Good morning. I went for a walk with a colleague and friend on Sunday afternoon and there was just so much to see! We kept getting distracted by invertebrates and here are a few pictures of what we found:
A red headed cardinal beetle:
A drinker moth caterpillar:
A freshly emerged damselfly, which after much head scratching, we decided was a variable damselfly:
Image credits: David White
We also tried to photograph a woolly looking garden tiger moth caterpillar, but it was too well concealed in the vegetation. Apparently, while we were gawping at it, a bittern flew right over our head. Oops!
We saw a single crane from Joist Fen viewpoint and there were at least six hobbys hunting west of the viewpoint. There were plenty of cuckoos around and we saw two chasing eachother over the viewpoint.
The reserve seems to be full of common whitethroats and they have been very photogenic. Here are two photos that have been taken here this week:
Image credit: Matt Walton
Image credit: Rob Nichols
There was some excitement on Tuesday when Katherine found a black tern on the washland which stuck around for the rest of the day. Suzanne saw the grasshopper warbler in New Fen North, the first area of reedbed and a cinnabar moth was apprehended trying to get into the visitor centre.
I was serenaded by a lovely garden warbler singing in the staff car park when I got to work on Wednesday morning and I saw it shortly after. There were two common terns on the washland and a barn owl flew along the river with prey in its talons.
As the day progressed, two garganeys appeared on the washland and there were at least eight hobbys hunting over Joist Fen viewpoint. There were also five common buzzards hunting over the west end of the reserve.
It was a bit miserable when I got here this morning but a lovely song thrush was feeding alongside the entrance track when as I drive in. I went up to the Washland viewpoint and saw a black tern whizzing west across the pool. Unfortunately, it kept going which was a shame. A male garganey was also present on the pool which was nice to see.
If you are planning on visiting this weekend, we have our "Talon spotting" raptor watching event on both days. Staff and volunteers will be dotted around the reserve across the whole weekend so do come and say hello if you are here! We hope to see you soon.