Good morning. After posting some photographs that I took earlier on in the week, I will launch into quite a long list of sightings from the last couple of days.
Fungi growing on one of the raised beds in front of the visitor centre:
The Little Ouse river:
An indication of how muddy the riverbank Public Footpath is at the moment:
Some of the recent reed cutting work in New Fen North, the first area of reedbed:
Image credits: David White
Shortly after I finished blogging on Thursday afternoon, Suzanne went up to the Washland viewpoint and counted 70 whooper swans. They were making such a racket that we could hear them from the visitor centre!
I went up to the Washland viewpoint before work yesterday morning and spotted a smart male pintail. A great white egret was feeding just to the left of the viewpoint and a female stonechat was showing well nearby.
As the day went on, a bittern was seen from New Fen viewpoint and presumably the same willow tit from Tuesday was seen along the entrance track. A barn owl was also hunting behind the visitor centre mid-afternoon.
Dave and I went down the reserve for a meeting late afternoon and I spotted a female merlin in hot pursuit of a flock of birds between Mere Hide and Joist Fen viewpoint. We also saw three roe deer in Trial Wood and a muntjac deer in East Wood.
Meanwhile, ex-Site Manager Norman was at Joist Fen viewpoint and saw:
There were five roe deer on the entrance track as I drove in this morning. I walked down the entrance track to look for the willow tit but unfortunately, there was no sign of it. I did see a jay and three collared doves though which were new birds for my reserve year list! As I walked back towards the visitor centre, I saw a muntjac deer skulking near our staff gate.
There were at least 19 whooper swans in front of the Washland viewpoint and some bearded tits were calling in the reeds nearby. A little grebe was also feeding in the river which is a good record for here.
If you are planning to visit the reserve, here are a few notices for you:
Firstly, the riverbank Public Footpath between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint is still very muddy. Wellies are essential to negotiate this path at present.
Secondly, due to recent storm damage, a couple of the reserve paths are closed. These include the western part of the interior track around New Fen North and the Trial Wood trail. Please ask in the visitor centre on arrival for more information.
We hope to see you soon!