My blog post on Friday had several definite themes, and birds of prey were very high on the agenda. Friday afternoon continued in a similar vein when a male hen harrier was over Joist Fen viewpoint along with the juvenile peregrine that has been present for a while. However, the local owls seemed to be out yesterday morning to try to steal the show. I got in extra early to try and catch the Bewick's swans that have been roosting on the washland recently leaving their roost. Although I didn't see any, I flushed a little owl from the entrance track just before first light and had great views of a barn owl hunting over the car park and Brandon Fen shortly afterwards.
At lunchtime, I took volunteers Roy and Roger down to Mere Hide as they had not been inside yet. As we approached the hide, a lovely female stonechat was perched up at the edge of the track. Although we were only in the hide for 10 minutes, we had great views of two marsh harriers hunting at close quarters. This certainly bodes well for the future.
Later on in the day, Roy and I went down to Joist Fen viewpoint with the intention of trying to count how many birds of prey were roosting on the reserve. As predicted, this turned out to be really rather difficult! Things started spectacularly with an incredible flyby from the juvenile peregrine at around 3.15pm. It appeared out of nowhere from the north and stooped at some unseen prey item. Before it (and us for that matter!) had realised what had hit it, the speedy peregrine pelted past back north just as quickly.
This really started things off with a bang, as the male hen harrier appeared shortly after in front of the viewpoint. This was closely followed by a ringtail hen harrier that was a lot more difficult to see. It had sneaked north over the river before most people got a chance to see it. While all of this was happening marsh harrier numbers were gradually increasing and we got up to eight females and two males at one point.
Ad the light faded, the male hen harrier appeared again and showed very well for around five minutes. It was briefly joined by another ringtail hen harrier, but again it was too far off for most of us to get onto though. The last raptor sighting of a day came when a burly common buzzard appeared from the east and flapped steadily past the viewpoint.
It wasn't all about birds of prey though. While we were down at the viewpoint, two Bewick's swans flew west along the river and a bittern made a brief flight in front of the viewpoint. There was also a fantastic sunset. Although I didn't have my camera with me last night, here is a nice dusk shot that I took earlier on this week. I hope you like it!:
Image credit: David White
We hope to see you soon!
Thank you for your kind words Clare! It did look beautiful! Yes we were very lucky with what we saw.
That's a beautiful shot, David - and I'm pleased you saw so many magnificent birds!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.