As you walk around the reserve at the moment, you can't help but notice the berries on the bushes.  They appear to be a touch early this year, perhaps due to the warm summer.  They are an important food source for our wildlife.  The birds are feeding on them and some butterflies like red admirals like the ripe fruits.

On the sailing lake, we are starting to see a slight build up of ducks as we head into autumn with more gadwall and tufted ducks being seen here in recent days.  The moulting flock of mute swans have now grown to 80 birds and an odd great crested grebe can be seen in amongst them.

On the slough there has been a similar start to the build up of ducks with the first teal beginning to reappear here.

Moving to Bernard's hide which is now much bigger, the first snipe of the autumn has been seen here.

Next hide is the Double Decker, where the spotted crake has been showing occasionally in the morning before 9am!  We have had daily reports up until yesterday but none today.  Water rails have been good in the mornings here too.

Heading down to the eastern lakes where common sandpiper, more ducks and grebes can be found.

Around the trails small birds can be found from some warblers like chiffchaff and whitethroat to our resident birds like our long-tailed tits so be sure to listen and watch for movement in the bushes as you walk past.

It is also still good time at the lakes for watching dragonflies like migrant hawker or southern hawker.

Lastly, a good number of butterflies can be seen with large white, small white, green-veined white, red admiral and specked wood seen today around the reserve.