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28 April 2013: the second 'Photography: Day of Discovery' was blessed with good weather, co-operative hares and some rarer winged visitors on migration tour. Our very talented 'students' enjoyed discovering the island's wildlife on their own as well as learning more tricks of the...

As a change, this blog is a special guest piece, written and illustrated by Danny Porter from www.dannysdigiscoping.com. He is one of our invaluable Volunteer Photography Tutors. "After a meeting, many (long) emails and one cancelled trip [because of the cold weather in March], the very first...

On 21 April 2013, Havergate Island with it's nearly tame hares, rare birds and unique landscapes welcomed the first visitors to a brand new event format. In this post, I will only list the comments of our visitors from the first event; in the next blog post, you will be able to read my own thoughts...

It's been a couple of years since the BBC last visited the island therefore it was with some pleasure that we where lucky enough last Thursday to host the BBC's countryfile team. Despite the cold temperatures (almost -6 according to the thermometer on nearby Orfordness) a good day was had by...

For the first time in a couple of years there is a sense of normality about the island this year. This is the first time since I arrived in my post that there hasn't been a big or major project on the island. In 2010/11 the October storm went through its 25 year refit which took it out of action...

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...

Forgive the lack of updates on the blog of recent times. This is mostly due to late July and August being amongst our busiest times of the year. With hundreds of visitors coming out to the island and continuing with the reserve work including the benthic sampling (seeing what insects live in the mud...

Whilst the island is still shut to the general public bird life on Havergate has continued. Highlights so far include wintering spoonbills, shorelarks and short eared owls. Its interesting how spoonbill wintering ecology in Suffolk is beginning to change and especially in the Alde- Ore estuary. ...

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...

Its been something of a purple patch for birds on the Havergate reserves for birds over the last week or so. The highlights include a rough legged buzzard (twice), a short eared owl, a couple of hen harriers, a firecrest, two whooper swans and at least one spotted redshank. There has also been some...

Its been a while since I blogged about anything to do with the island and with the weather looking increasingly unsettled over the next few days, now seems like as good a time as any. The breeding season is well and truly wrapped up and as such attention turned to migrant waders and summering spoonbills...

The results are in, 99% of all birds have fledged and after a changeable summer, the 2011 Havergate island breeding bird story is ready to be told. The final counts of the large gulls where 460 herring gulls and 1030 lesser blacked backed gulls , a grand total of 1490 large gulls, how does...

Arctic Skua? kittiwake? little tern? All good guesses but since the year 2000 the two fastest declining seabirds are the much less heralded herring gull and lesser black backed gulls. This is according to the SMP (seabird monitoring programme) data recently released by the JNCC. This...

If visitor trips where football or cricket teams then the trips out to Havergate would be described as being in a bad run of form! The last three trips have all had to be cancelled due to a combination of factors. The December visit due to snow, ice and freezing conditions and the January and February...

As part of the ongoing EU Life + website the staff on Havergate are re –designing the saline lagoons. Anyone who has visited Havergate will know that the islands suffer from significant cliffing in places and that part of the island is virtually impossible to see into from the hides. There...

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So, after 23 years of service the October Storm is being retired. Well, not retired but definitely overhauled. It’s been 23 years of faithful service she has seen storm surges to glorious sunny days, a succession of different skippers and ferried out what must be well in to the 1000’s...

Otters once a near mythical sighting has become increasingly common in the last few years, in fact I heard someone recently describe them as “ubiquitous”. The island is a classic example of this before August 2010 the total number of sightings on Havergate sat at zero. Admittedly, there...

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...

Coming back to the island after my holiday I was met by one of the more spectacular sights I have witnessed. Wigeon numbers are now easily in the triple figures, as are teal. Brent geese, Gadwall, Shoveler and Mallards where all present. Numbers of Golden plover, Dunlin, Lapwing, Knot, Avocet,...

So after 5 months I said goodbye to the last of this years residential volunteers today. Can I just take this chance to say a big thank you to all who volunteered this summer. Your help has been invaluable and much appreciated. Without you the island would be a much poorer place and I sincerely hope...

As the year rolls on thoughts begin to turn from breeding birds to passage birds. However, If I was asked to use just one word to sum up the breeding season, I’d say long. The gulls were on eggs by Mid March with the first chicks hatching in mid April. Then we had the encouraging signs of 23...

The Tern chicks are still alive. In fact more than just alive, they appear to be doing really well but I won’t use the word thriving. Every day I go out to the island, I presume the worse, an abandoned colony, parents absent and activity all but over. However, this has so far (touch wood) not been...

First, I’m going to start with a correction from the last blog. The number of barn Owl fledglings is in fact three. This was only found out last Sunday when the Landgard ringing group came onto the island to do their annual ringing of the large gull chicks and as aside ring the Barn owl chicks...