What a difference a day makes! Yesterday was mostly spent sheltering from the rain, sleet and wind, with only a few people braving the elements. Fast forward to this morning and whilst there was a definite chill in the air, it was a perfectly calm sunny morning – great for being out and about on the reserve.
Saturday’s view from the centre – it doesn’t quite capture the strength of the wind (Image: John Wightman)
Despite the weather throwing all it had at us this week, we still have some great wildlife sightings to report:
Myself and Katherine headed down to Joist Fen viewpoint late Tuesday afternoon and it was a marsh harrier spectacular – we counted 25 in the air at once before they came into roost in the reedbed.
It’s also a great opportunity to watch the sunset over the reserve, whilst listening to the slightly eerie sound of the corvid roost beginning to build up in the woods surrounding New Fen.
Sunsets at Joist Fen (Emma Cuthbertson)
The great white egret is being seen on a daily basis from the washland viewpoint – hopping over onto the river this morning, having found it’s usual haunt frozen over. It’s been regularly joined by at least two little egrets and good numbers of shoveler were around yesterday, however the strong wind made counting them more than a little difficult!
During the breaks in the rain yesterday we watched 10 siskin and at least two lesser repolls feeding on the alders just outside the visitor centre. We are certainly starting to notice an increase in winter visitors; our local bird ringer Simon was out in Brandon Fen again on Friday and ringed 97 lesser redpolls – a record for the site!
But the stars of the weekend have most definitely been the otters. A family party (two adults and two young) were seen first thing this morning by two lucky visitors. They were playing around alongside the river and then near joist fen viewpoint. At one point they were a mere 10m from the camera – it must have been an amazing experience!
Saving the best for last though, I return to Wednesday and a very showy bittern on the visitor centre pool. Typically most of the staff were out of the office and didn’t see it (why does it always happen that way?!), but John managed to get some brilliant photos and I can’t resist posting a series of them...enjoy!
All images by John Wightman – thanks for sharing John!