Good afternoon. Waterfowl have featured very prominently here over the last couple of days so the majority of today’s images are wetland themed:
A group of Canada geese in flight:
An action shot of a mute swan:
A great white egret and a little egret:
A group of curlews in flight:
A hunting barn owl:
Image credits: David Mackey
Thank you very much to David for sharing these great images with us.
I will start with an interesting ringing recovery. A Canada goose with a red neck collar (sporting the letters AHH) has been present on the washland recently. It was present at the British Trust for Ornithology’s headquarters at Nunnery Lakes in Thetford 10-15 July last year (where it was ringed). It was next seen at Pentney Gravel Pits in Norfolk 7 September before being seen here. It is always interesting to hear where these birds get to!
There was plenty to see on Thursday and the visitor centre was a great place to be based. A female sparrowhawk was perched up at the edge of the pond and a peregrine flew over. A group of four curlews also flew over.
Suzanne went up to the washland viewpoint at lunchtime and saw four bearded tits. She also saw a great white egret.
It was a lovely day yesterday and there was some excitement when two garganeys were seen on the washland. These are our first definite summer migrants of the year. A female pintail was also present.
Meanwhile, further down the reserve, a female red crested pochard was seen in flight over Joist Fen viewpoint along with five gadwalls. This is a very unusual sighting for here indeed.
There were also several invertebrates on the wing. This included a peacock butterfly and a small tortoisehell alongside East Wood.
I had a quick look from the Washland viewpoint this morning and had good views of a kingfisher and a barn owl. At least nine little egrets present and a water pipit flew over.
Meanwhile, further down the reserve, one of our regular visitors found a female ferruginous duck in the pool just behind Joist Fen viewpoint. This bird has been present for a while but this is the first time that it has strayed onto a part of the reserve that is visible from public paths (hence why I have not been able to mention it until now!)
There were two green sandpipers on the washland north of West Wood and one of our pairs of cranes flew in to New Fen North, the first area of reedbed.
As the day has gone on, two great white egrets were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint along with at least eight marsh harriers. There was a high count of 17 little egrets alongside the river and a drake garganey was eventually seen on the washland.
The weather forecast for the next couple of days isn’t looking too bad so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!
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