THIS summer’s indifferent weather has done little to dampen the spirits of wildlife on one of Suffolk’s top nature reserves.

The RSPB’s Havergate Island in the River Ore has been a haven for all creatures great and small.

It was a particularly good season for one the county’s rarest breeding birds, the common gull, with the colony increasing to 18 pairs and a record five chicks fledged from their nests.

Meanwhile - after an almost complete absence in 2009 - 29 pairs of common terns also nested, with the 11 young that fledged the first to do so on Havergate since 2006.

The island also boasts a significant colony of lesser black-backed gulls and the nationally threatened herring gull along with avocets and spoonbills.

The rare ground lackey moth has also flourished along with a down of brown hares.

Warden Kieren Alexander said: “Havergate is a magical place to visit.”