Good morning. It’s been a busy week so it’s now time for another update. I will begin by carrying on where I left off on Saturday. A goshawk was reported over New Fen viewpoint and a red kite was circling north of the river.
There were also plenty of dragonflies and damselflies on the wing. This included several scarce chasers, hairy dragonflies and at least two variable damselflies.
We had a very successful dusk walk and there was plenty to see. There were two hobbys in front of New Fen viewpoint and a kingfisher was fishing nearby. A barn owl was also hunting along the river.
There were at least two barn owls hunting in front of Joist Fen viewpoint and at least three cuckoos were flying around. A kingfisher was fishing in front of the viewpoint and a grasshopper warbler was reeling behind the viewpoint.
We camped out and admittedly, I didn’t get much sleep! I probably only slept for an hour. A black tailed godwit flew over at some point in the early hours of the morning and just after I got up, a water vole swam across the visitor centre pond.
I lead a lovely walk at 4am and I got these pictures of the early morning light at Joist Fen viewpoint on the longest day of the year:
Image credits: David White
In terms of what we saw, it was a similar range to the evening before to be honest. However, a grasshopper warbler was reeling along the north side of New Fen North and some cranes were bugling in the distance west of Joist Fen viewpoint.
Katherine, one of our Wardens, also camped out and set the moth trap up. I have attached her moth list to this blog post if you are interested to hear what she found.
I popped in on Monday morning to photograph a steam engine passing the reserve. Although my photograph of it was not good enough to share, some of my insect pictures while I was waiting were:
A female hairy dragonfly:
A male azure damselfly:
A probable female variable damselfly:
I will return over the next couple of days with some more recent sightings but until then, we hope to see you soon!