Good afternoon. It has been a good week for birds of prey so I thought I would do a raptor themed blog this afternoon (which includes a sighting of a rare bird of prey on the reserve yesterday!)
Rewinding back to Saturday, regular visitors Roy and Ken counted a group of at least seven common buzzards passing over the Washland viewpoint. Here are some pictures of them:
There were also plenty of kestrels about. Here is one flying overhead:
Image credits: Ron Smith
Thank you very much to Ron for sharing these great pictures with us.
A merlin has been seen regularly from Joist Fen viewpoint over the last week. Our first male hen harrier of this winter period was seen from Joist Fen viewpoint on Sunday afternoon. Suzanne saw a sparrowhawk over Brandon Fen on Tuesday and a marsh harrier over the same area on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, a "buzzard sp." was photographed over East Wood mid-morning. The photographers came and showed us the picture straight away and it was immediately clear that it was a good candidate for a rough legged buzzard. The photographers dutifully e-mailed it to us overnight and the consensus from several locals was that it was a juvenile rough legged buzzard.
This is really rather exciting, as it is only a second record for the reserve. The first was back in late April 2003, when one flew high over the reserve. Hopefully it will stick around for the winter so watch this space for any more news of sightings.
The raptor theme has continued today as I was filmed for a feature on ITV Anglia news about birds of prey. The camera man really wanted to film a raptor and he (eventually) managed to get some footage of a marsh harrier near the visitor centre. I did have to stop the reserve vehicle rather rapidly to make it possible though!
The weather is looking great for birds of prey over the next couple of days so why not come and look for them? We look forward to hearing you soon!