Happy New Year to you all! We hope you all had peaceful and enjoyable Christmases.
I will start the New Year the way I usually do: by announcing the results of our staff and volunteer year list challenge!
Well, inevitably, after Katherine won by one species in 2012 and I won by one species in 2013, it was a draw this year. Katherine and I tied on 124 species a piece. I have attached the full list below of all 131 species of birds that were seen on the reserve by staff and volunteers during 2014. Here are the full results:
We will be doing it again in 2015 so who knows what will happen this year! We have a new participant in our new Warden Emma, so let the fun begin!
Before I move on to this year, here is a fantastic photograph of an otter that Matt Walton took on Monday:
Image credit: Matt Walton
Thank you very much to Matt for sharing this great image with us.
As usual, I have been out on the reserve this morning and father and I got down to Joist Fen viewpoint for first light. It took a while to get light as it was rather dull but the sky was soon full of thousands of carrion crows, rooks and jackdaws leaving their overnight roost in the poplar woods.
We did very well for bitterns. We saw three individuals in flight before 8am. At least 21 marsh harriers left their overnight roost in the reedbeds and a total of 22 little egrets flew east along the river.
We could hear some wild swans even before it got light. At least 130 whooper swans left their roost at the far end of the reserve and a total of nine Bewick’s swans flew over.
There was plenty to see from the riverbank on the way back including a water pipit, four stonechats and a common buzzard. Our last sighting before opening up time was of two goldeneyes in front of the Washland viewpoint.
The weather forecast for the next couple of days isn’t looking bad so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!