Good morning. There has been plenty to see here recently so here are some more recent sightings from last Saturday onwards:
A bittern was seen from New Fen viewpoint mid-morning. Two great white egrets and a green sandpiper were seen along the riverbank.
I went for a walk around the reserve in the afternoon and I saw two little grebes in the river. A flock of at least 30 fieldfares flew south over East Wood and a sparrowhawk was hunting over West Wood.
There were also plenty of insects on the wing in the sunshine including good numbers of ruddy darter dragonflies. I also saw a willow emerald damselfly and three comma butterflies.
Local photographer Martin Peake was here on Tuesday and he took these lovely pictures of a male great spotted woodpecker that was feeding in the dead trees behind Mere Hide:
Image credits: Martin Peake
Thank you very much to Martin for sharing these pictures with us.
On Tuesday, volunteer Paul walked down to New Fen viewpoint. He saw a green sandpiper and two common snipe. He also saw a grey wagtail feeding at the edge of the visitor centre pond. Meanwhile, elsewhere on the reserve, two common blue butterflies were on the wing. This may well be a third brood, which occasionally happens in Britain if we have a particularly hot summer (which, of course we have had!)
A mistle thrush was blasting out its loud song near the visitor centre when I got here yesterday morning which was lovely to hear. A jay was skulking around at the base of the path to the Washland viewpoint and when I got back to the visitor centre, a kingfisher was perched up at the edge of the pond.
Suzanne went for a walk at lunchtime and saw a red kite over Brandon Fen which was the first record of this species on the reserve for a while. She also saw a green woodpecker. Meanwhile, there were still several marbled orb weaver spiders feeding on the riverbank which is rather late in the year for this species.
It was really rather misty first thing this morning so here are some pictures that I took on my walk:
Image credits: David White
Some whooper swans were calling in front of the Washland viewpoint and two water pipits flew up near the viewpoint. I caught a fleeting glimpse of a water vole near the pond dipping area and at least two goldcrests were feeding in the Scots pine in front of the visitor centre.
Shortly after we opened up the visitor centre, a kingfisher flew over the pond. Suzanne and I took the bins down to the end if the road. We heard a dunnock singing along the entrance and a yellowhammer flew over.
The reserve team are working down near Joist Fen viewpoint today. They have seen at least three great white egrets so far.
We hope to see you soon!