Great view of the Kingfisher early Tuesday morning. It was accidentally disturbed by some dog walkers and the kingfisher flew up onto a branch overhanging the Winterbourne Stream. It then flew down into vegetation out of site. A couple of minutes later it flew fast and low above the water back up the Winterbourne Stream [...]
We had a fascinating wildlife afternoon at the Linklater last Sunday. Despite the changeable weather, from hot sun to heavy showers, there was still plenty to see and share with the Bank Holiday Sunday visitors. Adjacent to the reserve on the banks of the River Ouse a patient heron hunted for small fish, standing patiently [...]
There is a lot of moorhen activity on the nature reserve, especially in the Winterbourne Stream and Leighside Pond in the woodland. Last year we were able to follow the daily life of a moorhen family through ditch cam we observed them from tiny newly hatched fluffy chicks until they were old enough to look after [...]
The heavy rain yesterday evening and duri9ng the night left a few muddy puddles around the reserve. To us it was an inconvenience, wet feet if we did not have boots on. With the school that visited today we had to keep taking our footwear off before we went into the Linklater Pavilion because we [...]
Two species of warbler return to the heart of reeds each year, the reed warbler and the white throat. REED WARBLER The reed warblers have now returned in the Heart of Reeds where they will nest. Their arrival on the reserve follows a long migration as the warblers fly to the UK from their winter [...]
We have been seeing some exciting behaviour through ditch cam the last few days. The moorhen that live in the ditches are preparing to nest. Before this happens the males tend to squabble and chase each other around in the hope of impressing the females. You can see this in the school video library clips [...]
There has not been a lot activity on the reserve during the winter months. Why do you think this might be? Animals have different ways of coping with the severe winter weather. Some animals, especially birds, stay active during the winter and we have seen this through the bird cam. A few species of bird [...]
You may have noticed that we have been having a lot of activity on the bird feeder. To help you identify the birds you are seeing there is a picture below of the 4 main types of bird coming to the bird feeder, great tit, blue tit, house sparrow and great spotted woodpecker. You can [...]
We often associate migration with the summer months in particular the long distance migrants, such as swallows and swifts, which breed in the UK and Europe and spend the winter in Africa. But some birds actually chose to migrate to visit the UK in the winter. Why do you think they chose to do this? [...]
The nature reserve has now settled into autumn and I took a walk around the reserve to see how some of the areas not covered by the webcams had been changing. Many of the trees have now shed their leaves and changed colour but why? Well, they do this to conserve water and energy during the winter. [...]
