6 December recent sightings: Red sky in the morning...

Good morning. I will begin with a detour back to next week, when local bird ringer Simon Evans was ringing in Brandon Fen on both Wednesday 2 December and Thursday 3 December. I have attached a comparative report from both days to this blog post. I hope you find it interesting. Also, here are a few details from his report that you might find interesting:

• One of the “control” (a bird ringed previously elsewhere) lesser redpolls was wearing a Belgian ring
• One of the “retrap” (a bird that has been ringed here previously) bramblings was ringed here in February 2014, so it is back for another winter visit
• One of the recent “controlled” lesser redpolls was originally ringed at Copeland Bird Observatory, Northern Ireland on 26 September this year

There was plenty to see from the visitor centre window on Friday afternoon. A water rail was skulking at the edge of the visitor centre pond and a kingfisher darter across the pool.

There were plenty of birds of prey hunting in front of Joist Fen viewpoint. Highlights included two peregrines and two red kites.

There was a fantastic red sky yesterday morning which was obviously a prelude to an extremely windy day. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures so here are some that I took two years ago to the day, which was the day of the storm surge on the east coast:

Image credits: David White

After such an auspicious and dramatic looking start to the day, it really was rather windy! I saw a water pipit in front of the Washland viewpoint before work and Roy saw a common buzzard on the entrance track on his way in. Shortly after arriving, he popped up to the Washland viewpoint and saw a great white egret.

As the day went on, Roy headed up to Joist Fen viewpoint and saw at least 12 marsh harriers hunting in the wind. A great white egret flew over and a possible crane was seen very distantly. A bittern was also seen at New Fen viewpoint later on in the day.

I went for a walk around Brandon Fen this morning and a stunning male marsh harrier was hunting near the Washland viewpoint. Two water pipits flew up just east of the viewpoint and when I got back to the visitor centre, a red kite drifted east overhead. Two Egyptian geese also flew over, making a merry racket as they went.

If you are planning to visit the reserve today, please note that Lakenheath railway crossing will be closed all day. This means that you will have to access the reserve from the north. This is via Brandon, Weeting and Hockwold. Please ring 01842 863400 or e-mail lakenheath@rspb.org.uk; for more information.

We hope to see you soon!