Good morning. It has been a bit wild here recently! Before I get into what has been seen over the weekend so far, here are some great pictures that were taken here on Thursday, in slightly better weather conditions:
Flying bittern:
Perched kingfisher:
Image credits: Brian Edmonds
Thank you very much to Brian for sharing these fantastic pictures with us.
There were a couple of interesting bird of prey sightings on Friday afternoon. A common buzzard flew over the visitor centre pond and a red kite flew over the staff car park within a couple of minutes of eachother.
Although it was a lovely morning yesterday morning, it was really rather chilly. I walked around Brandon Fen and as I reached the top of the ramp up to the riverbank Public Footpath, I saw three species of herons, seemingly arranged in height order. From right to left was a great white egret, a grey heron and a little egret!
As I walked along the riverbank towards the Washland viewpoint, a water pipit flew up by the side of the path. When I got to the viewpoint, there were two more great white egrets chasing eachother around the large pool. It was good to know that there are still three of these elegant birds around.
When I opened up the visitor centre, a water rail flew across the visitor centre pond and there was a mixed flock of finches in the alders. This included good numbers of siskins, lesser redpolls and bramblings.
As the morning went on, bitterns were seen from both New Fen and Joist Fen viewpoint and a stonechat was seen from the riverbank. Another bittern was seen from Mere Hide and a stoat was seen on the hard track alongside Trial Wood. A couple also heard a large splash at the edge of the pool in front of New Fen viewpoint, which is most likely to be a sign that an otter was nearby.
It is a bit wild here this morning but I braved the elements and got around Brandon Fen before it got too windy. Two great white egrets were showing well in front of the Washland viewpoint and a water pipit flew up. A flock of around 55 lapwings were wheeling around over the large pool and a brambling flew over.
If you are planning to visit the reserve today, please read this blog post. Hopefully, the wind will drop soon! Have a good week.