27 January recent sightings: The nights are drawing out!

Good morning. The days are definitely starting to get longer which is very encouraging! It has been pretty cold here this week though so let's hope it warms up a bit soon!

I will start off where I left off on Sunday. Local photographer Lee McCarthy was out and about on the reserve and took these great photographs:

Sunshine over the railway hut:

Chinese water deer:

Grey heron:

Image credits: Lee McCarthy

As the day went on, a great spotted woodpecker was drumming in the staff car park and a mistle thrush flew south over the visitor centre. Meanwhile, further down the reserve, at least 30 bearded tits were feeding alongside the Mere Hide boardwalk and a water shrew was seen in front of Mere Hide. 

I was down at Joist Fen viewpoint later on in the afternoon. I saw two bitterns, two barn owls and two corn buntings. A water rail also kept scuttling across the ice which was entertaining to watch.

As I said in my blog post on Wednesday,  a little bunting was reported on the riverbank along the northern edge of New Fen North, the first area of reedbed. Unfortunately, it hasn't been seen since. We are struggling to track down who saw it so if any of you saw it, please e-mail: lakenheath@rspb.org.uk; as we would like to submit a description to our county recorder if possible.

On Monday, Suzanne saw a great white egret from the Washland viewpoint and two pairs of stonechats around Brandon Fen. Volunteer Nigel also saw good numbers of bearded tits on the approach to Mere Hide.

I took a walk along the riverbank first thing on Wednesday and I saw three roe deer on the riverbank. A male sparrowhawk flew over New Fen North and a reed bunting was singing on the washland. 

Although it was rather foggy, bearded tits were showing well on the Mere Hide boardwalk. Here are some photos of them:

Image credits: Martin Peake

Thank you very much to Lee and Martin for sharing their images with us. 

I went up to the Washland viewpoint at lunchtime to look at gulls. I saw an adult great black backed gull, three herring gulls and a probable second winter Caspian gull. 

It was a bit bleak here yesterday but a "ringtail" hen harrier was reported from Joist Fen viewpoint. It is good to know that there is still at least one hen harrier around!

I again took a walk along the riverbank before work this morning. I saw two roe deer and a muntjac deer alongside East Wood. At least 25 reed buntings left their overnight roost in the north west corner of New Fen North and a water pipit was showing well on the washland north of East Wood.

When I got back to the visitor centre, a great spotted woodpecker was perched in the poplars in front of the visitor centre. This was my first good view of one on the reserve this year so it was lovely to see!

If you are planning to visit the reserve this weekend, here are a few things to let you know:

Firstly, as it is the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend, there will be a selection of activities taking place in the visitor throughout the weekend. Please read this blog post for more information.  

Secondly, as you may know, we have had to close the roadside barrier overnight for the last couple of weeks. Hopefully, we will not be doing so this weekend. However, we won't know for certain whether we are or not until the end of today so please bear with us and thank you for your patience! (Lunchtime update: after all of that, we will be closing the barrier tonight and it will reopen at 07.30 tomorrow morning) We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

We hope to see you soon!