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