Good morning. We have had an interesting couple of days here so it’s time for some more recent sightings. Before I get stuck into that, I thought I would share a picture that was taken here a couple of weeks ago, that I haven’t had a chance to share yet:
Male bearded tit:
Image credit: Derek Tabram
Thank you very much to Derek for sharing this great picture with us.
Whilst on the subject of pictures, here is some rather impressive fungus that I photographed in front of the visitor centre on Saturday lunchtime:
Image credit: David White
I will continue where I left off on Saturday morning. As the day went on, a bittern was seen from Mere Hide and at least six stonechats were seen along the riverbank Public Footpath.
Although it was very windy on Sunday, there was still plenty to see. There were at least 10 roe deer grazing alongside the entrance track first thing. I went up to the Washland viewpoint and eight curlews were feeding in front of the viewpoint. At least three water pipits were feeding just east of the viewpoint and a single male pochard was an unusual sighting near the riverbank. As I walked back through Brandon Fen, a male sparrowhawk circled over the car park before disappearing south of the railway line.
As the day went on, four cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint and a bittern was seen in flight in the same area. A group of 31 whooper swans were also feeding on the washland, which is a good count during the day here.
It wasn’t a bad day yesterday and all four cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint. A kingfisher was also seen over New Fen North, the first area of reedbed.
I had a pleasant surprise this morning when I found six goldeneyes: An adult male, a first winter male and four females feeding in front of the Washland viewpoint. This is quite a significant record for here, and is actually a new reserve record count! While I was admiring them, a kingfisher perched up at the edge of the large pool and a great white egret flew west along the river. There were also four shelducks present.
I walked along the river towards the road and four curlews flew up in front of me. Presumably the same male pochard from Sunday was also present near the river bridge. As I walked back though Brandon Fen, a brambling was singing as well as a song thrush and a blackbird.
The rest of the team have been up to see the goldeneyes and they saw 33 shovelers and a barn owl. Although it wasn’t taken here, I thought I would leave you with a lovely photo of a goldeneye:
Image credit: Ben Hall (rspb-images.com)
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!