Denise Anderson has produced a lovely short film about her visits to Fowlmere in May, published on our Forum. Just like the real Springwatch somewhere else, there are some great close-ups of birds, flowers and insects with lots of bird song in the background. Last week Chris Packham observed that barn owls are absent from Springwatch this year, but they are the stars of the show at Fowlmere! Denise has captured an extended sequence of one of our barn owls hunting, and another at its roost site near their nestbox. The film concludes with a distant turtle dove that can just be heard singing.
Recent highlights at Fowlmere have included 3 barn owl chicks in their nestbox plus the adults roosting nearby, all visible from the viewpoint on the nature trail; at least one pair of turtle doves and two more singing; a cuckoo roaming around; the first-summer marsh harrier still roosting in the reedbed; at least three kingfishers (a pair between nesting attempts, and a juvenile); a pair of gadwalls on the mere (now challenging our identification skills by being in eclipse plumage); reed warblers building a nest visible from Reedbed Hide; and a green sandpiper visiting briefly during its migration.