Good morning. I hope you are enjoying the long Bank Holiday weekend! I will begin with a selection of photos that have been taken here in the last week. Thank you very much to local photographer Matt Walton for sharing them with us:
A cryptically camouflaged roe deer:
A lovely barn owl:
A female kestrel:
Two lovely shots of kingfishers:
Image credits: Matt Walton
I will start where I left off on Friday. There were three swifts and three swallows over the visitor centre. A common buzzard also flew over the car park. Although the weather deteriorated in the afternoon, volunteer Lawrence saw a marsh harrier from New Fen viewpoint and a charm of around 40 goldfinches near Joist Fen viewpoint.
There was definitely a seasonal flavour to Saturday's sightings, with migration very much in evidence. The Washland viewpoint was the place to be with at least 30 house martins, 12 sand martins, 10 swallows and 10 swifts. There were two hobbys over the poplar woods and kingfishers were very conspicuous. At least two were seen from New Fen viewpoint and two were seen from Mere Hide.
As the day went on, an adult and a juvenile water rail were seen from Mere Hide. Suzanne and Roy also saw two sparrowhawks from the visitor centre window.
It was a pleasant day yesterday and the great white egret was seen from various places along the riverbank over the course of the day. There were two hobbys feeding over the washland and a bittern flew very close to Mere Hide.
An eagle-eyed visitor spotted some hare's-foot clover growing alongside the hard track and he also saw several marbled orb weavers. This is the first sighting of this species of spider this year. Please click on the link above for a picture of this attractive species of spider.
I popped in with my parents yesterday afternoon and we spent half an hour at the Washland viewpoint. We saw at least two garganeys on the large pool and a yellow wagtail flew over. There were plenty of dragonflies on the wing including several migrant hawkers and large numbers of common darters.
I returned to the Washland viewpoint with my father this morning and a kingfisher flew right past us just as we got to the viewpoint. There were at least 70 mute swans present on the pool along with over 100 coots and at least 10 little grebes.
Although the weather forecast isn't looking great for today, it looks set to improve for the rest of the week so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!