Good morning. I will begin this morning with an interesting ringing recovery that we heard about about last week: A lesser redpoll that was ringed here on 7 November 2012 was re-trapped last Sunday (23 February) in Balvraid, Scotland. This is between Aviemore and Inverness, which is a whopping 674 kilometres (or 418 miles) from here. It never ceases to amaze me how far some of these birds travel.
This just goes to show how valuable the data is that we receive from bird ringing. Please visit the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) website for more details.
On the subject of redpolls, it was incredibly foggy yesterday morning...
Image credit: David White
...but I still went for a walk around Brandon Fen. As I walked around, a mixed flock of redpolls kept flying around nearby. Although the poor visibility made identification by plumage difficult, the mixture of calls suggested that there were both lesser and mealy redpolls present. Indeed, once the fog had lifted, a visitor identified at least two "mealys" in the flock.
Although the fog didn't feel particularly spring like, there were still a few signs of spring to be found. Here is some ground ivy that was coming into flower at the edge of the Brandon Fen family trail:
Image credits: David White
The alder catkins were also starting to appear which was really nice to see.
Meanwhile, further down the reserve, a lucky visitor was treated to fantastic views of a bittern that was skulking around at the edge of the pool in front of Mere Hide for 45 minutes.
Once the sun came out, there were plenty of birds of prey to see. At one point, there were 10 marsh harriers and four common buzzards sharing the same thermal in front of Joist Fen viewpoint. While all of this was going on, a bittern flew right below them just to add to the excitement.
Several visitors were also treated to views of bearded tits from Mere Hide. The changeable weather has meant that seeing this species has been difficult recently so this is an encouraging sign.
After all of the crane related drama that was going on last week, it seems that everything has returned back to normal now. Our two resident pairs spent most of the day yesterday bugling to each other on the riverbank west of Joist Fen viewpoint which is an encouraging sign. Who knows where the "extra" cranes from earlier on in the week are now and whether they will come back?!
If you are planning to visit the reserve soon, please note that the roadside barrier is still being closed overnight. It will open by 08.30 in the morning and close at 17.15 each evening. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused and once we are leaving it open overnight again, we will let you know. We hope to see you soon!