Good afternoon everybody. Slightly later than planned, here are some recent sightings from the last couple of days.
I will start where I left off on Thursday. Ex-Site Manager Norman went down to Joist Fen viewpoint for the afternoon. He saw at least 18 marsh harriers and a male hen harrier.
One of the pairs of cranes re-appeared on Friday and they spent most of the day in Humphrey’s Paddock, the grazing marsh near Joist Fen viewpoint. A great white egret was on the washland and a yellowhammer flew over the visitor centre.
It was a nice day on Saturday and there were six bearded tits showing well in front of New Fen viewpoint. At least four marsh harriers were hunting in front of Joist Fen viewpoint and a redshank was on the washland.
Meanwhile, closer to the visitor centre, a second winter Caspian gull was on the washland along with at least six yellow legged gulls. There were also two barn owls hunting nearby.
An adult Caspian gull was on the washland yesterday afternoon along with at least two adult yellow legged gulls. A great white egret was also present along with at least four water pipits.
Meanwhile, further down the reserve, two cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint. There were plenty of raptors around including a peregrine and two hen harriers, a male and a ringtail.
There were also good numbers of wild swans around. This included at least 75 whooper swans and two Bewick’s swans.
It was really rather cold this morning and there were three roe deer alongside the hard track huddled together for warmth. Here is a photo of two that local photographer Matt Walton took last week:
Image credit: Matt Walton
Thank you very much to Matt for sharing this image with us.
There were two cranes showing near Joist Fen viewpoint this morning and a green sandpiper flew over. There were six bearded tits showing well in front of Joist Fen viewpoint and a weasel was seen along the hard track north of Trial Wood.
Katherine and I had a walk around Brandon Fen at lunchtime and we saw a great white egret on the washland. A treecreeper was showing in the poplars and a couple of bearded tits were showing well from the riverbank.
I will leave you with one more picture that was taken last weekend, of a little egret in flight:
Image credit: Adrian Stilwell.
I hope you like it and we look forward to seeing you on the reserve soon!