The saying 'the early bird catches the worm' was definitely true on our dawn chorus walk yesterday.
As soon as I drove onto the reserve and saw the mist over the river and the sky turning from black to pink and orange, I decided the 3am alarm was definitely worthwhile! As I arrived in the car park I was greeted by a nightingale singing away, which kindly continued as everyone arrived - what a welcome!
We started our walk by heading towards the nightingale, and stood listening to him singing away. He was in the trees right next to us, very close but we couldn't spot him! Our walk then took us along the edge of Drayton Lagoon, past the scrubby area were we heard loads of warblers and then watched the sunrise over Drayton Lagoon. We then headed around Elney Lake, with a stop in the hide and then finishing up at the new viewpoint.
We heard/saw over 45 species during the walk including nightingale, cuckoo, song thrush and swifts. Warblers included blackcap, chiff chaff, common and lesser whitethroat, grasshopper, sedge, Cetti's, willow, garden and reed! We also saw two of our four marsh harriers - two males were marking out their territory over Elney Lake. A female has been seen collecting nesting material over Holywell Lake which is promising!
Our walk finished back at the newly opened welcome shelter with a much needed coffee and pastry!
Many thanks to all who attended, and to Luke for leading us.
If you are interested in attending future walks, please email fendraytonlakes@rspb.org.uk