Good morning. Apologies for the lack of updates recently, I have been away. Here is what has been seen over the last couple of days:
14 July
This was my last day in the office before before I went away. I went to have a look for the juvenile nightingale that had been seen in the car park the day before and I had brief views of it flitting around in fairly dense vegetation. I saw a group of 11 dunlins flying around in front of the Washland viewpoint and saw a family of stonechats near the Washland viewpoint.
15 July
Volunteer Paul saw six dunlins from the Washland viewpoint.
17 July
Simon and Pete were ringing in Brandon Fen and they saw the following:
18 July & 19 July
Kingfisher fishing regularly in the visitor centre pool.
20 July
Local photographer David Gowing spent some time in Mere Hide and took these great pictures of a bittern:
Image credits: David Gowing
Thank you very much to David for sharing these images with us.
Volunteer Lawrence also saw a roe deer around the back of Trial Wood.
22 July
Suzanne lead a guided walk around the reserve for the Ely Wildlife Trust Local Group. They saw 10 bittern flights and they also saw our resident family of three cranes. A common sandpiper was showing well from the Washland viewpoint and bearded tits were widespread but difficult to see well.
24 July
Suzanne saw a common buzzard along the entrance track as she drove in yesterday and she also saw a green woodpecker at the edge of the car park.
25 July
I had a walk around the reserve before work this morning and saw a kingfisher near New Fen viewpoint. A group of bearded tits were calling in front of the viewpoint and a green woodpecker was calling at the edge of East Wood. When I got back to the visitor centre, I spotted a grey wagtail that was feeding on the lumps of algae in the visitor centre pond. This is a surprisingly tricky species to see here so this was a very welcome addition to my reserve year list!
If you are planning to visit the reserve, please note that there are still cattle grazing on the riverbank Public Footpath between the Washland viewpoint ans Joist Fen viewpoint.
We hope to see you soon!