Good morning. Now that the technical issues have (hopefully!) been solved, here are some recent sightings from the last week:
On Tuesday, Dave headed down the reserve before work and saw 47 whooper swans leaving their overnight roost at the far end of the reserve. He also saw at least four marsh harriers, a common buzzard and a barn owl in the same area.
Later on in the day, there was a great white egret showing in front of the Washland viewpoint along with five yellow legged gulls.
I was elsewhere for most of the day on Wednesday but I had a great view of a female barn owl hunting near the visitor centre before I set off for my daily adventure. Meanwhile, back at the far end of the reserve, Katherine and Suzanne counted 18 little egrets into their overnight roost on the reserve.
It was a bit stormy on Thursday morning but I still walked down to Joist Fen viewpoint before work. A barn owl was hunting at the edge of the car park and two roe deer were skulking at the edge of East Wood. At least 46 whooper swans left their overnight roost (from a similar place than Dave saw them on Monday) and four marsh harriers were hunting in front of Joist Fen viewpoint.
On the way back to the visitor centre, I got this very gloomy picture of the steam engine "Union of South Africa" puffing past the reserve on its way to York:
Image credit: David White
It was also a work party day and on the way back from a hard day's work in the reedbed, volunteer Phil took this picture of Joist Fen out of the window of the moving truck (he wasn't driving I hasten to add!):
Image credit: Phil Hammond
It was a bit bleak here on Friday but there were three great white egrets on the washland along with plenty of gulls. Pick of the bunch had to be an adult Caspian gull, which is the first record of this scarce species on the reserve for quite a while. An adult yellow legged gull was also present.
It was a cold but beautiful day here yesterday and local photographer Matt Walton was out and about early. Here are a few of his pictures:
A female marsh harrier being pursued by a carrion crow:
A marsh harrier showing off its bright yellow eye:
One of the great white egrets taking off:
Image credits: Matt Walton
Thank you very much to Phil and Matt for sharing their images with us.
Around a dozen bearded tits were showing well in Brandon Fen and the adult Caspian gull was again present in front of the Washland viewpoint.
We hope to see you soon!