Good afternoon. Before I launch into some more recent sightings, here are some lovely photographs that have been taken on the reserve recently:
Silhouetted marsh harrier:
Long tailed tit:
Silhouetted swans:
Image credits; Nigel Wallace
Thank you very much to Nigel for sharing these great images with us.
Volunteer Pete led a very successful "Raptor Watch" guided walk on Sunday afternoon. The group saw the following from Joist Fen viewpoint:
Although the weather wasn't great on Monday, we had our reserve Annual Review meeting so we spent the afternoon out on the reserve. We saw a male hen harrier and two barn owls over the far end of the reserve. We also saw at least three common snipe down in Botany Bay.
Local bird ringer Simon ringed six new chiffchaffs in Brandon Fen on Tuesday morning. This brings his total of newly ringed chiffchaffs to 14 birds since Christmas which is rather surprising. He also saw a willow tit at the edge of the car park which is a great record for here. Hopefully, this scarce bird will hang around and show well for visitors! Suzanne also saw a treecreeper in Brandon Fen over the course of the day.
Although it was extremely windy this morning, it did calm down at around 9am. Suzanne went for a walk around Brandon Fen at lunchtime and saw a green woodpecker. She also saw eight roe deer which is a good count for here.
I went up to the Washland viewpoint early afternoon and when I passed the pong dipping area, I heard a water vole plop into the pond which was a nice surprise. I saw a water pipit from the viewpoint itself and heard a Cetti's warbler calling. When I got back to the visitor centre, a water rail was calling at the edge of the visitor centre pond.
If you are planning to visit please note that the riverbank Public Footpath between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint is currently very muddy. We recommend that you avoid this path at present until it dries up. All of the other reserve paths are currently fine surface wise.
We hope to see you soon.