Good afternoon. We have had some wintry weather over the last couple of days so here are some recent sightings from Friday morning onwards:
Volunteer John Ingham had a very successful trip down the reserve on Friday. He saw three cranes in flight from Joist Fen viewpoint and a stunning male hen harrier from New Fen viewpoint. He also saw around a dozen redwings along the entrance track.
Meanwhile, closer to the visitor centre, a female brambling was on the visitor centre feeders. A kingfisher also made a brief appearance at the edge of the visitor centre pond.
A rough legged buzzard was reported over Joist Fen viewpoint on Saturday which is a good record for here. On Sunday, a woodcock was seen in Brandon Fen and a curlew was on the washland. At least six water pipits were also feeding in the same area.
Suzanne went up to the Washland viewpoint for a while yesterday. She saw a great white egret and two curlews.
It was really rather snowy when I got here this morning and here is the view over the visitor centre pond:
...And this was the view from the Washland viewpoint:
You may be able to make it in the above image the whooper swans standing on the snow covered ice. There were around 80 present along with around 120 lapwings. Four shelducks were also feeding in the only unfrozen part of the pool.
We were treated to some blizzard like conditions at lunchtime which didn't stop a sparrowhawk from making a dash low over the visitor centre pond. A male brambling was also making regualr visits to the visitor centre feeders.
The sun came out early afternoon and here are some pictures of the visitor centre lawn covered in snow:
Image credits: David White
Site Manager Dave spent some time at the new photography station and saw a water rail. You can read more about the photograph station here.
If you are planning to visit the reserve over the next couple of days, please take care in the snowy and icy conditions. The riverbank Public Footpath is still very muddy so you will need wellies to negotiate that path at present.
We hope to see you soon.