Its been a funny old week: Its either been very wet or very cold. These two weather conditions conspired together to create an interesting extra element to my morning walk this morning: Frozen puddles! As I had my wellies on, I shamelessly spent my morning walk jumping in such puddles. It was great fun!
Anyhow, that's enough of my nonsense! Despite the "challenging" weather conditions, there has still been plenty to see. The reserve's record count of hen harriers was broken again on Sunday evening when Katherine saw eight birds in the air together at once. This included five grey males and three "ringtails". At least two barn owls were also seen along with a bittern and two cranes.
The freezing fog made viewing conditions rather difficult at the beginning of the week but on Monday, a barn owl was over Brandon Fen and seven whooper swans were on the washland. I went for a walk on Wednesday morning in the rain and saw 10 little egrets flying over the washland and two roe deer on the riverbank near the washland viewpoint.
It was a beautiful start to the day yesterday morning and it was very noticeable that it is gradually getting lighter in the mornings. I went for a walk down to see the progress on the boardwalk, which is now finished:
Image credit: David White
Please note that the hide isn't quite open yet though. The final job is to install the reed screens around the hide. This should hopefully be done in the next week and we are hoping that Mere Hide will be open to the public next weekend, ready for World Wetlands Day.
I was given special permission to go and have a look inside and this is the view I found when I got there:
I spent a happy 15 minutes inside and not only did I see a male marsh harrier displaying over West Wood, I also saw a water vole chomping away on some vegetation on the far bank of the pool. This really brightened up my day and on the way back I saw some more fantastic aerobatics by the local marsh harriers. I wish I had my camera with me as they were really throwing some shapes. Instead of treating you to one of my mediocre past efforts, here is a picture that Matt Walton took on Sunday:
Image credit: Matt Walton
If you are planning to visit tomorrow, please read my blog post from Wednesday about our Big Garden Birdwatch event. The weather isn't looking too bad so the bird ringing demonstration from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) should still be going ahead. We hope to see you there!
Just before I go, if you haven't already discovered it, please visit the RSPB Suffolk Facebook page for more up to date news about RSPB Lakenheath Fen and other exciting RSPB news from the county. Ta ta for now!