Good morning. Well, the weather has improved (a bit!) so here is my last recent sightings blog post of 2017.
I will start with some late news from Boxing Day: Volunteer Paul Holness saw at least 450 whooper swans feeding north of the river which is a good count for here.
I went for a walk at lunchtime on Wednesday and saw a single roe deer in Brandon Fen. A great white egret was showing well from the Washland viewpoint and a chiffchaff was calling near the visitor centre.
It was really rather chilly first thing on Thursday morning and I counted at least 120 whooper swans in front of the Washland viewpoint. I walked along the riverbank towards the road and saw a group of at least a dozen bearded tits feeding in the reeds in Brandon Fen which was a bit of a treat.
The light was ideal for photography and here are a couple of pictures that were taken over the course of the day:
Bittern from Mere Hide:
Brambling feeding behind the visitor centre:
Image credits: Dave & Liz Knowles
Thank you very much to Dave & Liz for sharing these great images with us.
A great white egret was showing well from the Washland viewpoint during the afternoon. There were also some interesting mammal sightings, with a stoat being seen from Mere Hide and a Chinese water deer being seen from the Washland viewpoint.
The weather really wasn't ideal yesterday unfortunately.
A group of four lesser redpolls flew over the visitor centre when I arrived this morning and a water pipit was feeding in front of the Washland viewpoint when I got up there. Two great white egrets were feeding at the river's edge just west of the viewpoint and a barn owl was hunting over the far side of the washland.
When i got back to the visitor centre, I could hear a large flock of whooper swans feeding south of the railway line. A group of three flew over the visitor centre flew over while I was opening up, calling as they went.
If you are planning to visit the reserve, please note that there are still cattle grazing on the riverbank Public Footpath between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint. This path is also very muddy, so wellies are recommended to negotiate it at present.
The reserve is open at all times as normal. The visitor centre is open daily from 9am-4pm until New Years Day. Normal opening hours, with the visitor centre and toilets being open 9am-5pm, will resume on 2 January.
We hope to see you soon!