Despite being late July, the breeding season was still in full swing at Lackford Lakes. A cold, miserable Spring has hit nature in a way that has resulted in our wildlife having to play catch up, and now everything seems to be later this year. Birds are nesting later, butterflies are flying weeks after they are due and wildflowers blooming at unnatural times. However after the dry April there has been lots of rain over the summer, and as a result everything is lush and verdant, growing so freely, when it should be dying off under the sun in preparation for Autumn. As a result baby birds rub shoulders with Autumn migrants. After some of the hottest days of the year this July, today was a lot cooler, which made it a lot more enjoyable as I wandered round the reserve.
MOORHEN on visitor centre bird feeders.
Lackford Lakes is one of the Suffolk Wildlife Trusts main reserves, consisting of a chain of large lakes formed from gravel extraction, winding along the river Lark. It forms a good wetland reserve in a fairly dry area, providing a haven for many birds, where there is little other habitats. Its an important county site with good numbers of wintering duck for Suffolk, although its not as good as some of the larger reservoirs in the rest of the country, such as Abberton. Aside form the lakes there are large areas of other wetland type habitats, along with dry grasslands. This variety of habitats has the knock on effect of giving a large variety of birds a home, guaranteeing something interesting should be present on each visit. However, although there is always a good variety of birds, I seldom see anything unusual here, there's never really any rarities recorded here, but that's just a minor grump.
SWAN family, the Slough
Access to the reserve, is fairly simple, a path that leisurely winds its ways though the different habitats, where hides give views over the lakes. First port of call is the Sailing Lake, one of the larger bodies of water, used for, well, sailing. In mid summer the highlight of this lake is the flock of moulting MUTE SWANS. Around fifty were present today, which is a bit smaller than normal, with the birds concentrating round the edges of the lake, to get away from the sailing boats. There were also several young swan families, both of SWANS and some GREAT CRESTED GREBE with their stripy necked young being fed by their parents.
Having a good shake
Passed the Sailing Lake is the Slough, a smallish lake but with a good variety of habitats, which makes it one of the best places for birds on the reserve. Its a mix of deep and shallow water, overgrown islands and reedy fringes, making it a haven for many water birds. Unfortunately with the rainy summer, water levels were still quite high, and the only WADER of note was a GREEN SANDPIPER.
ROBIN, the Stump
After the Slough, and before the Eastern Lakes, the path meanders its way through Ash Carr. This overgrown wet woodland, resembles a tropical rainforest, with large trees but with an open canopy creating a mass of undergrowth. In this area of woodland there is the Stump. A fallen tree trunk, this small site is famous for its bird photography, for if you leave some seed on there, many small birds would be enticed to come down and feed, in full view of cameras. Today it was quiet but there were still NUTHATCHES, ROBINS and some GREAT TITS coming down to pose for my camera. After a short walk the woodlands soon peters out to give open to vistas of the Eastern Lakes.
POCHARD family, Long Reach
Sometimes the Eastern Lakes can be quiet, not attracting the birds that the Slough and Sailing Lake do, and can be disappointing. However today these lakes were probably the best sites for birds today. Of the lakes, the greatest was Long Reach, overlooked by Bess Hide, a long and wide lake fringed by reeds. Today there was evidence of a good breeding season, with a wide number of birds around. Most interesting was a brood of two POCHARD ducklings. This is a very rare breeding bird in Suffolk, with maybe around five pairs in the county each year and maybe only 500 nationwide, so every breeding pair is important. The family moved away from the hide before taking shelter on the reedy fringes. Also present was a brood of one TUFTED DUCK, two oldish GADWALL chicks, and two LITTLE GREBE chicks. There were also a pair of EGYPTIAN GOOSE, strangely the only birds seen at the reserve, they used to be present here in much larger numbers, breeding freely.
CORMARANTS, Long Reach
At this time of year, on the larger lakes and reservoirs across the country, large rafts of DUCK appear to spend their summer in moult. This is when ducks shed their flight feathers, and so cannot fly, and as a result have to spend their flightless time on deep water. During this period, as well, the male ducks discard their breeding plumage and end up resembling the dowdy females for a couple of months, which is called ECLIPSE. They stay in this state for some time before returning into breeding finery around October time. Moulting flocks were present particularly on the large lakes of Long Reach and Plover Lake, where 60-70 each of TUFTED DUCK and GADWALL were present.
The island on Plover Lake was a riot of colours, with PURPLE LOOSETRIFE, yellow RAGWORT, and white YARROW.
On Hawker Pool there are a couple of platforms out in the water. On these, three pairs of COMMON TERNS were nesting, with some chicks about. A pair of HERON flew nearby and were constantly dive bombed by the terns until they flew out of the tern's territories. A heron could easily make lunch out of a little tern chick and so weren't tolerated any where near them.
Hawker Pool
Not a bad day out for a hot July's birdng, with nothing particularly expected from the reserve, as it can be a quite time of year. Lackford is one of the most important reserves in west Suffolk, an area dominated by large agricultural estates, not an area particularly fit for birds. Away from the coast, Suffolk isn't great for wildlife, with nature reserves serving as oases in harsh environments, which makes a large reserve like Lackford so important. Lackford is always good for seeing birds, but as I've stated earlier, seldom anything unusual. Whatever, its there, so go visit and give some support to our feathered friends.
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