Good morning. It has certainly been mild for the time of year recently, hasn’t it?! I will start off with a detour back to Saturday, when ringed Simon Evans was ringing in Brandon Fen. I have attached his ringing data below.
I have also included a short except of his ringing report, which I hope you find interesting:
“Four stunning adult male bramblings were amongst the catch with one equally impressive adult male chaffinch of continental origin with a wing measurement of 92mm. The local studies into moult extent in juvenile siskins has been fairly interesting, with one female caught showing an unusually extended moult limit. The annual trend for our senior great tits to return for the autumn continued with two retraps from 2011 being caught.”
Thank to very much to Simon for providing this summary.
There were also some interesting records from Saturday morning, with three green sandpipers and two black tailed godwits flying over Joist Fen viewpoint.
Once the mist had lifted on Sunday, it was lovely day and it was a great one for photography. Here are a few pictures:
An assortment of fungi:
Image credits: David White
Peacock:
Brandon Fen:
Image credits: Denise Chappell
Thank you very much to Denise for sharing these great images with us.
A female bearded tit was seen on the approach to Mere Hide and we had a real treat from the visitor centre just after lunch: A bittern strolled right around the edge of the pond, in full view of several very surprised staff, volunteers and visitors. At one point, it was overtaken by a kingfisher, which was just incredible to see.
There were several people up at the Washland viewpoint during the afternoon hoping to see the short eared owls. Sadly, they didn’t show themselves but a barn owl did, so their search for owls was not entirely in vain!
It was a foggy day yesterday but the great white egret was showing well from the Washland viewpoint. A bullfinch also flew over the visitor centre, which is a good record for here.
I went for a walk around Brandon Fen this morning and several bramblings were feeding in the poplars near the car park. The great white egret was showing well from the Washland viewpoint and a meadow pipit flew over. Katherine went up to the viewpoint shortly after we opened and saw eight little egrets and three grey herons.
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!