Good afternoon! We have had a great couple of days here are there has been plenty to see. Here are some pictures that have been taken recently, courtesy of Tim James:
A dunnock:
A common whitethroat:
A sedge warbler:
Image credits: Tim James
Thank you very much to Tim for sharing these great images with us.
There was a bit of a surprise on Wednesday when a raven flew west over Joist Fen viewpoint. This is only the third record of this species on the reserve. At least 24 hobbys were over Joist Fen viewpoint and three cuckoos were seen in the same area. A great white egret in breeding plumage was also present on the washland.
Meanwhile, closer to the visitor centre, a stoat was seen several times in the staff car park and a garden warbler was singing nearby. A Cetti’s warbler was also singing behind the visitor centre.
An osprey was seen from Joist Fen viewpoint later on in the day. This is probably the same bird that has been present on and off for the last couple of weeks.
The weather was a bit patchy yesterday but the great white egret was still present on the washland. There were at least 100 swifts and 100 house martins over New Fen viewpoint, which must have been quite a sight to see!
I went for a walk around Brandon Fen before work this morning and I saw at least three roe deer. A cuckoo flew over the Washland viewpoint and the great white egret was showing well further along the river.
I have just returned from a very successful walk around the reserve with a group of school children from Fairstead House School. We saw several drinker moth caterpillars alongside East Wood and several pregnant nursery web spiders. There were also plenty of garden spiders, busily weaving their orb shaped webs.
There were several species of dragonflies and damselflies on the wing. This included several blue tailed damselflies, a common blue damselfly and a hairy dragonfly.
We had our lunch down at Joist Fen viewpoint and there were at least 38 hobbys feeding in front of us. A common tern was fishing in the pond in front of the viewpoint and a cuckoo perched very obligingly for us just behind the viewpoint. A spotted flycatcher was also darting about just north of the viewpoint, but it was too quick for most of the children to see.
As we walked back along the riverbank, we found plenty of signs of otters including some spraints and some broken swan mussel shells. Just before we got back to the visitor centre, there was a lovely peacock butterfly on the wing.
All in all, it was a great walk! The children were very well behaved and we saw lots of great wildlife.
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon.