Birds

Many of our birds are now in the middle of the breeding season.  Many have already finished raising their first broods so there are lots of family groups to be seen around the reserve.  Others are still on the eggs and others still are building their nests for a second attempt at breeding. 

Look around the edges of the trails and you should see family groups of blue tits, great tits and long-tailed tits feeding.  Lots of young chiffchaffs and blackcaps are now appearing too.  On the lakes look out for young mallards and geese.  We have a common tern sitting on eggs on hawker pool.  Also sitting on eggs are little grebes and great crested grebes – visit Bess’s hide for the best view of grebes.  Our swifts are also sitting on eggs and can be seen on the cameras in the centre – we expect them to hatch around the 9^th June.  Kingfishers are still fairly quiet around the reserve, so the best spot is to head to the seat at Hawker pool and watch the kingfisher bank – they have been seen going into the bank.  

At this time of year, spend some time overlooking the slough as you never know what might visit.  This past week we had a brief visit from black-winged stilts.  The red-crested pochard is still showing well there and we often see some little ringed plovers there as well.   This spot is also a good place to see our marsh harriers as well.

Dragonflies and damselflies

In the last few weeks, the reserve has come alive with dragonflies and damselflies so as you wonder around, be sure to spend some time looking at these amazing creatures.  Using binoculars will allow you even closer views. 

Clouds of damselflies can be found around with a mixture of different types.  Look out for azure damselfly, common blue damselfly, red-eyed damselfly, large red damselfly and blue-tailed damselfly.

For the dragonflies, look over the surface of the pools with binoculars or round the edge of our bigger lakes.  Four-spotted chaser, black-tailed skimmer, broad-bodied chaser, emperor dragonfly and hairy dragonfly can be found.

Butterflies

We have now recorded 15 species of butterfly on the reserve and the next few weeks should see this number increase quite a bit as we expect to see many more on the wing like meadow brown and large skipper.

Right now, look out for small heath, brown argus, common blue, small tortoiseshell, speckled wood, red admiral, painted lady, green-veined white and small copper. 

Sayers breck trail is particularly good for the smaller butterflies.

There are lots more to find and see around the reserve.  Please add your sightings to the daily sheet found in the centre at the end of your visit.