Good morning. It turned out to be a lovely day on Friday and there were plenty of people out and about enjoying the first sunshine of 2015.
There was plenty to see from the Washland viewpoint and the most unusual sighting of the day was of a water shrew swimming around close to the viewpoint. There were also at least three yellow legged gulls and a Caspian gull in the same area.
Meanwhile, closer to the visitor centre, a marsh tit was on the feeders and a kingfisher made a brief visit to the visitor centre pond. A water rail was also skulking around nearby. As we were locking up, we could hear a tawny owl singing nearby, which was a lovely treat.
It was pretty wet yesterday for most of the day. A rather bedraggled barn owl was hunting near the car park first thing and there were at least 11 goldfinches on the feeders behind the visitor centre feeders.
Volunteer John headed up to the Washland viewpoint and found a great white egret. This is the first sighting of this species on the reserve this year. There were also two great crested grebes present along with a female shoveler.
Unfortunately, rain stopped play for most of the day but there was still plenty to see from the visitor centre window. A barn owl flew across the visitor centre pond and there were two water rails chasing eachother around nearby.
It did eventually stop raining and I heard a brambling and a great tit singing in Brandon Fen. A second winter Caspian gull was also found on the washland.
Meanwhile, Roy and Emma headed down the reserve and found at least eight bearded tits feeding in front of New Fen viewpoint. As darkness fell, a tawny owl was singing in East Wood and I took this picture of the visitor centre pond:
Image credit: David White
I got to work this morning to find the reserve covered in a blanket of freezing fog. Here is what Brandon Fen looked like in the ethereal gloom:
The fog made viewing conditions almost impossible but I did catch a glimpse of a Cetti’s warbler skulking around near the Washland viewpoint.
When I got back to the visitor centre, I couldn’t resist taking a picture from the same place that I had the previous evening. What a contrast!:
I will return with some more recent sightings on Friday so until then, have a great week and we hope to see you soon!
Clare I was referring to the "Tu whoo" bit which is the song. The call is "Ke wick" (or "tu whit" if you are going by the old saying)