Good morning. The last couple of days have certainly been interesting here. I will start with a couple of kingfisher pictures from Thursday. Thats quite a large fish!:
Image credits: Matt Walton
Thank you very much to Matt Walton for sharing these great images with us.
It poured it down with rain on Friday morning but for the volunteers, friends of volunteers (and occasional staff members!) who took to gazing out of the window at the rain, there was a reward: Presumably the same bittern that has been visiting the visitor centre pond on and off for the last month spent the entire morning skulking about at the edge of the pool:
Image credit: Dave Rogers
It was a fantastic opportunity to watch its methodical movements and I spent a happy five minutes simply watching it having a drink! Sadly, it flew off just before lunchtime. However, it was quickly replaced by one of the local kingfishers, which entertained us all with its hovering antics.
It did eventually stop raining and once it did, a pair of stonechats was seen from Mere Hide and an otter was fishing in the pool in front of the hide. This is certainly one of the first sightings of one of these elusive creatures in front of the hide so this was particularly exciting!
The last sightings of the day came when Roy spotted a barn owl and another pair of stonechats from the Washland viewpoint. All in all, the day didn't turn out too bad in the end!
I went for a walk in the fog yesterday morning and despite the distinct lack of visibility, I saw a redshank on the second washland pool along with three little egrets. I also saw a muntjac deer scampering through Trial Wood.
Once the fog lifted, I spent my lunch break looking at gulls up at the Washland viewpoint (as you do!) There were 29 lesser black backed gulls and three common gulls. There were also two water pipits in front of the viewpoint. I even managed to get one through the telescope briefly, which was good to see.
As the day went on, a water rail was skulking around at the edge of the visitor centre pond and presumably the same otter from Friday was seen from Mere Hide. There were at least eight marsh harriers hunting over the reedbeds and a kingfisher was seen from the riverbank.
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!