As David blogged last night, a little bittern has been seen at Lakenheath Fen; a rare visitor to Britain and an amazing first ever record for the reserve!
Some great views were had last night; after ‘barking’ for a while, the bird was seen climbing up some reed stems before making a brief flight – I only wish I had been there to see it.
I made it down the reserve for 5am (the alarm clock was a bit of a shock this morning!) and joined the many others near Joist Fen, in the hope of catching a glimpse of this rare visitor. Unfortunately, despite many pairs of eyes (and ears) on the lookout, there was no further sign of the bird today.
We will keep you updated with any further sightings as soon as we have them. Let just hope it’s a case of being twice shy – it’s small stature (it's smaller than a moorhen) and the size of the reedbeds here makes spotting this elusive bird no easy task.
Although, the little bittern wasn't seen this morning, it was still a great time to be out on the reserve. As the sun started shining through the poplar trees, we were surrounded by the booms of bitterns, cuckoos calling and singing sedge warbler, reed warbler and reed bunting.
As I made my way back to the visitor centre the swifts were screaming over the reedbeds and I spotted my first hobby of the day. We’ve had up to 45 hobbies counted in the air at once and it’s definitely a sight not to be missed. Joist Fen or New Fen viewpoints are the best spots to watch this spectacle.
Hobby (Image credit Tim James)
Top sighting of today (so far!) are the three common cranes, spotted by Dave and Roger whilst on car parking duty. They flew in from over the carpark, where they proceeded to circle over the washland, calling all the while, before heading off west over the reserve.
Whitethroats are singing well down the main track and a grasshopper warbler is reeling away near Mere Hide.
Other highlights in the last few days include great white egret on the washland, red kite over Joist Fen (this morning), bittern in flight, curlew and kingfisher all from New Fen viewpoint.
An inquisitive stoat has been making regular appearances on the main track leading to Joist Fen viewpoint; some excellent photo opportunities to be had there.
Stoat (Image credit Matt Walton)
The last week or so has also seen the first sightings of various damselflies and dragonflies, including common blue damselfly, azure damselfly, large red damselfly and hairy dragonfly.
Azure Damselfly (Image credit Matt Walton)
All in all, a pretty great time to visit!