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David White

Good morning. It is feeling a bit more like November this morning (.i.e. its raining!) The last couple of days have felt like August! The good conditions have meant good news for photography so here are some picture that have been taken here in the last week:

I will begin with some truly exquisite pictures of a kingfisher from last weekend:

Image credits: Neil & Sarah Wright

Thank you very much to Neil and Sarah for sharing these images with us. 

I also went down the reserve on Monday evening to watch the sun go down. Here are two pictures from New Fen viewpoint:

Image credits: David White

I will pick up where I left off on Thursday with some recent sightings. A bittern flew over the visitor centre pond and a kingfisher was perched close to the visitor centre window. Seven corn buntings flew over the pond dipping platform and two mealy redpolls flew over New Fen viewpoint.

Suzanne went for a walk around Brandon Fen at lunch time and she saw a mixed flock of at least 40 fieldfares and redwings. They were feeding with a charm of around a dozen goldfinches which must have been lovely to see. Our last sighting of the day was of a pipistrelle bat  whizzing around over the visitor centre when we locked up to go home. 

I had a wander around the reserve on Friday afternoon and saw a merlin from Joist Fen viewpoint. As I walked back through the reserve, a great tit was singing in Trial Wood and a water rail scuttled across the track in front of me, squealing as it went. There were also large numbers of migrant hawkers on the wing, making most of the late autumn sunshine. 

I lead the crane talk and walk yesterday and although we weren't lucky enough to see any cranes, we heard some bearded tits in front of New Fen viewpoint and saw at least five marsh harriers just west of Joist Fen viewpoint. Later on in the day, a peregrine flew over New Fen North, the first area of reedbed and a male hen harrier was seen from Joist Fen viewpoint. 

Although the weather forecast for today doesn't look great, it doesn't look too bad for the rest of the week so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!