Lackford Lakes - Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Lackford Lakes - Suffolk Wildlife Trust Suffolk Wildlife Trust Lackford Lakes is a 400acre Nature Reserve comprising of 11 lakes with 8 hides This reclaimed site has been quickly colonised by plants.
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A superb site for wildfowl in both winter and summer, Lackford attracts tufted duck, teal, pochard, gadwall, shoveler and goosander. There is a large winter gull roost which can hold as many as 28000 birds. Passing birds of prey include the majestic osprey, whilst buzzard and sparrowhawk can be seen regularly. Tree sparrows are seen year round feeding from bird feeders and specially grown crops on

the Reserve. In the summer months, hobby can be seen in hot pursuit of sand martin, swallows and an array of dragonflies. This is one of the best places in Suffolk for kingfisher, and cormorant are often seen fishing at the sailing lake or roosting in the tall trees by the river. Almost any migrant bird can turn up - black tern are regulars but species like Little Egret and the more uncommon waders are also seen. Gipsywort, figwort, common fleabane and purple loosestrife occur by the water’s edge and common centaury and common stork’s-bill and biting stonecrop appear in the drier areas. Encroaching willows need to be kept in check so that the open water, which hosts clouds of blue damselfies, is not lost. The otter has become a frequent visitor here. Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s original 11 hectare reserve at Lackford was donated by Bernard Tickner in 1976. In 2000 RMC donated a further 90 hectares of land to form the Lackford Lakes reserve. Our House Rules
We love to hear from Suffolk Wildlife Trust members and supporters, to see your photos and hear your ideas and suggestions. All we ask is that users are respectful of others and keep their posts polite, civil and suitable for all ages. We do not tolerate any content that is offensive or abusive including material that is obscene, violent, aggressive, argumentative, harassing, defamatory, unlawful, insulting, indecent or otherwise objectionable. This includes any language that can be construed as offensive, sexist, racist or homophobic. Please note that we retain the right to hide or remove any comments that we consider inappropriate. This extends to spamming and any material judged to be off-topic in subject-specific areas. We retain the right to block individuals who ignore this policy and post inappropriate content on our page. Moderation
In general, we don’t moderate posts on our page or groups – except when offensive language is used or libellous allegations are made. We have a duty to protect our staff and volunteers, so while deleting comments is a last resort and very unusual, our position is that any post containing libellous accusations should be removed. If an individual posts content contrary to our House Rules (see above) then we reserve the right to block that person from the page.

20/06/2026

Check out our display of vipers bugloss.

Head towards Lackford church for the best location to view these.

Check out these awesome macro shots by Kieran Elson! It's always a treat to see our visitors' photographs, and these esp...
17/06/2026

Check out these awesome macro shots by Kieran Elson! It's always a treat to see our visitors' photographs, and these especially highlight the magic of the little things around the reserve 🐛

1 Sawfly larvae
2 Ruby-tailed wasp
3 Cardinal beetle
4 Mint leaf beetle
5 Parasitoid wasp (Ormyrus nitidulus)

More hot weather is approaching - we’ve got you covered in the café. Plenty of lush ice cream options and of course, cla...
16/06/2026

More hot weather is approaching - we’ve got you covered in the café. Plenty of lush ice cream options and of course, classic iced coffee. Remember to come and cool off between walks and enjoy plenty of refreshments. Look forward to seeing you soon 😎🌞🍦

Despite the rain this week we've had a lovely range of wildlife here at the LakesKingfisher were showing very nicely on ...
14/06/2026

Despite the rain this week we've had a lovely range of wildlife here at the Lakes

Kingfisher were showing very nicely on Friday at Double Decker. Juvenile (baby) birds can also be seen across the reserve - common tern, shoveler, tufted duck and great crested grebe on the lakes and great tit by the Visitor Centre.

We're starting to see more variety of butterflies on sunny days, including meadow brown, speckled wood, and small heath.

We were also surprised by this huge honeybee nest after a broken branch in Ash Carr - the bees are calm & resilient to nest damage, and also 6 metres above the ground, so a great spot for passing visitors to safely peek into their world!

Summer evenings at the Lakes ~Join us for a relaxed evening to see what our wildlife gets up to later in the day. Enjoy ...
13/06/2026

Summer evenings at the Lakes ~
Join us for a relaxed evening to see what our wildlife gets up to later in the day. Enjoy sitting out the evening light, listening to birdsong, getting creative at our craft station, and discovering our wildlife up close 🐝

We have two evenings planned on 1st July, open to all, and a family special on 29th July. All details can be found on the events page of our website suffolkwildlifetrust.org/lackfordlakes

We look forward to seeing you there!

Visitor update for Wednesday & Thursday 📢A quick heads-up that, due to staff shortages, our closing times will be 1 hour...
09/06/2026

Visitor update for Wednesday & Thursday 📢

A quick heads-up that, due to staff shortages, our closing times will be 1 hour earlier than usual on Wednesday and Thursday.

Here’s what to expect:
☕ Café closes at 3:00pm
🏡 Visitor Centre closes at 3:30pm
🚗 Car park closes at 4:00pm

We’re very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, and we really appreciate your understanding. We look forward to welcoming you during our regular opening hours from Friday onwards.

Address

Lackford
Bury St. Edmunds
IP286HX

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+441284728706

Alerts

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