It's been another great week for sightings on the reserve and since I last blogged about such things on Sunday morning. I have received a fantastic variety of photos of some of our iconic wildlife. The first four pictures come from Sunday, so here they are:
The winter plumaged slavonian grebe:
Image credit: Ron Smith
Our two resident crane pairs up on the riverbank just west of Joist Fen viewpoint:
A very early peacock butterfly that was fluttering around near the visitor centre pond:
Image credit: Matt Walton
A male hen harrier hunting in the evening light:
The above bird was one of five hen harriers that were seen that evening from Joist Fen viewpoint. There were four males and one ringtail to be precise! They were joined by at least 10 marsh harriers, the juvenile peregrine and a merlin.
I came down on my day off on Tuesday to walk down to Botany Bay at the far end of the reserve. Things started well with good views of the slavonian grebe on the washland. As I walked down the riverbank, I flushed a red legged partridge near the big willow and a water pipit north of West Wood. When I got to the kissing gate near Joist Fen viewpoint, four cranes flew off from the riverbank in front of me. Incredibly, as they flew off, a bittern flew through the gap between the two pairs as they separated. How lucky was that?!
When I got down to the west end of the reserve, I found a fantastic display of snowdrops at the bottom of the riverbank:
Image credit: David White
My day then got even better just before I turned off down the footpath through Botany Bay: A large otter, probably a dog, ran across the Public Footpath right in front of me. I couldn't believe my luck! My last sighting of a fantastic walk came when a male sparrowhawk flew across the footpath through Botany Bay. Not bad at all!
That leads me nicely to yesterday morning, when the slavonian grebe was present on the washland along with a great crested grebe. A great spotted woodpecker was drumming in Trial Wood and there was a lovely flock of at least 17 long tailed tits near East Wood.
Please note that the work to re-jig the paths that I mentioned on Wednesday will begin on Monday. We will try to ensure that disturbance will be kept to a minimum while this is happening.
Last but by no means least, if you haven't discovered it already, please visit the RSPB Suffolk Facebook page for more news from all of the RSPB reserves and projects in Suffolk.
We hope to see you soon!