Good morning. I am pleased to say that our “wader fest” has continued recently so the majority of today’s blog post will be about that. Before we get to our long legged friends though, here are a couple more of Ken Clegg’s pictures that were taken recently on the reserve:
Kingfisher:
Female emperor dragonfly laying eggs:
Image credits: Ken Clegg
Thank you very much to Ken for sharing these images with us.
I went up to the Washland viewpoint yesterday morning and here is the list from my notebook from approximately 06.55- 08.25. With thanks to local birders Nick and Steve for pointing out several things that I probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise!
Greenshank: 5
Lapwing: 104
Barn owl hunting: 1
Water rail
Chiffchaff singing
Willow warbler singing
Little ringed plover: 1
Kingfisher: 2
Common snipe: 2
Common sandpiper: 1
Ruff: 1
Green sandpiper: 1
Garganey: 1
Curlew sandpiper: 1 (First reserve record since November 2009)
There was also a Canada goose with a neck collar with the code: “AJX” present. This bird was ringed as an adult in Thetford on 9 July 2014.
Bird ringers Simon and Pete were ringing in Brandon Fen and while they were out, they saw a hobby and a green sandpiper.
As the morning went on, volunteer Paul went up to the Washland viewpoint. He saw four black tailed godwits and 46 little egrets on the washland. There were plenty of insects on the wing in the sunshine including a southern hawker over Brandon Fen and a male brimstone butterfly.
At lunchtime, two kingfishers were showing well from the visitor centre window. Volunteer Pete and I went up to the washland at lunchtime and we found a dunlin, which was the tenth species of wader of the day which has to be a new reserve record.
I went up to the Washland viewpoint from approximately 06.50- 08.25 and again with the help of local birder Nick (and fellow staff members Suzanne and Emma from around 8am), I noted the following:
Greenshank: 4
Redshank: 1 (Species of wader number 11 in less than 24 hours!)
Common sandpiper: 2
Green sandpiper: 2
Kingfisher: 4
Curlew sandpiper: 1
Water rail: 1
Linnet: Flyover
Hobby: Flyover
Bittern: Out in the open and perched up on the reeds
Yellow wagtail: Flyover
Cranes: Calling from the far end of the reserve
Nick also saw 50 little egrets and presumably the same little ringed plover from yesterday.
As the day has gone on, I had a brief view of a water vole at the pond dipping platform and Site Manager Dave saw four cranes at the far end of the reserve. A hobby was also hunting over the visitor centre.
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!