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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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

As people who visit the website will be aware, the island closed its doors to the general public at the beginning of October this is to enable the contractors to access the island and carry out the vital works as part of the EU life+ project. It is my pleasure and excitement to be able to announce that...

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...

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...

Courtesy of Richard Straton