Well, its time for my last blog post of the year. One of my last duties of the year came on Sunday when I did the coordinated harrier roost count at Joist Fen viewpoint. Although it was very windy and counting wasn't exactly easy, there were lots of marsh harriers around. In total, there were two males and 14 females. As the afternoon went on, the hen harriers started appearing and eventually, there were three males and two ringtails.
While I was watching the hen harriers, I saw two things that I had never seen before. Firstly, as I scanned around with my telescope, I spotted a male hen harrier perched on the ground in Humphrey's Paddock, the grazing marsh in front of Joist Fen viewpoint where the cranes are occasionally seen. This was the first time that I had ever seen a hen harrier on the ground! Secondly, just before dusk, I was watching two male and two ringtail hen harriers hunting together in the same view. This was the first time that I had ever seen four of these elegant birds hunting together.
It was a similar story on Monday with two males and one ringtail hen harrier hunting in front of Joist Fen viewpoint in the afternoon. There were good numbers of swans on the washland early yesterday morning with 47 mute swans, five whooper swans and four Bewick's swans. We went down the check the progress on the boardwalk for Mere Hide and we saw a lovely pair of stonechats perched up in the sunshine. There were also lots of bearded tits pinging nearby which is an encouraging sign for the future. Later on in the day, 10 marsh harriers were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint along with two male hen harriers and a barn owl.
This leads me on to our Christmas opening times, which can be found in the pink box here. Details about the closest available Public Toilets to the reserve over Christmas can be found here. The closest postcode to them is IP27 9AF. The visitor centre and toilets will reopen on 1 January.
Looking forward to the New Year, please note that the car parking charge for non-members of the RSPB will increase from £3 per car to £4 per car. As with before, this will be payable in the visitor centre during office hours.
As my Christmas present to you all, I thought I would end my blogging year with a trip down memory lane. I will take you back to what the reserve looked like on 19 & 20 December 2009. This was a very significant occasion for me as it was the first time in my life that I saw what I would call "proper snow." I will certainly never forget it!:
The washland frozen:
The visitor centre looking particularly festive:
A view from the riverbank at the west end of the reserve:
The snowy apple tree at the edge of Botany Bay:
Image credits: David White
That just leaves me to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of the team at RSPB Lakenheath Fen! We look forward to seeing you in the New Year.
Brave crow!
David. I also saw the Male Hen Harrier on the ground in the paddock on Tuesday evening. It had caught some prey and was happily consuming it. That's until a crow appeared on the scene and actually stole whatever the Harrier was trying to eat!!