Good morning. It has been an interesting week so I will launch straight into some recent sightings. On Sunday, two great white egrets were on the washland and a kingfisher flew across the visitor centre pond.
We had a very successful barn owl walk on Sunday afternoon, although we did have to be quite patient! The first one we saw was hunting over Field 5026, which is the area just east of East Wood. We had our best views from the Washland viewpoint, where we were lucky enough to have a bird perched up. We managed to get the telescope on it and saw it devouring a small prey item at one point. There was also another bird hunting over the washland just before it got dark, so it was a very successful walk!
A barn owl was showing well from the visitor centre on Monday. Volunteer Paul went up to the Washland viewpoint on Tuesday and saw a great white egret. A barn owl was also hunting in front of the visitor centre once again.
I went for a walk around Brandon Fen on Wednesday morning and a mistle thrush was singing near the car park. A barn owl was hunting over the grazing marsh and I could hear some whooper swans on the washland. Unfortunately, by the time I got up to the Washland viewpoint, the whooper swans had gone. However, bird ringers Simon, Lee and Pete saw eight up there earlier on so at least we had a count of them!
It turned out to be a lovely day and these great images were taken out on the reserve:
Three cranes in flight near Joist Fen viewpoint:
Great white egret in flight over the washland:
Kestrel:
Kingfisher:
Image credits: Warren Etherington
Thank you very much to Warren for sharing these great images with us.
I got in slightly earlier than normal yesterday morning and even before I got to the staff car park, I had seen a little owl, a woodcock and a barn owl. That’s not a bad start to the day!
I walked down to Joist Fen viewpoint and on the way down the (very muddy!) Public Footpath, I saw two great white egrets and a water pipit. When I got to the viewpoint, I saw two bitterns and at least seven marsh harriers, including at least one adult male.
On the way back to the visitor centre, I stopped on the southern side of Trial Wood and a corn bunting flew west overhead. This fine steam locomotive also went past, which was wonderful to see:
Image credit: David White
As the day went on, a common buzzard was seen from Joist Fen viewpoint and two common snipe were seen near the Washland viewpoint.
I went for a very productive walk around Brandon Fen this morning. I saw two barn owls hunting over Brandon Fen and two great white egrets were showing well in front of the Washland viewpoint. Two roe deer were skulking around nearby and a song thrush was singing north of the river. A flock of 27 lapwings were wheeling around overhead and a redshank landed at the edge of the large pool.
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!