Good morning. Suzanne and I have done our first bird survey of the breeding season this morning so it's time to catch up on what has been happening here over the last couple of days:
I am pleased to say that the pair of garganeys that I was lucky enough to find on Sunday morning stuck around and have been present ever since. Volunteer Max was lucky enough to find a jack snipe feeding with seven common snipe in the newly cut area of New Fen North, the first area of reedbed.
It was mild enough on Monday for a couple of house martins to be reported over the reserve. We usually expect this species from around 6 April so this was very early indeed!
On Tuesday, local photographer David Gowing took these great photos out on the reserve:
Barn owl:
Marsh harrier:
Image credits: David Gowing
Thank you very much to David for sharing his images with us.
Volunteer Paul came in and saw the two garganeys from the Washland viewpoint. He also saw a small tortoiseshell butterfly on the wing in Brandon Fen.
Ex Site Manager Norman and his wife Linda were down the reserve in the afternoon and saw two cranes from Joist Fen viewpoint. They saw a woodcock at the edge of Trial Wood and heard two tawny owls near the car park. They also saw several interesting mammals. A water vole was feeding in front of New Fen viewpoint and two bats (presumably Daubenton's) were feeding over New Fen North at dusk.
I had a walk around the reserve before work yesterday morning and there were several bramblings singing their wheezy songs in Brandon Fen. A mistle thrush was singing at the edge of the car park and several chiffchaffs were singing near the visitor centre. There were also several common toads calling at the edge of the visitor centre pond.
As the day went on, the two garganeys were seen from the Washland viewpoint. There were also a couple of bitterns booming near Joist Fen viewpoint.
As I said above, Suzanne and I did our first Common Bird Census (CBC) around Brandon Fen at 06.30 this morning. Here is the visitor centre pond shrouded in the mist shortly after I arrived:
Image credit: David White
Although it was rather chilly, it was bright, sunny and still which were ideal weather conditions for our survey. We had fantastic views of two barn owls hunting over the washland and a treecreeper that was feeding at the edge of the path in Brandon Fen and an unseen grey wagtail flew overhead which is a good record at this time of year.
At least three roe deer were skulking at the edge of the entrance track and two kingfishers were chasing each other around over the visitor centre pond. Meanwhile, further down the reserve, volunteer Roger H heard a bittern booming near Joist Fen viewpoint.
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!