Good morning. We have had another great couple of days here. I will begin though with a picture I have not shared yet:
A roe deer grazing alongside the entrance track:
Image credit: Matt Walton
Roy and Emma spent most of the day out on the reserve on Saturday. They saw two great white egrets on the washland along with three little egrets. They also saw a water pipit.
There were at least eight marsh harriers hunting in front of Joist Fen viewpoint and a single barnacle goose was feeding alongside the river near the viewpoint. This is a very unusual bird for here indeed. Perhaps it was the same bird that was here in late 2012/ early 2013:
Image credit: Dave Rogers
The excitement didn't end there for Emma. As she was leaving, she saw two muntjac deer and four roe deer alongside the entrance track.
Emma C (our new Warden) was in on Sunday and she saw a stoat alongside the Fen pools. Volunteers Roger and Janet went down the reserve and were lucky enough to see one of our resident pairs of cranes dancing in Humphrey's Paddock, the grazing marsh in front of Joist Fen viewpoint.
I went for a walk before work this morning. A hungry barn owl was hunting persistently over Brandon Fen and I saw it catch and eat a water shrew. A song thrush was also singing nearby. It was obviously a great mimic as I heard it doing impressions of a greenshank and a stone curlew. Clever bird!
I spent some time up at the Washland viewpoint and a great white egret was right in front of the viewpoint. A water pipit was also showing well nearby.
The weather forecast isn’t looking too bad for this week so why not come and visit? I will leave you with some pictures of a partially ermine stoat that were taken on the reserve recently. We hope to see you soon!:
Image credits: David Mackey
Oh, and thank you very much to Matt and David for sharing their great images with us!