveller, tufted duck, great and little grebes. Many ducks are already in eclipse making identification tricky sometimes and a ‘mystery’ duck was seen largely brown with a just distinct division on the neck, slightly paler flanks, whitish lower belly and grey/blue bill with indistinct white band. Further research indicated that this is a likely female pochard/tufted duck hybrid. Unfortunately it was too distant to get a useful photo. The adjacent Tern hide provided great views of common tern on the left hand raft with the remaining 3 rafts occupied almost exclusively with black headed gulls and the odd tern. We also saw mute swan and more gadwall, tufted duck and pochard. As we left we were asked by a volunteer to complete a questionnaire on our visit which we did. Overall we were satisfied but a few areas of improvement were identified such as regard to visibility from some hides. At this time of the year it also presents great opportunities to look at the wildflowers and the many insects, butterflies and dragonflies etc present.

Evening walk, Burwell, Weds July 7th by Graham Cole.

The evening walks arranged by the group during the summer remain as popular as ever, with 14 members gathering at the car park next to Burwell Fen. It did not take long for the bird watching to start! A little owl was spotted on top of a wood pile in the farm adjacent to the car park. There were also numerous swallows with a few sand martins around the farm and in the air over our heads.

The group made our way to the first hide along Harrison's Drove. On the way we spotted a family of stonechats in the fields to the left. Goldfinches were also present along with a whitethroat. In the hide a reed warbler was busy foraging in the reedy boarder along the edge of the ditch to the front

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of the hide. A reed bunting was also seen. Further away a buzzard was spotted perched in a large dead tree along with an impressive flock of starlings. It did take flight briefly, perching on a fence post at the back of the scrape. We also found several coot families, a few mallards and a pair of little grebes. Looking back from the hide towards Burwell Fen a male marsh harrier was seen hunting and a distant sparrowhawk was spotted over the trees. A kestrel also put in an appearance. As we left the hide those in the group with keen ears picked up a reeling grasshopper warbler, although it was never seen.

Little Owl. Photo copyright Jack Barnes.

As we walked back to Harrisons Drove towards the car park a lovely barn owl flew from a barn at the farm adjacent to the car park. It flew over the field to our left until it was lost to view behind some trees. We crossed the lode and made our way to the vantage point over looking Burwell Fen. A green sandpiper was briefly seen on the fringe of the scrape in front of us. Some Konick ponies came to the water just as we arrived, spooking the bird. A family of pied wagtails were foraging on the back of the scrape and a single juvenile yellow wagtail was also present.

We decided to wait at the view point to see what else arrived. More grasshopper warbler reeling was heard, by some! Also of note was the sheer number of swallows over the fen in a mixed flock with more house martins, sand martins and swifts. Some teal and mallards came to the scrape while we were there. Further away parties of greylag and Canada geese could be seen in the arable fields. A very distant barn owl was found by an eagle eyed member, carrying prey. It made its way to a distant barn. Our original barn owl came into view over the fen hunting low over the greenery as we started to think about leaving. A few drops of rain made up our minds, time to go.

Barn Owl by Dave Griffiths.

Ouse Washes RSPB Reserve Report April – end of July 2019. Paul Harrington.

Flood level

On the 1st April the flood level was 1.54m and the majority of the reserve was still under water. Thankfully the level started to drop and by the middle of the month reached 1.00m when the flood water was contained within the river banks and off of the fields.

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Breeding Birds

We undertook the first pass of the breeding bird survey of the main reserve between the 26th April and the 4th May and the second pass between 14th May and 23rd May. The following breeding pairs/breeding count figures of the important species were recorded.

Bittern 2 boomers (no breeding confirmed but possible). Little egret still to be assessed from drone monitoring. Great egret 2 adults and 3 immatures during May, no sign of breeding though. Mallard 295 pairs. Gadwall 84 pairs. Shoveler 83 pairs. Teal 27 pairs. Garganey 9 pairs. Spotted crake No spotted crakes recorded from specific monitoring. Corncrake 3 males, all un-ringed wild 1st year males, strongly indicating that we had successful breeding in two locations in 2018. Common crane 2 pairs built nests but did not lay eggs. Avocet 13 pairs. At least seven nests, at least 2 nests hatched young. Little ringed plover 4 pairs. Lapwing 166 pairs (with additional counts at Pilot project of 73 and Coveney 12. Redshank 140 pairs (with additional counts at Pilot Project 65 and Coveney 4. Black-tailed godwit 8 pairs but no breeding on main reserve. 4 pairs bred at the Pilot Project. Unfortunately all failed during incubation or shortly after hatching. Snipe 114 drumming males (With additional counts at Pilot project of 29 and Coveney of 6). Yellow Wagtail 86. Corn bunting 12. Reed Bunting 146. Skylark 77. Long eared owl probably bred with juveniles recorded near the railway in June. Tree sparrow nest boxes. Nest boxes were monitored by Graham Cole, one of our Bird/Wildlife Surveyor volunteers in April and May. At least six pairs of tree sparrows bred in boxes with probably two of these pairs looking at different boxes to raise second broods.

The colonial tree sparrow nest box, originally put up in 2000 and used by tree sparrows for several years, has gradually been completely overtaken by house sparrows and finally become irreparable. Two new colony boxes, one designed for house sparrows with an entrance hole diameter of 32mm and one designed for tree sparrows with an entrance hole diameter of 28mm, were constructed and installed at the back of the visitor centre.

Despite the hole size planning tree sparrows started taking nesting material into the new house sparrow colony box within a week of it being installed.

Other birds of interest.

Escaped, ringed female bufflehead 3rd April, red necked grebe 6th April, quail 8th April, black-necked grebe 16th April, pair of black-winged stilts 16th April, green winged teal 18th April, 2 whimbrel 19th April, Savi’s warbler 20th April, Temminck’s stint 21st April, 2 bar tailed godwits and 8 greenshank

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22nd April, 3 spotted redshanks 23rd April, Baikal teal 29th April, little stint 15th May, 3 Temminck’s stints 21st May, 2 curlew sandpipers 15th May, sanderling 17th May, 3 great egret 6th July.

Habitat management

Reserve management starts as soon as we can get out there after the winter flooding and is aimed primarily at vegetation control to create suitable nesting habitat for next seasons ground nesting waders. Grazing cattle are a vital management tool and the first herds were able to be introduced in early May. By the end of July circa 50 different herds totalling in excess of 2000 individual animals were on site requiring daily health checks and all being accounted for.

A huge amount of reserve infrastructure maintenance, mainly in the form of barbed wire fencing and ATV bridge maintenance is required to contain and safely manage the cattle operation.

Water control is a crucial and time consuming part of reserve management. Pools and scrapes are kept wet until early July specifically to benefit the breeding wader populations and their chicks and the ditch systems are kept topped up to provide drinking water for the cattle and to act as wet fences to keep herds separated.

The ongoing rotational clearing out of silted up and vegetation encroached ditches begins at the end of June. This year two diggers will be on site to ensure we achieve our planned ditch maintenance work before any Autumn flooding.

Bank works

The work to heighten and strengthen the reservoir flood bank between Welches Dam and Mepal began in July and will continue through to November with a break for the winter. There is a steady stream of heavy plant working in the area and access to all the hides has been closed until then.

RSPB Lakenheath Fen newsletter August 2019

Hello, and welcome to the latest news from Lakenheath Fen. We’ve all been a little warm the last couple of weeks! Our thermometer by the dipping pond hit a sweltering 37.80C last Thursday, which would have been lovely had we had our feet in the sea and an ice-cream in hand. As it was, the boardwalk leading to the hide required freeing from the reed which had been threatening to take it over, so we spent the morning strimming instead!! Very, very hot!

Staff and events

David White, our Visitor Experience Office for the past 10 years has left us to take up a role with the BTO. We’re very sorry to see him leave (his blogs are being missed already!), but wish him all the best with his new role. We have recruited a replacement, Heidi Jones, who will join us in mid August.

The rain a few weekends ago was very welcome in general but the timing was not great as it was due to be the Big Wild Sleepout! We decided to postpone in the end, and held it the following weekend. About 16 happy campers were able to rearrange and had a great time sleeping out on the reserve. Highlights were probably the bird ringing, pond dipping and moths, and at least the weather stayed good for the whole weekend!

Reserve management

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As always, most of our work at this time of year entails keeping on top of rapid grass growth along the visitor trails and at viewpoints. This year has been no exception, and despite the dry conditions, we seem to have been strimming some areas more than we ever have!! We finally feel we’ve caught up, and there will be a little lull before we start doing the annual cuts on the fen pools, Botany Bay sedge and clearing the reeds at the viewpoints! We’ve also been out pulling ragwort, one of our most favourite jobs (not really, but we do see some good wildlife – see below!).

Breeding birds

Our resident pair of cranes hatched a single chick, though at the moment, we are unsure if it has fledged yet! It seemed to have some similar issues to the runt chick from last year, being a bit small compared to what it should be by this point. We had been seeing it on a trail camera fairly regularly until recently, but we’ve not seen it for a week or two, so we’re not quite sure what’s going on! As last year, bittern surveys have proved inconclusive so far, with only one probable nest being located so far, though there have been some possible sightings of fledged young. The lack of nest flights is likely to be due to there being a good fish population and therefore the adults don’t need to go too far to find lots of fish – why fly when you can walk?! Marsh harriers look like they’ve had a better year with about 10 nests recorded. Total fledging has yet to be confirmed! Barn owls have definitely had a better year, with three pairs producing 12 chicks between them, including one which had a brood of six! Last year, no barn owls fledged from the reserve.

Other wildlife

With the washland water levels still fairly low, there haven’t been so many sightings from there recently. In June, the highlights were osprey over on 5th, two Med gulls flew over on 13th, drake garganey and black-tailed godwit on 16th, and a green sandpiper 23rd. July was even worse with only a handful of green sandpipers and a few oystercatchers being seen.

Scarce chaser dragonflies are still on the wing, with southern hawkers just starting to emerge. Emperor, brown hawker and willow emerald damselflies are also being seen regularly. A hummingbird hawkmoth nectaring on toadflax in the middle of a grazing marsh was a nice treat for those pulling ragwort on 16 July. Regular moth trapping near the vc has been good with puss moth, cream spot tiger and Dewicks plusia (pictured below in order) being some of the less common ones so far.

Unusual mammal sighting came from Suzanne, our administrator, who saw a hedgehog by the dipping pond at the end of May. As far as I know, this is the first record of hedgehog here!

Photo credits: Katherine Puttick

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For more information about the reserve including up-to-date sightings and forthcoming events (our next big event is the Race for Wildlife on 13 October!), please look on the website at www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/lakenheath-fen/ , email us at [email protected] or phone the office on 01842 863400.

Hope to see you on the reserve soon!

Cheers,

Katherine Warden 7 August 2019

Documents

Cambridge Local Group Newsletter - The RSPBSpotlight: Butterfly Conservation work closely with both the RSPB and the BTO and their website is definitely worth checking out. This small