Havergate Island

Forum post: Re: My first good look at Havergate Island

C Monika Koch — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:10:00 GMT

Hi Harelady,

Thanks for your interest in Havergate and our '27 little stars'.

We run regular monthly trips to Havergate Island on every first Saturday and have some special events throughout the year too. All our trips and events are listed under "What's on?" on www.rspb.org.uk/havergateisland or you can find them here too: www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/h/havergate/events.aspx

Regarding our hares: You can see them all year round, often very close up and they look especially smart in spring with their new fur.

If you want to stay on the island, there are two possibilities:

- You could be very quick and grab yourself one of the last places on our late June events, the 'Art & Photography: Days of Discovery' or the 'Wildlife & Photography: Days of Discovery', which will run over two days and we will stay overnight on the island;

or:

- You could apply to become a residential volunteer for one week in 2014. That placement includes working and living on the island and is something for the more hardy ones, as we can offer a very basic accomodation only, and no power, television or shower for that one week.

If you want to know more about the events or the volunteering, don't hesitate to drop me an email on monika.koch@rspb.org.uk for more infos.

Monika, Events Officer

South Suffolk Coast Reserves

Blog post: Flashing: prohibited on the island - for Photographers - but the Hare showed it all!

C Monika Koch — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:02:00 GMT

On Sunday 19 May 2013, our third 'Photography: Day of Discovery', we enjoyed the most gorgeous warm and sunny spring weather one can imagine, after a worrying week of watching daily changes on the very unsettled and sometimes frightening weather forecasts.

Everyone arrived in time for the early start with Kevin Sawford being the first. He had been so excited about tutoring with us for the first time that he didn't waste much time with sleeping and arrived over an hour earlier. He had some brilliant photos of a wonderful sunrise from Orford Quay on his camera at 6am already.

Watching the sun rising at Orford Quay; Photo by Kevin Sawford.

Danny Porter, Jon Evans and Tony Pick, the other tutors of the day, proved their talent in discovering wildlife on the way to the boat too, when they spotted an unusual bird on the tarmak, who had hit a window but luckily recovered well from the shock and flew off happily.

Reed warbler after striking a window; Photo by Jon Evans.

The tutors' enthusiasm after this fantastic start to the day was infectious and our small group of 'students of the day' benefitted for the following 12 hours in the whole variety of photographic subjects that we offered. Everyone was very keen to learn, payed a lot of attention and one after another could switch off the automatic button on their camera and got many chances to try the new skills and knowledge on different wildlife, macro and landscape subjects - even portrait shots (of humans) were tried successfully in the mild afternoon light.

Our Havergate hares have got so used to being photographed that one of them came right up to the 'Visitor Centre' hide and napped in a sheltered and sunny spot for hours, just six feet from the open hide windows - too close for the 600 lense!
There must be hundreds of portrait shots of him in the cameras and the patient ones under the photographers got to see much more clearly than they ever had expected, that this was a male hare indeed.

The birds on the island are very busy with their breeding activities at this time of the year, which restricted us from accessing the path down to Dovey's hide, but enabled us to predict bird movements especially with the gulls watching their nest areas in the gorse from some posts nearby. I'm sure there are many excellent photos with gulls landing, balancing and leaving these posts as the birds didn't get tired at all to come and go and pose while keeping an eye on us too…

The other birdlife on the island was a bit distant and less accessible for the cameras, but a change to macro lenses opened another world much closer. Thanks to the sunny and warm weather we were lucky to see some small coppers flying around and many of the tiny red, white and pink flowers on the meadow and salt marsh plants opened their heads during the course of the day.

Small copper on a daisy; Photo by Tony Pick.

A jolly party returned to Orford at 6.30pm with full memory cards, empty batteries and fatigued legs, and I am not taking it too far if I write: everyone, 'students', tutors and facilitator had a wonderful day out, including a fantastic picnic - provided by the Pump Street Bakery - on the sunny lawn in front of the 'Visitor Centre'. All of us will remember this peaceful day on Havergate Island for a long time to come.

Below is the comment section for this particular 'Photography: Day of Discovery'. Please read the first comment with humour and maybe more between the lines ;-) The other comments further below are 'the serious stuff'.

"Started off by feeling sea-sick after a very early start.
No fry-up for breakfast :-(
Weather terrible - rain all day + cold!
Luck of wildlife.
Too many tourists on the island.
Photographers unhelpful.
Smelly toilets!
Stale bread for lunch.
Long trek to the boat for return journey after boring day.
Terrible company.
Left feeling hungry.
Facilitator didn't have a clue.
Complaint going into RSPB!
RSPB giving away trash!! Cheap mugs!!
Cancelled annual membership after 20+ years."
C + R, from the Woodbridge RSPB Local Group, two of the most jolly ladies I have ever met, who challenged me if I would dare to post their comment ;-)

"Liked: Timing, Catering, pre-event publicity, price. Change: Maybe go back later to allow for some evening light shots." Fay.

"Enjoyable day, good food & good camera advice. Have learnt a few things too." Mary F.

"A splendid day with so much help from photographers and well catered for. Blessed with sunshine but sadly lacking interesting birdlife!! Other things of interest to photograph. Would thoroughly recommend to others. Many thanks for everything." Rosemary.

"Perfect day, gorgeous food, good company, excellent advice, friendly tutors, statue like hares and Monika even organised sunny weather. Would like more bird species please." Anonymous.

"Excellent! Wonderful facilitator (Monika!) So well organised. Fantastic tuition from all photographers - wonderful location & catering too!! I have learnt so much :-) (plus a free mug)." Caroline Davison.

"An excellent location, extremely well organised, super food and most of all, superb guidance by the enthusiastic photography experts. I have learned more today about my camera and photography in general then ages spent reading guides and manuals. Many thanks to Monika and the guides. A splendid day and good value for money. I would recommend this event to anybody." David Robson.

These were the comments on the day, but as things happen, there was more to come and again I found a lovely email with a photo in my inbox the next day:

"Hi Monika, Just to say a big "thank you" to you, the tutors and the RSPB for a wonderful day at Havergate yesterday. I really enjoyed it, such a great day. The hares were amazing and I learnt so much from the friendly helpful tutors. My photographs show a great improvement already and I understand more about all those difficult technical bits now. So glad I had the opportunity to go. Just waiting to see if Jon exhibits his glamorous photo of us crawling along the shingle on our bellies towards an unsuspecting hare. Thought you might like this hare (attached) just smelling the flowers!" Email and photo by Frances Browne, Long Melford.

Photo: Our 'Visitor Centre' at Havergate Island

C Monika Koch — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:34:00 GMT

Last weeks residential volunteers have done a fantastic job with giving our 'Visitor Centre' on Havergate Island a make over with a lot of paint.

Thank you so much!

We look forward to welcoming the next group of visitors in a shiny 'new' room on this Sunday's 'Photography: Day of Discovery'.

May 2013

Photo: Our 'Visitor Centre' at Havergate Island

C Monika Koch — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:33:00 GMT

Last weeks residential volunteers have done a fantastic job with giving our 'Visitor Centre' on Havergate Island a make over with a lot of paint.

Thank you so much!

We look forward to welcoming the next group of visitors in a shiny 'new' room on this Sunday's 'Photography: Day of Discovery'.

May 2013

Photo: Our 'Visitor Centre' at Havergate Island

C Monika Koch — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:30:00 GMT

Last weeks residential volunteers have done a fantastic job with giving our 'Visitor Centre' on Havergate Island a make over with a lot of paint.

Thank you so much!

We look forward to welcoming the next group of visitors in a shiny 'new' room on this Sunday's 'Photography: Day of Discovery'.

May 2013.

Blog post: Hare today

Kieren — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:46:00 GMT

It’s been a busy year for the Hares on Havergate, they’ve had a visit from the BBC, seen more people (in terms of visitors) than ever before but thankfully, this seems to have had no impact on the population on the island.

It’s the traditional survey season opener on Havergate! The annual Hare transect. Our actual interaction with the Hares is relatively limited, we keep an eye on their health and wellbeing to ensure nothing is going badly wrong with them but they are one of those species that generally benefits from being left alone to live their lives with little active management involved.

Despite me saying this, there had been a little concern about the population of recent, especially back in 2010 when we had a bad die off of seemingly healthy adults. The reason behind this never became clear, European brown Hare disease was a possibility, past colleagues of mine had recorded the presence of a liver fluke that was present so they believed due to high salt diet intake in their diet also the Hares seem to have a high parasite load (ticks) this can over time cause a weakening of the immune system especially in younger animals.

In the last few years maybe all of the above factors had meant the population had seemed to be in slight decline. In 2010, the island supported 29 individuals, 2011 25 and in 2012, 22.

I’m sure I have mentioned this before but the transect is not an exact count, we can never be exactly certain that we have not counted the same individual twice or missed some as we make our way up the island. However, by repeating the survey and using the same methodology each year we can ensure we build up what is called a population index.

This year, the volunteers and I conducted the transect on a cold May morning, despite not being very optimistic the count went very well with 27 individuals recorded across the island, an increase of 5 from the previous year. It is also the highest total since 2010 and the first increase since I started conducting the counts in 2010.

Just like the fall in population for the last few years, the reason for the increase is unclear. However, this is very much good news for the Hares.

Happy Hares on Havergate. Courtesy of Matt Guillatt, NT

And so, we move on from Hares and start to look towards the breeding birds. It’s been a slow start to the season with birds slow to get too egg laying stage. Hopefully, as the temperature increases birds will catch up. Aside from the vast selection of gulls on the island, they’ve been a few waders including bar tailed godwits, ringed plovers and greenshanks on the move, spoonbills have been regular with one group staying around for a week or so.

Blog post: Blue Sky for the Photographers again

C Monika Koch — Sat, 04 May 2013 19:55:00 GMT

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 trade from the four tutors of the day: Jon Evans for tele-photography, Celia Bartlett for macro photography, Jeremy Hennell James for landscape photography and Paul Hackett, who had joined us for digiscoping; he was part of the tutor team for the first time and turned out to be a fabulous teacher for flight shots as well as being a brilliant digiscoper. In our lunch break under the wide blue sky we all enjoyed Paul's amusing stories from 'old twitching times' while tucking in the fabulous food provided by Orford's Pump Street Bakery.

Lunchtime under Suffolk's fascinating wide sky; Photo by Jeremy Hennell James.

These are the comments of the day, some from our 'students' and one from a tutor:

"Overall a very enjoyable day. Personally I came specifically for the hares and would have preferred to arrive for sunrise in order to catch the first activity, so I would seriously consider the overnight trip. Food was delicious and the RSPB staff/volunteers were superb. Thank you." Mark Smith, London.

"Unforgettable day out & a great adventure! 2nd time on the island & 2nd time of getting 6ft from a hare. Amazing tutors & magnificent food!" H. R., Bungay.

"It was both memorable and fulfilling to spend twelve hours on such a remote and beautiful island, studying and practising photography. Very friendly and inspiring tutors." Kate R., London.

"Had a great day out; the hares are just fab, I will be back on the island." Anonymous.

"An extremly enjoyable day which I would recommend. Very well organised by Monika and the food was filling. Best of all thank you to all the professionals for their undivided attention and expert teaching." Donna, Ipswich.

"A very enjoyable day, new ideas learnt, organising + hospitality and food first class, all participants have gone away with new gained knowledge. Big Thanks to Monika for organising the event." Paul Hackett, Digiscoping Tutor, Hertfordshire.

This time I not only got these lovely written comments at the end of the day, a few days after the event I found a thank you email in my inbox too, saying:

"Hi Monika , Just a small note to the RSBP for a great day of photography on 28 April. I learnt a lot and took tonnes of pictures which I'm still sifting through. Extra thanks to Paul for his undivided attention on getting me away from being dependant on the tripod and teaching me to take a chance.  One extra special picture attached which I'm quite proud of - and as I haven't got photoshop or used any computer technology on it - apart from croping, I'm more proud than usual.  Kind regards,  Donna"

This was the picture attached:

Canada Goose on Havergate Island; Photo by Donna Hawes.

Blog post: 'Photography: Day of Discovery' - A Tutor's View

C Monika Koch — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:28:00 GMT

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 'Photography: Day of Discovery' on RSPB Havergate Island was ready to set sail.

Driving down to Orford at 5.30am the temperature gague was showing -1°C, but as we parked and moved onto Orford Quay we were greeted by the most glorious sunrise, a dawn that never broke as it remained sunny for the whole trip.

The water in the quay was as reflective as a mirror and was only broken when our transport to Havergate Island arrived.
The October Storm, a 12 person vessel chugged out of Orford harbour and took us to the island that was to be our home for the next 12 hours.

The event was sold out. 8 guests and 4 tutors, ranging from 16 to over 60 were present making us a very diverse group.

Local folk were joined by two from Oxford who had simply come for the adventure!

Upon arrival hot tea & coffee were served with some sweet snacks from Orfords famous 'Pump Street Bakery'. Needless to say, most didn’t need to be asked if they would like a second helping!!

After refreshment, we broke into very informal groups. Some knew what kind of photography they wanted to try and naturally migrated toward that tutor. There were experts in macro, landscape, conventional telephotography & digiscoping, so there was plenty of choice for everyone.

Apart from the tuition, there were plenty of opportunities to observe nature in a habitat ranging from saltmarsh, shingle beaches to open grassland areas.

I for one saw butterflies, bumblebees, birds, and of course the wonderfully confiding Havergate Island Hares.

These playful mammals really are the character of the whole island. They can run out infront of you at anytime, sometimes running away and other times stopping to graze only a few feet away.

And if you’re lucky enough to catch them boxing…..; Photo by Danny Porter.

As the day progressed into the afternoon, some delicious savoury snacks from the bakery were available, along with traditional still lemonade to wash everything down. I didn’t know this had been arranged and so this was a real treat!!

More tuition and observation ensued throughout the afternoon, and the day was bought to a close with two hares finally doing some boxing just before we were due to depart at 6pm.

A good atmosphere and great weather meant that the day was enjoyed by everyone involved.

As one of the tutors I found I learned plenty, and can’t wait to set sail again in May.

Monika deserves great credit for this excellent idea, and for putting it all together. A real success."

Danny Porter, Digiscoping Tutor

How confiding?!!? 16 year old Harry and a Havergate Hare are at around 5 metres; Photo by Danny Porter.

Blog post: Our first 'Photography: Day of Discovery'

C Monika Koch — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:00:00 GMT

Spring arrived in full power, just in time for the first of our brand new full day events.

We started at 6am at Orford Quay and the first photos were on the cameras before we had even left the quay, because the sunrise over the harbour was as breathtaking as it can only be in Suffolk.

The Pagodas on Orford Ness appearing out of the Morning Mist; Photo by Tony Pick.

Wafts of morning mist around the buildings on Orford Ness created an otherworldly illusion while we slowly passed by with the October Storm, and the shutters kept clicking. It continued this way throughout the next 12 hours; visitors and tutors alike had to change empty batteries and full memory cards to keep the cameras going for all the arising opportunities on the island.

We must have left at 6pm with hundreds of photos and I know, it will take much more time to sort the really good ones out, then taking them all in the first place. Therefore, I very much look forward to seeing stunning photos of our Havergate Hares, birds and saltmarsh plants taken by the 'students of the day' and the tutors appear in blogs, facebook pages, competitions and finally in our own exhibition at Snape Maltings in September.

Our visitors, coming from as far as Sheffield and Oxford, and as near as Ipswich, aged from 16 to 60 years, left the island with new skills, knowledge and friends, inspired and determined to return one day.

A huge thank you goes to the tutors of the day. They have taken on this new volunteer role in the RSPB South Suffolk Reserves and are so generous to donate their (usually very precious) time and professional skills to help inspiring people about protecting and saving nature.

Jon Evans shared his skills and infectious enthusiasm for tele-photography, while Danny Porter helped others to gain enough confidence with digiscoping to work on their own at the end of the day.

The island's unique landscapes were the subject for Tony Pick and multiskilled Celia Bartlett opened our visitors eyes - and macro lenses - for the beauty of small objects, which are so often overlooked.

A Whelk Shell covered in Lichen; Photo by Celia Bartlett.

Everyones endurance for the long day was in major parts due to the fantastic bread and pastries, provided by our local Pump Street Bakery. The definite favourites have been the Brownie bites, Bear Claws, Chocolate Cookies, Feta and Spinach Turnovers and not to forget, the Sicilian Lemonade (made in Devon).

We spotted and photographed many signs of spring, such as the first tiny blossoms on the saltmarsh plants, buds opening on the hardy shrubs and even some boxing hares, but the peacock butterfly dancing in the sun and the two swallows in the north of the island got away without being photographed, I believe.

If you like to know what our visitors thought about the day, please find their comments in the other blog post. If you are interested in joining one of these new events, don't wait too long to book for this very exclusive new adventure. We still have spaces left on the days in April and the second half of June.

You could be part in a similar group of people who share interest in nature's beauty and photography alike:

Walk through Havergate's Saltmarsh to the Jetty after an inspiring Day; Photo by Tony Pick.

Blog post: "A wonderful event" – Visitor Comments on our first 'Photography: Day of Discovery'

C Monika Koch — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:13:00 GMT

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 about the fantastic day.

Here is what they wrote, after a long day full of opportunities, impressions and insights:

"What a great day. Hare's galore. Weather helped blatantly, it was super to have the whole day and island to ourselves. Thank you." J. S. from Macclesfield RSPB Local Group.

"We've had a brilliant day. Good weather, hares + food. Sunny day! Thanks for welcome + kindness from Monika. Lovely not having loads of people around. A refreshing change." G. + R. P. from Oxford; members of the Royal Photographic Society.

"What a great day. Course tutors excellent, and learnt a lot. A beautiful unspoilt island, hares a joy to watch and photograph. Aided by glorious sunshine all day." Carline Antram, St Albans RSPB Local Group.

"What a wonderful event. Worth every penny! I have learned so much about the capabilities of my equipment with tips from professional experts about how to get the best out of it and what to get next for event better results. The location is perfect for trying new techniques from macro to tele-photo and digiscoping with constructive feedback on the spot too. All this and gourmet catering from the local baker. I recommend it to all." Peter Antram, St Albans RSPB Local Group.

"Excellent initiative - great to have so much time and space on Havergate with the tutors. All expert and friendly, and well organised and run. Thanks!" Kevin Bonnett, Sheffield.

"Great food from local bakery, great wildlife! Fantastically knowledgable & experienced guides made a day out unforgettable!" H. R. from Waveney Bird Club.

"Fantastic day. Great company, food & photography. Thanks very much." M. B. from Ipswich.

The enthusiasm continued until the last minute of the day, my photo below was taken half an hour before we left the island and I still heared some shutters clicking on the October Storm while we returned to Orford!

Blog post: Healthy Hares

C Monika Koch — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:02:00 GMT

The arrival of the first sunny spring days on the Suffolk Coast miraculously coincided with our first long event weekend in 2013.

Our visitors on Saturday still felt some of the cold wind from the weeks of bitterly cold weather, which had made life so hard for wildlife in Britain and beyond, but on Sunday the sunshine finally won and everyone really enjoyed walking up and down the island in search for one of the most popular mammals in spring: the hare.

Our Havergate Hares have become famous on TV recently and met Ellie Harrison from BBC Countryfile personally, but luckily it didn't leave them star struck and they enjoy life on their island as they did before: relatively relaxed.

In the past years, while showing visitors the wildlife on Havergate as a volunteer guide, I have been asked very often why these hares are so approachable. Our main explanation used to be the luck of predators and no harm from the humans on the island, both sounded very reasonable; until the day, when someone was wondering, if the salty environment might be of some influence too.

This thought got stuck in my mind and at some point, I started researching about the physical effects of saline water or a high concentration of salt in the air. My first results are quite interesting: the oldest known medical reports of the benefits of salt are from ancient Egypt, over 2000 years old! They used it to prevent infections of wounds.

Salt can be antibacterial, antiallergenic and can help against fungal infections; all this might not surprise too much, as the beneficial effects of a seaside holiday are known for some time now.

I myself have experienced the calming, relaxing and healing effects of saline waters. There are a towns in Germany with saline spas, where you can walk along braided walls with concentrated saline water dropping down all the time. There is so much salt in the air, that one can taste it. For people with breathing problems caused by allergies - as in my case - this has a fantastic relieving effect; after a day on Havergate I feel the same, actually.

The Havergate hares must live with a similar high salt level in the air every day of their lives and nibbling on saltmarsh plants must add more salt to their diet. Therefore, the level of salt in their bodies should be relatively high and it is more than likely that it is influencing their health as well as their relaxed behaviour.

These conclusions are not at all results of some serious scientific research, more some personal thoughts on the subject, but it might be enough to add a new explanation to the answers we will give our visitors in the future, while we try and hope to find out more one day.

Therefore, please don't hesitate to comment, if you know more.

Photo: Havergate Hedgehog

Sue Alderman — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:49:00 GMT

It’s a hedgehog’s prerogative to have the odd tick, but it took a trip to the vets to sort out the numerous unwelcome passengers on this one! He's looking much healthier now.

Photo: Havergate Hedgehog

Sue Alderman — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:43:00 GMT

Visitors to Havergate Island on Sunday 7^th April may remember that the RSPB boat returned to Orford with an extra prickly passenger! The small hedgehog was not in the best of health when it was found lying in the grass in the middle of the day, but after a week recuperating and fattening up on tinned dog food, it is almost ready to be released back into the wild. It’s likely that the hapless hog emerged from hibernation to find that spring hadn’t actually arrived yet, and – like much of our wildlife – struggled in the prolonged wintry conditions. Having been kept indoors for a few days, it’s now acclimatizing in an outdoor pen before being released - the warm, damp weather is just what our Havergate hoglet needs for the best start in his new home. Many thanks to my mum, Gill, for providing five-star hedgehog accommodation and care.

Photo: The Countryfile Team

C Monika Koch — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:44:00 GMT

In the photo from the left: Kieren Alexander, current Havergate Warden, Ellie Harrison from Countryfile, Aaron Howe, South Suffolk RSPB Reserves Manager and John Partridge, former Havergate Warden, after filming for the Suffolk Episode © BBC Countryfile.

The Countryfile Episode with Havergate Island will be screened on BBC one, 14 April 2013, 7pm.

Find more information here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s1psf

Blog post: Countryfiled: Update

Kieren — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:16:00 GMT

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

Blog post: Countryfiled

Kieren — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:57:00 GMT

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 all.

The basic idea of the piece was to look at the history of the island, what managment is being done now on the island and to try and capture on film some of the islands population of Hares.

To this end we welcomed back John Partridge, an old warden, then formerly a site manager to talk about the history of the island, his and his father's work back in the 60's, 70's and 80's and to have a general reminisce.

Here's John talking to Ellie Harrison about his time on the island on the way over in the redoubtable October Storm. John is a great source of facts about the history of the island, remembering when it was more or less farmland and he is always happy to talk about the history of the island.

Attention soon turned to the current state of avocets both on the reserve and nationally. Sadly, avocets are in decline on Havergate (a subject touched on in many other blogs) on the island largely due to predation by the larger gulls but also squeezing of available nesting space. Happily this is not reflected nationally with well over a 1000 pairs of avocets nesting nationally from the south coast to Durham. We also touched on the plight and importance of Havergate to large gulls with both Herring and lesser black backed gulls struggling and going through major changes in their national ecology. Meaning that avocets as a national species are actually doing better than herring gulls!

It also helped that the view from Belpers was quite spectacular with over 600 dunlin feeding, handful's of knot and grey plover, good numbers (15 or so) bar tailed godwits, the shorelark and the usual scattering of redshank and turnstone with ringed plover's.

After some lunch, attention turned to the Havergate hares as Ellie tried to get up close and personal with these lovely little mammals. This small population (numbering no more than 30) has existed on Havergate for over 100 years. Due to a combination of factors including a small population, lack of predators and almost daily exposure to none threatening humans they have become very confiding. This then offers people a unique chance to get as close to Hare's as is possible, in fact I doubt you can get closer to Hare's anywhere else in the country.

Ellie attempting to get close to one of the islands Hare's. Watch the show to see if she succeeded! Also, Watch this space for details of when it will be aired some time in Mid to late April we would imagine. I am sure it will be well worth a watch.

If you would like to see the Hares or indeed any of the other wildlife mentioned in this article and featured in the show see our website for details.

Blog post: Making 'A World of Difference' for Havergate Island

C Monika Koch — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:42:00 GMT

Some brilliant news, hot of the press:

The South Suffolk Coast Reserves are one of only two lucky RSPB places to get a Vodafone World of Difference winner in Spring 2013.

Hi, this is me actually: Monika,

Events Officer for the South Suffolk reserves from March to June; fully funded by the Vodafone Foundation to work for the RSPB part-time for four months.
Officially, I will start in my new post next week, but if I had taken this date completely serious, you wouldn't be able to read this yet.

However, the events, which I am planning and organizing for the World of Difference time are far too exciting to wait and therefore I started volunteering in my new role as soon as we learned about the successful application.

By the way, people familiar with the RSPB team on the Suffolk Coast will hopefully have a positive memory of me: last time I worked my toes off for the RSPB was, when I was situated at the (no longer existing) Wildlife Information Centre at Snape Maltings.

Others might have met me at the Minsmere shop, with the Minsmere Wildlife Explorers or... on a visit to Havergate Island. I have been moving up and down the coast since I started volunteering for the RSPB in Spring 2009, but my favourite place was, and still is: Havergate Island.

That's were this story will continue, but before I reveal more details, please do watch this lovely, little film, to get an idea of what making 'A World of Difference' really means.

I'm sure you have been wondering about it, since you read the headline. What if...

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Blog post: Winter Development's: Pt 2

Kieren — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:26:00 GMT

Readers of the blog will have noticed that a few weeks ago I finished the last blog with a to be continued as I posed the question, if it is not prey availability that holds a potential spoonbill breeding attempts back then what is it?

It is a reasonable assumption that predators in the shape of foxes and otters are present on the island, it may be only intermittent but this may be enough to put of any spoonbill’s attempting to breed or prospecting on the island.

This is somewhat backed up by experiences from the Wadden sea colonies (where interestingly enough most if not all of the summering spoonbills on Havergate come from). These birds are only able to nest on the ground due to the complete lack of mammalian predators. This offers them such an advantage that the adult birds are willing to fly up to 40km to find suitable feeding habitat.

This then poses another question, like what can we do to improve this or lessen the effect of predators on the island.

Well, there is obviously direct action against predators; however, it is considered that this might not be effective due to intermittent nature of predators on the island and in the case of otters legal protection. I for one, love seeing otters on the island.

So, after much discussion with our colleagues in reserve ecology, observing in this case cormorant behaviour the concept of spoonbill breeding platforms was formed. This was initially going to take the form of essentially big bird tables built by volunteers. Over time this idea was refined and became building nest platforms in the fork of tree’s.

The tree’s where chopped down as part of standard regular management from the plantations at Minsmere.

These tree's where then transported out to the island on the October storm with help from the team at Minsmere. Along with a large amount of birch brash from the RSPB managed forestry blocks in Tunstall forest this will be used to form the platforms and possible nesting material.

These where then trimmed and buried into the ground on a high island at the back of Gullery lagoon to form the basis of the platforms.

On top of the forked tree's, struts where nailed in and the birch brash was used to form a platform. The idea behind this was not to build the nest for a spoonbill but merely give them a start and something to build on later in the season.

And here is the finished product....

So, the theory behind is that we have provided an area that is theoretically safe from ground predators by diversifying the spoonbill’s breeding options and giving them a potential option that is off the ground.

Obviously, there is no guarantee’s this will work, sadly there never is in these situations. However, it at least gives the spoonbills more options and allows us to go some way to nullifying the effect of potential predators in the spring time. I think in terms of success I would take a spoonbill just perching in one of the platforms this year.

Photo: Havergate Hare

Jon Evans — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 11:24:00 GMT

Brown Hare (Lepus Europaeus)

Photo: Havergate Hare

Sue Alderman — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 11:14:00 GMT

Another of Havergate's residents.