Good morning. Its been nice and mild here this week (once the morning fog has burnt off that is!) Here are a few pictures that have been taken here this week:
A grass snake swimming:
Two common darters omniposting in an extremely graceful manner:
A lovely male bearded tit:
Image credits: Matt Walton
Thank you very much to Matt for sharing these great pictures with us.
On Monday, volunteer Paul spent some time up at the Washland viewpoint and saw a marsh harrier. He also saw a group of nine wigeons, which is definitely a sign that wildfowl are starting to move south for the winter. Meanwhile, further down the reserve, a visitor saw a kingfisher from Mere Hide.
There were a couple of interesting wader records on Tuesday. Simon and Lee were ringing in Brandon Fen and saw a ringed plover flying east. It was closely followed by at least one spotted redshank. Neither of these species are seen here very often, so they were very welcome indeed!
Also on Tuesday, the two Nigels spent time out on the reserve over the course of the day. Nigel Malcolm went up to the Washland viewpoint where he saw 96 mute swans and one hobby. Meanwhile, Nigel Taylor had his regular walk down to Joist Fen viewpoint. He saw at least three hobbys over the washland and a common buzzard over Joist Fen viewpoint.
On Wednesday, Suzanne went for a walk at lunchtime. She saw a common snipe from the Washland viewpoint and a kestrel was hovering over Brandon Fen. Nigel T was down at Joist Fen viewpoint in the afternoon. He saw a bittern in flight near the bog oak and a bearded tit was showing itself in front of the viewpoint.
I returned yesterday after several days elsewhere and shortly after we opened up the visitor centre, Katherine spotted a red underwing moth roosting near the visitor centre door. It turned out to be a lovely day yesterday and I had a great view of a common blue damselfly feeding near the Brecks raised bed. Meanwhile, further down the reserve, a garden warbler was seen in the bushes near Joist Fen viewpoint and at least three hobbys were feeding over the poplar woods.
Finally, if you are wondering what the slightly unusual title to this blog post is all about, I encountered quite a commotion when I got to work this morning. There seemed to be a large flock of greylag geese circling the visitor centre, seemingly lost in the fog. The fog was so dense that I couldn't actually see them. They were certainly making a racket though!
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!