Good morning. I will start off with some great images that were taken on the reserve recently by regular visitor David Gowing:
Bittern swimming:
Avocet:
Image credits: David Gowing
Thank you very much to David for sharing these great images with us.
I will now start off where I left off with some sightings from Friday morning onwards:
Four oystercatchers flew north over the visitor centre, calling noisily as they went and a peregrine was seen from the Washland viewpoint. A barn owl was hunting in front of Joist Fen viewpoint mid-morning and our first hobby of the year was seen from New Fen viewpoint at lunchtime.
My father and I came down for a walk in the evening and we saw the glossy ibis and a barn owl from the Washland viewpoint. We could hear a bittern booming in front of New Fen viewpoint and a whimbrel appeared from the west before disappearing to the north, calling as it went. My father was also pretty sure that he saw a single crane in flight from the viewpoint.
On Saturday, at least two cuckoos were seen near New Fen viewpoint and a single crane was seen in flight from Joist Fen viewpoint. Suzanne and volunteer Darren also saw at least four bitterns near Joist Fen viewpoint.
My father and I came down for a walk early yesterday morning. As it was pretty chilly, things were quite difficult to see unfortunately. We did see the glossy ibis from the Washland viewpoint and we also had very close views of two roe deer on the riverbank north of West Wood.
As the day went on, a bittern made another appearance at the edge of the visitor centre pond and one was booming rather halfheartedly in front of New Fen viewpoint. A reed warbler was singing next to the Washland viewpoint and a cuckoo was heard north of Joist Fen viewpoint.
I went for a walk before work this morning and I heard a marsh tit singing in Brandon Fen. I could hear a common whitethroat and a distant grasshopper warbler singing from the bend in the river east of the Washland viewpoint. The glossy ibis and a great white egret was showing well on the Washland viewpoint and another grasshopper warbler was singing in a bramble bush just west of the viewpoint.
I also took this photo of the washland which I hope you like:
Image credit: David White
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!