Good afternoon. We have had an interesting week here. As ever, I will start where I left off on Tuesday when some visitors braved the wind and rain to see a bittern from Joist Fen viewpoint.
It was a nice day on Wednesday and there was plenty to see. A water rail was seen at the edge of the visitor centre pond and 12 siskins were feeding in the alders next to the pool. Two great white egrets were seen from the Washland viewpoint and two kingfishers were seen near Joist Fen viewpoint.
Our local bird ringer Simon Evans was ringing in Brandon Fen yesterday morning and he trapped and/or ringed a total of 118 lesser redpolls. This is not only a record for the site, but it is a personal record for Simon in this country, as he has never ringed over 100 lesser redpolls in a day anywhere on these fair shores! I have attached his full report to this blog post, just in case you are interested.
As the day went on, volunteer Pete headed down to Joist Fen viewpoint. He saw 16 marsh harriers and a merlin from Joist Fen viewpoint. He also saw a barn owl alongside Trial Wood and a kingfisher on the washland.
Meanwhile, closer to the visitor centre, Suzanne took these lovely pictures of the sunset over the visitor centre pond:
Image credits: Suzanne Harwood
It has been a bit dull here today but it has been mainly dry so there have been a few people out and about. A great white egret has spent the day showing well in front of the Washland viewpoint.
As the day has gone on, volunteers Roger and Roy have seen plenty from the visitor centre window. This has included a water rail, a kingfisher and a merlin that dashed over the pond at top speed.
I eventually got out for a walk an hour or so ago and took these landscape pictures of the reserve (which are really rather grey and are not as good as Suzanne’s pictures from yesterday!):
The River Little Ouse:
The view from the Washland viewpoint:
The visitor centre pond:
Image credits: David White
Although it was fairly quiet around Brandon Fen, I saw a mixed flock of redwings and fieldfares that were feeding in one of the tall poplars near the car park. A couple of meadow pipits also flew over.
At the moment, the weather forecast for tomorrow is looking not to bad at all. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the weather forecast for Sunday! Please see this blog post for more information. Hopefully, it won’t be quite as windy as they are forecasting. We hope to see you soon.