Good morning. I will start off where I left off with some recent sightings from Saturday afternoon. A spotted flycatcher was feeding in the big willow near the visitor centre and the ringed white stork that has been hanging around the area recently flew over Mere Hide.
There was also some excitement when two of our regular visitors found a micro moth with the given name of commophila aeneana on the washland. This is a scarce species in this part of the world and is probably a first record for the reserve. What a great way to celebrate National Moth Night!
Unfortunately, we had a power cut at 16.45 so Emma and I had to hang around a while longer than anticipated. While we were waiting for the power to come back on, I photographed this fine emperor dragonfly in the Fens plant bed in front of the visitor centre:
Image credits: David White
I went for a walk before work on Sunday morning and a cuckoo flew over the visitor centre. A common tern was also feeding on the washland. As the day went on, three great spotted woodpeckers were feeding on the visitor centre feeders, one adult and two juveniles.
On Monday, three bitterns were seen together from New Fen viewpoint. There were also four little egrets showing well from the viewpoint.
Yesterday, Dave was lucky enough to see an otter from New Fen viewpoint. He also captured these two great images on the visitor centre veranda:
A cheeky stoat:
A wren keeping a good eye on the cheeky stoat:
Image credit: Dave Rogers
Katherine also went for a walk around Brandon Fen and photographed this dragonfly:
Image credit: Katherine Puttick
Thank you very much to Dave and Katherine for sharing these images with us.
It looks most like a black tailed skimmer but if anybody has any other opinions on its identity, please let us know.
I went for a walk around Brandon Fen before work this morning. There were two common terns feeding over Wilton Bridge and a male marsh harrier was hunting over the washland. A cuckoo flew past the Washland viewpoint and another was calling in East Wood. I also photographed this red eyed damselfly near the visitor centre:
Image credit: David White
Just before I got back to the visitor centre, a chiffchaff was singing behind the visitor centre and a garden warbler was singing in the staff car park.
I won’t be around for the next couple of weeks as I will be up at RSPB Bempton Cliffs for part two of my sabbatical. Until then, we hope to see you on the reserve soon!