A decent-sized group of people gathered on the hill overlooking the reserve at 10am yesterday for two hours, to take part in the Cambridgeshire Bird Club's coordinated Raptor Watch. It was a great pleasure to welcome both the Club's Chairman (Peter Herkenrath) and the County Bird Recorder (Mike Foley) among the crowd. Mike kept a tally of our sightings, and I've copied his post from Cambirds below:-
Thanks to Doug Radford for hosting the Watch at Manor Farm, Fowlmere. Twelve adults and two young, enthusiastic boys were present.Wind 0 @1000, 1-2 by 1100, N veering to NE. Cloud 1/8 to 3/8 by end.Common Buzzards were seen almost continually over the two hours, with sufficient thermals already present at 1000 for several to be seen in the air from the start. We came up with a conservative minimum figure of 19 birds. The maximum number seen in one group was six. Local breeding is known to occur and true migration was not obvious. Two Kestrels were seen a hour apart in the same area, and deemed to be the same bird. The second sighting was followed closely and it flew so fast over about a mile that one observer who saw it only in its final position first thought it had to be a different bird. Such are the benefits of having several birders together scanning over the area. Two Sparrowhawks were seen, and both behaved as local birds.Possibly the highlight was an adult female Marsh Harrier that passed nearby heading south until out of sight.Also 21 other bird species. Mike
Conditions were excellent for showing the less experienced observers how to identify the various species. A good session.
Doug