Good afternoon. I have another long list of sightings in front of me so without further ado, I will begin...
... I will start though with some images that were taken on the reserve last Friday by Martin Peake:
Male bearded tit:
Great spotted woodpecker:
Image credits: Martin Peake
Thank you very much to Martin for sharing these great images with us.
Here are some sightings from Saturday afternoon onwards:
Whooper swan numbers rose to 18 individuals on the washland and a stonechat was showing well near the Washland viewpoint. At least 17 little egrets were feeding on the pool north of East Wood and volunteer Roy saw a bittern in flight near Mere Hide.
I spent some time up at the Washland viewpoint on Sunday morning and saw the following:
As I walked back to the visitor centre, a sparrowhawk was circling over the car park and a bullfinch flew low overhead.
As the day went on, 16 whooper swans and a greenshank were seen from the Washland viewpoint. A kingfisher was also fishing at the edge of the visitor centre pond.
On Monday, there were two bramblings on the visitor centre feeders. Volunteer John went up to the Washland viewpoint and saw the following:
The highlight of the day on Tuesday came when visitor centre volunteer Nigel spotted a male ring ouzel perched up near the visitor centre. Sadly it wasn't around for long though and wasn't relocated which is a shame.
Volunteer John went up to the Washland viewpoint yesterday and saw:
I was very surprised to find nine female type goosanders feeding in front of the Washland viewpoint early this morning. This species is pretty scarce here nowadays so this was a very welcome addition to my reserve year list! Sadly, they flew west along river just before 8am so they weren't present for very long.
When I got back to the visitor centre, a kingfisher was feeding at the edge of the visitor centre pond. The following has been seen on the washland over the course of the day:
If you are planning to visit the reserve, please note that there are now cattle grazing on the riverbank Public Footpath between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint.
We hope to see you on the reserve soon.