Lackford Lakes is a Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) reserve found to the north-west of Bury St. Edmunds. Once former gravel pits it is an excellent reserve for all sorts of wildlife with areas of wetland, woodland and sandy heath and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is an important site for birds and also hosts interesting species of plants, dragonflies and mammals. The SWT have a visitor/education centre at the reserve with allocated parking and toilet for disabled people. A pool and bird feeders can be viewed from the centre window allowing close views of birds such as finches and sparrows, with a gallery upstairs offering views across the reserve. There are a number of trails and hides around the reserve including one trail that allows wheelchair access. A specially constructed artifical kingfisher bank was built in front of the visitor centre by the pool that regularly attracts kingfisher.

Web site: Lackford Lakes

Directions: By car along the A1101 (Bury St. Edmunds to Mildenhall road) between Flempton and Lackford, the reserve is signposted on the right at TM798705.

Bird species: birds seen all year include kingfisher, tufted duck and water rail. In spring migrants such as warblers including reed, sedge, blackcap, garden and whitethroat and it is a good site for nightingale, with little ringed plover and hobby. In Winter there can be large numbers of wildfowl and gulls present with species such as teal, wigeon, shoveler, gadwall and a regular site for goosander. Regular waders include ringed plover, snipe, lapwing and redshank. In early winter 2010 six tundra bean geese were present along with the usual canada and greylag geese. Occasional visitors such as red-necked and black-necked grebe have frequented the reserve. One or two bittern are also present along with cormorant, egyptian goose and coot. The large gull roost contain herring, lesser black-backed and common gull. Bullfinch can be found in the woodland/scrub along with flocks of siskin and redpoll in the alder trees.

At the feeders placed by the visitor centre and on the edge of the field nearby regularly attracts a good number of birds including tree sparrow, yellowhammer, reed bunting, linnet, goldfinch, chaffinch and greenfinch. 

A number of rare and scarce birds have occurred at Lackford and include ferruginous duck, ring-billed gull, caspian tern and white stork.

Local bird photo web site of Barry who kindly supplied some of the photos in the gallery below: Barrys Digiscoping Photos by Barry Woodhouse.