Good afternoon. I will begin today with a selection of great images that were taken on the reserve recently by Tanya Carlile:
Common lizards:
Ruddy darter:
Bee feeding on teasel:
Ladybirds:
Image credits: Tanya Carlile
Thank you very much to Tanya for sharing these great photos with us.
It was really foggy on Friday morning and I went for a walk around Brandon Fen before work. A willow warbler was singing near the pond dipping platform and a tree pipit flew over the car park, calling as it went.
I walked back along the riverbank and a banded demoiselle was on the wing close to the path. Several garden spiders were showing off their impressive webs and a goldcrest was calling near the visitor centre.
I have been away this weekend but I have reliably informed that kingfishers were showing well from the visitor centre window over the course of the weekend.
One of our regular visitors walked down to the far end of the reserve on Sunday morning. A barn owl was hunting over the washland and another was hunting near Joist Fen viewpoint. A bittern was seen from Joist Fen viewpoint along with seven bearded tits were seen from the viewpoint. A hobby was feeding north of the river and six common snipe flew over the far end of the reserve.
I returned to work at lunchtime and perhaps unsurprisingly given what I had been told around an hour ago, a kingfisher was fishing in the visitor centre pond! It was lovely to see it and several visitors got the chance to admire it as well.
Sadly, it seems that both of our pairs of cranes have now gone on their summer holidays out into the Fens. Three of “our” birds were seen feeding around 12 miles away as the crane flies on Saturday. At least they haven’t gone far. Hopefully they will come back and visit from time to time over the next couple of months.
With the possible exception of tomorrow, the weather is looking pretty good for this week so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!