Good afternoon. I will begin with some late news from Tuesday: Ex-Site Manager Norman saw a single pink footed goose in amongst a flock of around 300 greylag geese north of the river. It will therefore be worth looking through the goose flock over the next couple of weeks as pink footed geese are pretty scarce here.
Moving on to Friday, two fieldfares flew over the visitor centre shortly after I arrived. I also saw two water pipits from the Washland viewpoint.
As the day went on, three bank voles were seen underneath the feeders behind the visitor centre. Volunteer Cat also saw the leucistic wren near New Fen viewpoint. It is good to hear that it is still around.
I went for a walk around Brandon Fen before work yesterday morning and saw two roe deer. A stonechat was showing well in front of the Washland viewpoint.
Volunteer Denise saw a common buzzard as she drove in. There were also seven roe deer grazing along the entrance track.
Our theme for the first Wildlife Explorers Club meeting of 2018 was the Big Garden Birdwatch. Jaiden, one of the members of the group took these great photographs during the meeting:
Male reed bunting:
Blue tit:
Goldfinch:
Bank vole:
A little egret on the river:
Image credits: Jaiden Blumfield
Thank you very much to Jaiden for sharing these great images with us (and to his dad Adrian for e-mailing them to us!)
We also saw a great white egret just east of the Washland viewpoint while we were out and about.
Meanwhile, further down the reserve, bitterns were seen from New Fen viewpoint and Mere Hide over the course of the morning. A kingfisher and a water rail were also seen from New Fen viewpoint.
I popped up to the Washland viewpoint and spotted an adult Caspian gull in amongst a fairly large group of gulls. Shortly after I got back to the visitor centre, 16 whooper swans dropped in to the large pool in front of the viewpoint.
A peregrine was perched up in East Wood mid-afternoon. At least five great white egrets were sen from Joist Fen viewpoint later on in the day.
There were at least 200 greylag geese in front of the Washland viewpoint first thing this morning (including a white one!) I decided to walk long the riverbank and just in case you are wondering, it is still extremely muddy. I struggled to negotiate it with wellies on so I would recommend giving it a miss at the moment!
Anyway, I saw a water pipit near the stile. There were plenty of bearded tits calling near New Fen viewpoint and a great spotted woodpecker was drumming in East Wood.
When I got back to the visitor centre, a chiffchaff was calling nearby. A kingfisher also flew low over the pool which certainly helped to brighten up a dull morning.
As I mentioned above, the riverbank between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint is currently extremely muddy so we would recommend avoiding it at present. The rest of the reserve paths are fine.
We hope to see you soon!