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It's been a busy few weeks on Havergate with the survey season and monitoring season in full swing. Typically this brings mixed results and this year is no different but most excitingly was the discovery or more accurately the rediscovery of a very rare spider on the island. Arctosa fulvolineata...

Hi folks, Just to let you know, Havergate island features this Sunday on Countryfile at 1900 hours. If you missed out on the Hares last weekend or if you went to see them again then be sure to watch it! Find more information here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s1psf

It’s been a fairly quiet time on Havergate. However, that’s not to say the island has been standing still. Aside from the changeable weather, which has at times been wet, mild, cold, snowing and windy with all the above. We have managed to fit in a couple of visitor events with highlights...

As the season’s roll around and the dreaded moment that the clocks go back approaches, it seems like the perfect time to recap on autumn on Havergate and what an autumn it’s been! In my three years working on Havergate the island has never looked better, attracted a greater diversity of...

As the breeding season begins to enter the final furlong, it’s time for an update on this troubled breeding season. Unfortunately, there is rather more bad news than good news. Starting with the bad news. Common gulls are having a disastrous year, for the first time in two years the...

This I believe is meant to be springtime? However it doesn’t feel much like springtime, in fact if it wasn’t for the presence of the breeding birds I would say that the weather has felt more like October. What has this meant on the ground for the birds on Havergate? Well, the terns...

Here as promised is a collection of videos from the island. Little Stint on Havergate, courtesy of David Fairhurst, Nov 2011 Definately an unsual record for Havergate in November but in a county contact they do overwinter. Having overwintered in other estuaries in the past 20 years or so. Little...

The weather finally took a turn for the better on Havergate this week after what seemed like almost daily thunder showers, lightning strikes, torrential downpours and a nagging wind. Now as the season starts to enter its final lap we can start to make some early estimates on how things have gone...

The summer survey season began today on Havergate with the traditional season opener the Hare Transect. This is the count where we determine how many Hares we have on the island. Last year the population of Hares stood at 29 and in 2011 the population stands at 27. Though this is a decrease...

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It feels now that winter has truly arrived, the temperatures are plunging and the nights are drawing in and the clocks are about to go back. A chilling sentence for anyone who lives in the British Isles. It was therefore nice to get an update on the movements of the ringed gull chicks on Havergate...

Of late the blog seems to have been dominated by articles on “issues”. As a change I thought it would be nice to update people about what has been going on, on the island. Every day seems to bring a good species to the island and the island is jumping with birds. Most lagoons are full...

Lately the island has been visited by a Great Skua (Bonxie) these fearsome birds from the north have reminded me of a cause important to me and important to the nation’s biodiversity, that of the marine environment. Whilst Bonxies have largely been spared the ravages of Sandeel shortages...

Earlier in the season we had the disappointment of the Avocets being predated. However, this week’s blog entry should go some way to alleviating this sense of disappointment. This week I get the rare pleasure of reporting, not just one bit of good news but two bits of positive news. Those who...

The breeding season continues a pace on the island. However, firstly I must break some bad news. In my last blog piece I reported that the island was playing host to 23 Avocets the highest breeding number in some time, however between the dates 14 th to the 16 th of July all the nests where predated...

Finally, just after I was about to give up on them, the Common gulls have swung into action. Laying there eggs in some fabulous locations. I was expecting them to lay out in the open, in a big dense colony, like their close cousin the Tern. However, they’ve completely taken me by surprise by nesting...

Saturday marked the end of last weeks residential volunteers stay on the island. Thanks must go to David and John two volunteers who have being coming out to Havergate and helping in the residential volunteers scheme for sixteen and five years respectively. There where a great help to the island, painting...

After the success of our first dedicated Hare weekend back in mid April, it was decided that the time had come to count our Hares on Havergate. The Hares have been in good form recently boxing, chasing and looking quite stunning in the bright early morning sunshine and for us on Havergate this count...