Happy World Wetlands Day everybody! This special day is celebrated every year to emphasize the importance of wetlands. For more information about it, please click on the link above. I have celebrated World Wetlands Day so far by getting down to the reserve for first light. Although this may not sound like everybodies' cup of tea, it was definitely worth it, as I saw one of these from the washland viewpoint:
Image credit: Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
Its a slavonian grebe. Unfortunately, it didn't look like this though. It was in winter plumage, which looks like the bird illustrated in the background below:
Image credit: Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)
Whatever it looked like though, it was still very exciting! Its a first record for the reserve and the first record locally for a shade over 14 years. The last being seen at nearby Lackford Lakes SWT reserve, back in January 2000.
The bird was first found late yesterday afternoon by reserve volunteer Mark Brown, who phoned me to say that there was a: "funny grebe" on the washland. Fortunately, I was able to head straight up there and had a great view of one of these little beauties. Incidentally, if you would like to see one in its eye-catching breeding plumage pictured above, you should visit RSPB Loch Ruthven in northern Scotland.
Anyhow, thats enough about that! While I was up at the Washland viewpoint this morning, I also saw a barn owl hunting and an impressive count of 12 little egrets flew out of roost.
There was plenty to see yesterday and perhaps the most unusual sighting ( perhaps apart from what I have been jabbering on about above!) was of a male Chinese water deer at the far end of the reserve. Although this rather peculiar looking species, which reminds me of a cross between a teddy bear and a sabre tooth tiger, has been seen here before, this is the first sighting for quite some time.
At least three cranes were seen in flight from Joist Fen viewpoint later on in the day and some lucky visitors saw flights from three different bitterns. Over near Mere Hide, I saw a water vole scamper across the vegetation in front of the hide in the morning and a bearded tit was seen later on in the day. We would love to hear about your views and experiences of Mere Hide so far so if you have anything that you would like to share, please post your comments below.
The weather is looking rather good for this time of year today so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!