Good morning. The weather has been a bit wild for the last couple of days so I will start with a few more pictures that were taken hear last week, in (mostly) calmer conditions:
A chiffchaff that was ringed in Brandon Fen last Monday:
Image credit: Lee Gregory
A great white egret and a little egret side by side on Thursday:
A sparrowhawk over Brandon Fen on Thursday:
The smoky sunset on Thursday evening:
Image credits: Matt Walton
One more picture of the sunrise on Friday morning:
Image credit: David White
Thank you very much to Lee and Matt for sharing these great images with us.
Shortly after I finished blogging on Friday, a barn owl was hunting behind the visitor centre. A great white egret was on the washland along with three goldeneyes.
As the day went on, there were lots of gulls present on the washland. This included at least three Caspian gulls. This included two adults and a second winter bird. Katherine walked round Brandon Fen late in the afternoon. She saw and unringed chiffchaff, which must mean there are several birds around at the moment.
It was really rather windy yesterday morning but I still had a walk around Brandon Fen. When I reached the end of the ramp that connects the trail with the riverbank, two roe deer scampered along the path in front of me and a great white egret took flight nearby.
Once the weather had calmed down, volunteers Roy and Emma went out to update the interpretation signs on the reserve. They saw at least four marsh harriers from Joist Fen viewpoint and two common buzzards over West Wood.
A single whooper swan was feeding with mute swans on the river just north of the first area of reedbed and several bearded tits were calling in front of the Washland viewpoint.
There were again plenty of gulls to see, including presumably the same three Caspian gulls. There were also at least 10 yellow legged gulls present.
A barn owl was hunting near the visitor centre was hunting as dusk fell and a little owl was calling in the distance.
This morning, I had a quick walk around Brandon Fen and all I could muster was two water pipits which were flying around over the washland. However, one of the “early birders” has just come back having seen two cranes from Joist Fen viewpoint. This is the first sighting of them on the reserve since just before Christmas. It’s great to have them back so hopefully they will stick around!
The weather forecast for this week isn’t looking too bad so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon.