Good afternoon. I am not going to be around much for the next couple of days and there have been a few interesting sightings recently so here is another recent sightings blog post.
Although the weather did cheer up a bit on Tuesday afternoon, the view out of the visitor centre window wasn’t particularly inspiring:
Image credit: David White
I went for a walk up to the Washland viewpoint after lunch and the hemp agrimony was almost covered in red admiral and small tortoiseshell butterflies. Although I didn’t spend long at the viewpoint, I was there long enough to catch a glimpse of an otter fishing in the river which was a pleasant surprise.
It was lovely and bright yesterday morning and I took my morning coffee up to the Washland viewpoint before work. A stripy juvenile great crested grebe was feeding in the river and a kingfisher whizzed past a couple of times.
One of our regulars was out on the reserve early and saw a bittern in flight from New Fen viewpoint. As the day went on, a hobby was seen from New Fen viewpoint along with two bearded tits.
There was also the welcome sight of five cranes flying over the reserve. They came from behind Mere Hide before disappearing north east. This was probably one of our pairs with their youngster along with two associated hangers on that have been seen with this pair before. They had obviously been feeding nearby and we just checking that the reserve was still here. Come back soon please!
Interestingly, Norman, our ex Site Manager, was out at nearby Boughton Fen yesterday afternoon. When I let him know about this sighting, he said that he heard some cranes flying over while he was there. Given that Boughton Fen is in that direction, it was probably the same birds!
Meanwhile, closer to the visitor centre, two kingfishers were seen from the visitor centre window. A large red banded sand wasp was hunting in the fen bed in front of the visitor centre whilst two garden spiders were fighting over a fly in the same area. A common lizard was also basking in the staff car park.
Wardens Emma and Katherine saw three whinchats on the Norfolk side of the river during the afternoon. Although there isn’t any public access to the area it was seen in, they may be visible from the Suffolk side of the riverbank if it is still present today.
I went for a walk around Brandon Fen before work and two muntjac deer ran across the path in front of me. A bearded tit was feeding in the reedbed and a kingfisher was fishing in the river. Two Cetti’s warblers were having a shouting competition near the visitor centre and I disturbed a large female sparrowhawk in front of the visitor centre.
I will leave you with a picture of the newest addition to our bird feeding area:
Although it may look a bit odd, it’s a woodpecker feeder! It is stuffed with lard so hopefully the great spotted woodpeckers that use the feeders regularly at the moment will discover it in the near future!
We hope to see you on the reserve soon.