Good morning. I will begin this morning with a correction from Friday's blog post. The dragonfly image is actually a migrant hawker as opposed to an emperor dragonfly as I originally stated. Apologies for this mis-identification and many thanks to Ian Tulloch for putting me right.
The weather has been really rather unpredictable recently but there has still been plenty to see. I lead a guided walk on Sunday morning and despite the ominous looking clouds, we did see plenty. A sparrowhawk flew out of West Wood and flapped steadily over New Fen North towards the visitor centre. A kestrel was also hovering over Mere Hide.
When we got to Joist Fen viewpoint, at least four bearded tits were flying around at the edge of the pool and a yellow wagtail flew over. Just as we left the viewpoint, a kingfisher flew low in front of us, calling as it went. When we reached the edge of Trial Wood, two reed warblers were perched out in the open which was lovely to see.
Although it rained for most of the morning, a juvenile kingfisher kept appearing at the edge of the visitor centre pond and posed on the various perches at the edge of the pool. There was also a "band" (yes, that is the collective noun!) of five jays in front of the visitor centre that kept squabbling over the peanut feeder.
The few visitors that braved the weather were rewarded as they saw the great white egret on the washland north of West Wood. It was accompanied by seven little egrets. They also saw a bittern land right in front of Mere Hide and at least one hobby was flying low over the poplar woods.
The great white egret was again seen yesterday. This time, it was seen flying along the river towards the west end of the reserve. Suzanne also saw a hobby was also seen over the west end of the reserve. I came down for a walk in the evening. I saw a red-eyed damselfly resting along side the public footpath and two sparrowhawks over New Fen North.
The main reason why I came down though was to capture some images of the stormy clouds. These were taken sequentially with the first image being taken just before 7pm:
Image credits: David White
I hope you like them!
Before I go, here is a plug for our Fenland wildlife bonanza of events on Saturday. We have events going on throughout the day and it is open to everybody. Please click this link for more details.
The good news is that the weather forecast is looking better for most of this week so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!