After some much needed, heavy rainfall this week, today is a bright and sunny day on the reserve. Although we dislike the torrential rain and wind down here it benefits our wildlife so much more than we think. Our wet grassland fields are now wet again which provides a much needed source of food for our resident waders such as lapwing and redshank. It also heightens water levels in the pits allowing better feeding opportunities for herons and bitterns. Speaking of which, a bittern has been seen quite regularly from Hanson hide over at the ARC so it's worth popping in there to have a look if you are visiting us any time soon.
The beautiful Bewick's swans have arrived on our reserve and we had really good views of them on Burrowes Pit this week which livened up a dull day quite a bit. After almost a week of no-show, the long-eared owl has been seen today by the dipping pond.
Bewick's swans - Martin Casemore
Lots of fieldfares have been seen on the reserve over the last month. These are large, colourful thrushes that flock to the UK to spend the winter. Look out for them eating the winter berries.
Fieldfare - Graham Parry
The photographs below were sent in by a visitor, Charles McAllister, who captured the perfect shot of a gull diving for its food:
Charles said: "I managed to capture this gull in what I thought was the perfect dive from the Firth Hide on Monday 4th December. The gull received its prize for the dive as seen in the second photo. I watched the gull diving in the near left hand pool for several minutes and it was a fantastic few minutes. The gull clearly owes the opportunity to hone its fishing skills to the forward looking changes carried out by the team in re-shaping the islands and pools in the Autumn. Well done to both the team and the gull."