Good afternoon. There has been plenty to see here over the last couple of days so here are some sightings from mid-morning on Sunday onwards:
There were good numbers of waders showing from the Washland viewpoint over the course of the day including:
Regular reserve visitor John found another female wasp spider at the edge of the grazing marsh in Brandon Fen. Remarkably, a third individual was found near the steps up to the riverbank which is great news.
A kingfisher made an appearance at the edge of the visitor centre pond during the afternoon and there were several species of butterflies on the wing in front of the visitor centre. This included a meadow brown, a painted lady and several small tortoiseshells.
I went for a walk before work yesterday morning and I saw three kingfishers on my travels. I saw two along the river and one near New Fen viewpoint. Two little egrets were perched up in West Wood, which were visible from the viewpoint. A migrant hawker dragonfly was also showing well from the dragonfly platform near the viewpoint.
Meanwhile, local bird ringers Simon and Pete were ringing in Brandon Fen. Interestingly, they ringed a couple of kingfishers and a sedge warbler which weighed a whopping 18 grammes (which is apparently very heavy for a sedge warbler!) While they were ringing, a spotted redshank and a whimbrel flew over.
Again, there was plenty to see on the washland, including:
Local birder Steve saw two small heath butterflies on the wing over the riverbank north of West Wood, which is a good record for here. In the evening, volunteer John saw a male sparrowhawk on the ground in front of the Washland viewpoint which is a rather unusual place to see one!
Although it was raining for my morning walk this morning, I saw a green woodpecker near the visitor centre. Once it dried up, volunteers Norman and Linda saw a bittern and a hobby over the far end of the reserve.
The reserve team have been busy strimming at the edge of the visitor centre pond today and here a few pictures of their progress so far:
Image credits: David White
If you are planning to visit the reserve, please note that there are still cattle grazing on the riverbank Public Footpath between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint.
Just before I go, you may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned cranes in today’s blog post. Well, all I am going to say is to look out for an exciting announcement about our resident birds at some point over the next couple of days!
We hope to see you soon!