Good morning. I hope you had a good Christmas and are enjoying the festive period! There are plenty of interesting sightings so without any further ado, I will begin!
Simon Evans, our local bird ringer was ringing on Monday 14 December and Friday 18 December. I have attached the ringing reports from both days at the bottom of this blog post. Highlights included only the third ever bullfinch to be ringed here and this fine subadult sparrowhawk:
Image credit: Simon Evans
I will now present the recent sightings in a kind of diary format, as there are records from quite a long time period.
16 December
Incredibly, a common lizard was photographed in the staff car park by one of our volunteers. Three great white egrets were seen on the washland and the work party saw a bittern in flight over New Fen North. Volunteer Pete also caught a glimpse of a short eared owl hunting over the washland.
17 December
A great white egret was on the washland and the work party again saw a bittern over New Fen North. I went to pick up some of the volunteers at New Fen viewpoint at dusk and while I was waiting for them, a woodcock flew out of East Wood.
18 December
A lucky visitor saw a family of four otters in front of Joist Fen viewpoint and a bittern was once again seen over New Fen North. Volunteers Pete and Lee went down to Joist Fen viewpoint in the afternoon and saw 27 marsh harriers (25 females and two males.) They also saw a great white egret at the far end of the reserve and a yellow legged gull flew over.
19 December
A great white egret was seen north of the river and as Dave said in his blog post just before Christmas, three goldcrests were feeding in front of the visitor centre. A male brambling was also on the visitor centre feeders.
20 December
Two great white egrets were seen north of the river and there were plenty of birds of prey to be seen from Joist Fen viewpoint. This included at least 20 marsh harriers and a merlin. Two stonechats were seen on the riverbank and a water pipit was seen on the washland. This partially ermine stoat was also photographed between New Fen viewpoint and the riverbank:
Image credit: Warren Etherington
Thank you very much to Simon and Warren for sharing these great images with us.
21 December
Emma did a raptor roost count at Joist Fen viewpoint. She saw 20 marsh harriers (19 females and one male.)
27 December
I returned from my Christmas break to find a little owl feeding on the entrance track as I drove in. A song thrush and a great tit were singing in Brandon Fen as I opened up. I went for a walk around Brandon Fen and two roe deer were skulking at the edge of the path. Two water pipits and two shelducks were on the washland and a soggy barn owl was perched in front of the Washland viewpoint.
I photographed this rather impressive species of fungus outside the visitor centre but as yet, I haven’t managed to identify it:
Image credit: David White
So far this morning, a water rail was feeding at the edge of the visitor centre pond and around a dozen lesser redpolls were feeding in the alders behind the visitor centre. A great white egret was also seen from the Washland viewpoint.
The reserve is as ever open at all times and the visitor centre is open daily 9am-4pm until Sunday 3 January. We will then return to our normal opening hours of 9am-5pm on Monday 4 January. We hope to see you soon!
Fantastic picture of the stunning sparrowhawk. He must have been quite entertaining to ring.
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.