Good morning! I will begin today with a tale of three men who will be starting something truly epic at the reserve tomorrow morning: They will be walking all the way from here at RSPB Lakenheath Fen to RSPB Saltholme in Cleveland, which is around 300 miles. They are doing it to raise money for Operation Turtle Dove, which raises awareness for the worrying plight of the turtle dove.
What an incredible thing to do! In the case of one of the participants, Jonny Rankin, this is his third consecutive year of fundraising for Operation Turtle Dove. I am sure you will join me in wishing them good luck! If you would more information or would like to follow their progress, please visit the "Dove Step" blog.
Anyhow, what has been happening here this week? Things are definitely on track here and we now have several bitterns that are at least trying to boom. The skies seem full of marsh harriers and their skydancing antics can currently be enjoyed from both New Fen and Joist Fen viewpoints.
Although it is still early, a few summer migrants have been seen over the course of the week. A drake garganey was on the washland on Tuesday and small parties of sand martins keep appearing over the washland. There are also plenty of singing chiffchaffs livening up the dawn chorus at the moment.
I enjoyed a lovely walk around the Brandon Fen family trail this morning and there was plenty to see in the morning sunshine. I was lucky enough to watch a male barn owl hunting over the washland for at least 20 minutes which was fantastic to see. Just before I got back to the visitor centre, I was alerted by the sound of a carrion crow alarm calling nearby. I looked up and saw two carrion crows mobbing a falcon. It turned out to be a peregrine and it suddenly plummeted into East Wood. It had either spotted something to eat or it was fed up with being harassed by the carrion crows!
As its Friday, I will finish with something slightly different: The reserve team were busy working on the raised plant beds outside the visitor centre yesterday and while they were digging through the peat., volunteer Phil found this curious looking object:
Image credit: David White
Although we are not quite sure what it was, it almost resembled the top of a fossilised mushroom. It was certainly the correct shape and the markings underneath looked quite mushroom like! Could it have possibly been preserved in the peat for all of those years?! I guess we will never know for certain, but it is a fascinating possibility!
We hope to see you soon!