Visitors to Fen Drayton Lakes, particularly the bird watchers, can be forgiven if they think Christmas has come early this year.
Why will be bird watchers be happy? Well, our first bird-watching hide is open for visitors to use.
Why Christmas? Well, the hide is a gift from Network Rail to the retiring chief executive, and he most kindly asked for a hide at an RSPB nature reserve (he is a member) rather than something to collect dust on his mantelpiece. We happen to be his nearest RSPB site – aren’t we fortunate!
If you aren’t familiar with the term, I’ll try to describe what a bird-watching hide is. It is rather like a large wooden garden shed, with one door and a number of wooden “windows”. These can be opened so that the people inside can look out at birds, but the birds cannot see the people. There are variations on the theme – some hide are constructed from other materials, some may have glass windows, or open slots to view through, but the essential feature is that the people inside are hidden from the wild animals they want to watch.
As the season is changing into autumn, and the weather deteriorates, the shelter that the hide offers people will become more and more valuable. We will be able to spend more time in relative comfort, watching the birds in front of us, out of the wind and wet stuff.
The hide is on the edge of Moore Lake, about half a mile from the guided bus request stop and the car park, but well worth the walk. There may be some disruption, however, as work is currently being done on the access track alongside the busway.
Today (Saturday 17th), the range of water birds included wigeons, teals, mallards, gadwalls, shovelers, pochards and tufted ducks, along with geese, gulls, cormorants, mute swans, herons, and migrating swallows and wading birds. The bonus was watching them all without getting drenched in the rain that was hammering down on the roof.