The great thing about this week is that we have had some nice weather, which has been great news for our visiting photographers. I will start with a selection of lovely of images that I have been sent:
A pair of greylag geese:
A male stonechat (the photographers first!):
A male hen harrier in fading light:
Image credits: Matt Notlaw
Here are some lovely reed bunting images that were taken behind the visitor centre on Monday afternoon:
Image credits: Chris Bainbridge
Thank you to Matt and Chris for sending these over. Raptors have again stolen the headline this week with seven hen harriers roosting on the reserve on Sunday evening. A first winter male merlin was seen near Joist Fen viewpoint earlier on in the day and marsh harriers were widespread.
I went for a walk around Brandon Fen on Tuesday morning and had great views of two barn owls hunting. At one point, the female perched right in front of me which was a real treat. A kingfisher was perched at the edge of the washland pool and there were several species of birds singing in the morning sunshine. This included a dunnock and several great tits.
As Ali mentioned in her blog post, I spent a rare day out on the reserve helping with the Cambridgeshire & the Fens Area Team work party. While I was performing my role as chief string cutter, there was plenty to see. Two cranes flew over and a Cetti's warbler was skulking in front of me while I was carrying a bundle of reed towards the reserve vehicles. On the way back, we stopped briefly at Joist Fen viewpoint and had great views of the cranes, a male hen harrier and a barn owl.
Fast forward to this morning, I went for a walk at first light to see the progress that had been made on the boardwalk up to Mere Hide. On the way down, the moon just looked spectacular. Here is my best attempt at a photo:
Image credit: David White
While I walked along the southern edge of Trial Wood, I disturbed three roe deer on the track and a muntjac deer skulked off into the vegetation. The muntjac barked as it went, but whether it was actually barking at the moon remains to be seen! (Apologies, its a tenuous link to the title of an Ozzy Osborne song just in case you were wondering!) When I got to Mere Hide, I found the boardwalk almost complete. Hopefully, it won't be long before we can open it now so watch this space!
If you are planning to visit this weekend, although the Winter wildlife spectacular tomorrow is FULLY BOOKED, there are still places available on the similar walk on Sunday. Details about how to book places can be found by clicking on the link above. The weather isn't looking too bad this weekend so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!