If you read our blog regularly, then you will know that we call one of our pairs of cranes "Little & Large". Here they are:
Image credit: Dave Rogers
They are known as Little and Large because Large, the male (on the left) is a bit bigger than Little, the female (on the right). This pair reappeared on the reserve on Sunday after an absence of over a month (nobody knows where they went to be honest!) This not only led to several interesting crane sightings later on in the week, it almost seem to set the tone of what was to come....................
On Tuesday, at least three cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint, possibly five. The undoubted crane highlight of the week though came on Wednesday lunchtime. As Ali mentioned in her blog on Wednesday, she heard some cranes bugling near the visitor centre. Suddenly, six appeared over East Wood from the south. They swung round and flew directly over the visitor centre before heading off high east. To complete the picture, two were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint yesterday.
Continuing with the "Little and Large" theme, there has been a great variety of harriers, including "Large" marsh harriers and "Little" (or smaller!) hen harriers. On Sunday one male hen harrier was seen. Here is a lovely picture of one:
Image credit: Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
Monday evening proved to be a red letter evening with six marsh harriers, one male hen harrier and three ringtail hen harriers over Joist Fen. I may be wrong but I believe that we have never had as many as three ringtails here at once before. Tuesday evening showed how unpredictable things can be with at least nine marsh harriers and only one ringtail hen harrier over Joist Fen. To complete the picture, at least two ringtail hen harriers were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint on Wednesday and yesterday, a ringtail hen harrier was over Brandon Fen and a male hen harrier was seen from Joist Fen viewpoint at dusk.
Last but by no means least; I had a lovely surprise yesterday morning when I found five adult Bewick's swans on the washland. Here is a nice picture of two of these lovely birds:
Image credit: Mike Richards (rspb-images.com)
Unfortunately, they flew off north at 07.50. However, I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I heard some "Bewick's" leaving the washland at 07.52 from where I was standing in Brandon Fen. I thought I had missed them all but when I got to the washland viewpoint, there was still one individual present. It was sandwiched between two mute swans which looked positively gigantic compared to it! Talk about Little and Large! We hope to see you soon!