Good morning. The weather has been a bit hit and miss this week but there has been plenty to see nonetheless. I begin with a few pictures from last weekend:
A skulking water rail at the edge of the visitor centre pond:
A redshank on the washland (alongside the remains of a large pike!):
A pair of great crested grebes:
A flock of little egrets in flight:
Image credits: David Mackey
Thank you very much to David for sharing these great images with us.
There was a nice surprise on the washland on Sunday morning when I found a dunlin on the washland. This is the first record of this species on the reserve for a couple of years so it was great to see. Three common snipe were also present along with a great white egret and a water pipit. The drake garganey reappeared mid-morning in the same area mid-morning but remained elusive.
I spent a good half an hour looking over the washland on Monday morning. The dunlin was still present along with a redshank. A bittern flew across the large pool and four common snipe were lurking at the edge of the pool.
Meanwhile, further down the reserve, 41 whooper swans were feeding north of the river and the drake garganey on the washland. A colleague from another reserve counted 23 little egrets on the washland, which is a new reserve record.
It rained for most of the day on Tuesday but there were two song thrushes singing defiantly in Brandon Fen. A chiffchaff was also calling in the same area.
As I mentioned in my blog post on Tuesday, a chiffchaff was singing in Brandon Fen during the afternoon. A great white egret was also present on the washland.
I was elsewhere for most of the morning on Wednesday but before I left, a redshank was displaying on the washland and a great white egret was showing well. A kingfisher was also perched up alongside the river.
When I returned, I finally saw the drake garganey on the washland a coal tit was a nice surprise on the feeders in front of the visitor centre.
I helped out with a bittern survey yesterday morning and although I didn't hear much (two booms in three hours!), I saw plenty. I was based at Joist Fen viewpoint and I saw two cranes and a nice long flight from a bittern. The female ferruginous duck was in the pool just behind the viewpoint and a sparrowhawk flew low over the viewpoint.
I went for a little walk before the total eclipse this morning (which, from here, was monumentally disappointing if I may so myself as all that happened was that it got a bit colder!) The drake garganey was displaying on the washland and there were two dunlins feeding with a redshank.
The weather forecast for this weekend isn't looking too bad so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!
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