Good morning. We have had an interesting couple of days on the reserve. I will begin with some images of kingfishers that have been taken from Mere Hide recently:
Image credits: David Gowing
At lunchtime on Thursday, Suzanne saw a willow warbler at the edge of the car park. Volunteer Lawrence went out on the reserve during the afternoon and he saw a good selection of bird species. This included a green woodpecker in Brandon Fen and a charm of around 30 goldfinches along the riverbank.
He also saw a good selection of birds of prey. This included a hobby over the washland and a sparrowhawk from Joist Fen viewpoint. Several marsh harriers were also hunting over the reedbeds.
On Friday morning, a barn owl was hunting over the washland first thing and two little egrets were on the washland. A kingfisher was fishing at the edge of the visitor centre pond and a yellow wagtail flew over the visitor centre, calling as it went.
On Saturday morning, a couple of us were out and about early to photograph steam locomotive 600009 "Union of South Africa" passing the reserve on its way to Chester. Here is a picture of it for posterity:
Image credit: David White
Two marsh tits were feeding on the feeders behind the visitor centre during the morning and two kingfishers were feeding at the edge of the visitor centre pond. There also up to six hobbys feeding over the Washland viewpoint.
I led a very successful guided walk with the reserve Wildlife Explorers Club looking for spiders. Three species were particularly prominent, which were: garden spiders, marbled orb weavers and four spot orb weavers. The best spot was alongside the hard track at the edge of Trial Wood.
It wasn't just spiders though. We saw a common frog and a common newt on our travels. This is probably the first time that I have seen more than one species of amphibian on the same guided walk here! We also saw several common lizards basking in the morning sunshine.
There was plenty to see on the washland during the afternoon including:
A painted lady butterfly was also on the wing near the Washland viewpoint.
It was really rather foggy first thing this morning. I saw at least four roe deer around Brandon Fen and heard a water rail near the Washland viewpoint. Shortly after we opened up the visitor centre, a marsh tit was feeding on the visitor centre feeders and a kingfisher was feeding at the edge of the visitor centre pond.
If you are planning to visit the reserve, please note that there are still cattle grazing on the riverbank Public Footpath between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint.
We hope to see you soon!