Good morning! One of the things that I love about this time of year is the element of unpredictability that is increased by the fact that some of the earlier summer migrants are starting to arrive. There were several sand martins whizzing around over the washland on Friday morning. However, they didn't stick around for very long. By the time I had a chance to head up to the Washland viewpoint, they were long gone.
It was a lovely morning yesterday morning and regular visitor Matt Walton took this action shot of a greylag goose in front of Mere Hide:
Image credit: Matt Walton
We had an introduction to bird ringing session for the volunteers yesterday. It was lead by Simon Evans, our local bird ringer and his merry gang of helpers. Although the weather conditions weren't ideal, there were still several interesting birds to see. This included this little blue tit, which seemed to want a nap when it was in the hand!:
Image credit: Les Bunyan
The "catch of the day" so to speak was a lovely adult male brambling that was moulting into is eye-catching summer plumage.
As for me, I was on tea and coffee duty for the event attendees. Over the course of my trips between the visitor centre and the car park, I saw three common buzzards soaring overhead and a marsh tit was singing in Brandon Fen.
Meanwhile, further down the reserve, two cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint several times over the course of the day and a bittern was seen from the same place. A bittern was also booming further down the reserve which is a great sign.
I had a good feeling about today so I decided to bring my telescope to work with me. It was a good job that I did, as I took it up to the Washland viewpoint and the practically the first bird I saw was one of these beauties:
Image credit: Lee Gregory
It's a drake garganey and its our first of the year. Lo and behold, as I walked along the riverbank from the river bridge to the Washland viewpoint around 20 minutes later, I had another view of a drake garganey flying west along the river. It may well have been the same bird of course but It was lovely to see nonetheless.
There were 29 mute swans visible from the Washland viewpoint and an oystercatcher flew over the large washland pool. Two common snipes also flew up from in front of the viewpoint. There was also a nice comparison between winter and summer with at least five redwings singing in the staff car park and two chiffchaffs singing in Brandon Fen.
There is plenty going on out on the reserve at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!