Good afternoon. I will carry on where I left off on Wednesday. Volunteer Nigel saw a red kite over the Washland viewpoint. I returned from a successful stint on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire Wildlife Hour and was presented with a poplar hawkmoth that was trapped on the reserve on Tuesday evening:
Image credit: Emma Cuthbertson
I eventually put it in some vegetation near the visitor centre and here it is at rest:
Image credit: David White
On Thursday morning, volunteers Simon and Pete were ringing in Brandon Fen. While they were out and about, they heard a lesser whitethroat and a turtle dove singing which are both great records for the reserve. They also saw a barn owl in flight and two muntjac deer skulking in the vegetation.
The reserve team were doing a bittern survey further down the reserve. Volunteer Roger Horton was based at the far end of the reserve and he took these two panoramic images:
Image credits: Roger Horton
Thank you very much to Emma and Roger for sharing their images with us.
As the day went on, two cranes were circling high over the visitor centre at lunchtime and our first black tailed skimmers of the year were seen along the riverbank.
Meanwhile, further down the reserve, a bittern was seen from Mere Hide along with a kingfisher. At least three cuckoos were also seen in the poplar woods.
There were plenty of bittern sightings from Joist Fen viewpoint yesterday. Site Manager Dave also saw one of pairs of cranes with their chick near Joist Fen viewpoint.
I had a walk around Brandon Fen this morning and heard a turtle dove in Brandon Fen. A cuckoo was calling in East Wood.
We had an event with our Wildlife Explorer’s Club to celebrate National Moth Night this morning. I have attached a list of the species that we caught to this blog post if you are interested.
We set the children a challenge to find the mullein moth caterpillars that were feeding in the bog plant bed in front of the visitor centre. Here is a picture of one that I took:
While we were looking for caterpillars, we found a freshly emerged blue tailed damselfly and a freshly emerged dragonfly, which was most likely to be a four spotted chaser.
As the morning has gone on, one of our pairs of cranes with their chick were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint. At least three different bitterns were seen from the viewpoint and an oystercatcher flew over the visitor centre, calling as it went.
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!