50.62689,-2.44249
- Grid ref: SY688809
- Lat/long: 50.62689,-2.44249
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Wildlife awards
Lodmoor is one of the best places for wildlife in the UK.
Top things to do in Spring
- Watch out for returning migrants just arrived in the UK, like swallows and martins getting their first food over British soil as they swoop and swerve over the reedbeds, filling up after the long journey from Africa
- Listen to the reserve coming to life as the reedbeds start to fill with the reeling song of warblers and the squealing calls of water rails; the bushes fill with songs and calls of Cetti’s warblers, thrushes and finches
- Look out for a wide range of plants along the path, borders splashed with the multi-coloured wonder of our spring flowers and the growing green shoots of the reeds themselves, which will be two metres high in just a few weeks!
Top things to do in Summer
- Watch the drama unfold as the common tern colony expands to three times its size with young birds of all ages, from tiny newly-hatched chicks, the size and colour of tiny pebbles, to their older cousins trying their wings out for the first time - all choreographed to the harsh screaming calls of their parents returning with food
- See thee flashing iridescent wings and richly-coloured bodies of darting dragonflies, the colourful flying jewellery of our butterflies and day-flying moths and the myriad of other insects and bugs that you can see, and hunt for, around the reserve
- Listen out for the excited 'pinging' calls and whirring wings of parties of young bearded tits hunting noisily for insects in the reeds
Top things to do in Autumn
- Look out for the electric-blue flash of a passing kingfisher as it searches for its next meal
- You might see birds of prey – a sheer feast of poetry in motion... peregrines, kestrels, harriers, hobbies and even ospreys looking for their next meal
- The wonderful changing autumn colours, especially in the early morning or evening light, as the reedbed turns first purple with flowers and then amber or golden as the low sun creates halos around every seed head
Top things to do in Winter
- A really great time to take a good look at up to eight species of wildfowl - all really close, giving you plenty of time to learn what makes them so special and to enjoy their colourful and often iridescent feathers
- Look out for flocks of lapwings sheltering, graced by the occasional golden plover
- As the nights draw in, it is a good time to get heron happy – as the (white) little egrets and grey (big) herons start to gather for the evening. Watch out for the (brown) bittern, flying low over the reeds
What's on?
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