Good morning. After Thursday morning's post was pretty light on detail, I am pleased to say that today's post is full of a variety of sightings!
Local photographer Martin Peake took these great images of bearded tits from Joist Fen viewpoint on Thursday:
Image credits: Martin Peake
Suzanne went for a walk around Brandon Fen at lunchtime. She saw a juvenile common redstart and a lesser whitethroat feeding at the edge of the car park.
Meanwhile, further down the reserve, three cranes were seen in flight from Joist Fen viewpoint. This is the first sighting of any cranes on the reserve for two weeks so it is good to know that they are around again. Two bitterns were also seen from the same area.
Local birder Steve spent some time looking over the washland and saw:
There were also two garganeys present.
I had a very productive walk before work on Friday morning. Things started well when I spotted two redstarts feeding in the willows near the Washland viewpoint. A common buzzard was soaring over the car park and a green woodpecker was calling near the pond dipping area.
I spent some time looking over the washland and I saw the following:
A marsh harrier was hunting overhead and at least six swifts were feeding in the morning sunshine. When I got back to the visitor centre, a willow warbler was calling near our office window.
A marsh tit made several brief appearances on the feeders behind the visitor centre and this bittern was photographed in front of Mere Hide:
Image credit: Jeff Kew
There were also some interesting invertebrate sightings over the course of the day. A clouded yellow butterfly was seen along the riverbank and a new species of spider for the reserve was found near New Fen viewpoint. It was Marpissa muscosa and as far as I can see, it doesn't have a British name as yet! A goat moth caterpillar was also seen not far from the visitor centre.
Local birders Steve and Malcolm spent some time looking over the washland on Saturday. They saw the following between them:
Steve saw a redstart near the visitor centre and he also saw several interesting species of insect at the far end of the reserve. This included several willow emerald damselflies and a hornet mimic hoverfly.
Yesterday, a red underwing moth was found roosting on the visitor centre. Several different bitterns were also seen from Joist Fen viewpoint over the course of the day.
I went for a walk before work this morning and saw a green sandpiper on the washland. A woodcock flew out of East Wood and a willow emerald damselfly was feeding alongside East Wood.
I bumped into local birder Jonny who had just seen a smart male southern hawker dragonfly in the car park. While I was opening up the visitor centre, I spotted a kingfisher that was perched up at the edge of the visitor centre pond.
Before I leave you, here are a few notices:
Firstly, you may be interested to hear that ex-Site Manager Norman Sills found a nationally scarce species of plant on the reserve last week. It is soft hornwort, which is a species of water weed. If you would like to see it, it can be seen from the dragonfly platform near New Fen viewpoint at the moment. Please ask in the visitor centre for more information.
Secondly, we have our Summer Family Fun Day this coming Sunday. Weather permitting, this will include a bird ringing demonstration. If you would like to come and see some birds in the hand, please do come and say hello if you are here on Sunday!
Finally, if you are planning to visit the reserve, please note that there are still cattle grazing on the riverbank Public Footpath between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint.
We hope to see you soon!