It’s been a busy few days for the birds on the reserve this week. The flashes have seen plenty of action, with a sparrowhawk spotted over Cedric’s pool on Friday, and pintails, snipes and goldeneyes all seen on Spoonbill flash on Sunday. Green Woodpeckers and Marsh Harrier have also been seen from Lin Dike hide in the past few days.
Main Bay is the place to be for the ducks at the moment, with Widgeons, Gadwalls, Shelducks, Teals and Tufted ducks all spotted from Bob Dickens hide on Saturday. The area around the visitor centre has been no less busy, with a great spotted woodpecker, willow tits and long-tailed tits all on the feeders at the visitor centre.
Despite it being a little quiet in terms of visitor numbers yesterday, our rangers were still out and about on the reserve, seeing what fantastic wildlife they could spot. David and Ginny had a very successful trip down to Charlie’s hide and around the cut, as they managed to see at least five Kingfishers! Along with these were pochards, shovelers, tufted ducks and a kestrel – not a bad walk!
We’ve had a couple of fantastic mammal sightings over the weekend, one of which was a roe deer behind the village bay viewpoint on Friday afternoon – it just goes to show you never know what you might see! The other was a wood mouse beneath the visitor centre which we caught on our camera trap over the weekend. Wood mice are almost entirely nocturnal, so we’re lucky to catch a glimpse of an animal we wouldn’t normally see.
Wood mouse under visitor centre
Given the lovely sunshine we’ve been having in the afternoons, and the very mild temperatures that go with it, there have also been a lot of butterfly and dragonfly sightings over the last few days, including red admirals, small whites and migrant hawkers galore!
Red Admiral
Why not come for a refreshing autumnal stroll around the reserve and tell us what you’ve seen?