Apologies for the long delay in reporting on our breeding birds.
Fowlmere continues to be one of the best places in Britain to see turtle doves, with at least 4, possibly 5 singing birds, and 2 pairs seen mating. The most visible individual has been in the dead tree just south of the barn owl nestbox, but the bird near Drewer Hide has also been posing well.
Our barn owls have been visible in their box for some time, but they are rarely seen out hunting. Then yesterday one was seen bringing food to the box at 8pm, which hopefully means there are chicks.
Hobbies rarely nest on the reserve, preferring to be in copses of mature trees in farmland hereabouts, but there have been up to 3 hunting over the reed bed on sunny days.
Two sub-adult marsh harriers have been hanging around, but showing little evidence of breeding so far. However, they could surprise us even now. The only previous breeding record was in 2007, when a pair reared 3 young.
Spotted flycatchers have not bred since 2006, but one or two were singing in different parts of the reserve last week.
I had a real surprise last week when I chanced upon a pair of starlings feeding chicks in a woodpecker hole in an old willow, because they haven't bred on the reserve since 1992! If they had been closer to the visitor trails we could have set up a viewpoint, as the young birds are quite cute when they peer out of the hole.
Tufted duck is another irregular breeder, but it looks like we have 2 pairs this year.
Lapwings have been nesting on the reserve in recent years, since we started maintaining an area of shorter vegetation to the east of the mere several years ago. Their first clutches are usually predated, but they have had better success from their second attempts, presumably because the plants in which they nest are taller and offer better cover. I suspect they are on eggs at the moment. Five pairs nested in the fields around the reserve, but they have also lost their first eggs/chicks. However, at least one pair is doing better with its second attempt, with young chicks now.
Finally, I must mention the otters. Singles have been seen a couple of times during May from Drewer Hide, and last night at about 8.30pm I saw 2 fishing in the mere for several minutes. Excellent!