Good morning. Its been another busy week so I have mainly been in and around the visitor centre. However, I did get out for a walk on Monday morning...
I walked down to the poplar woods and as I walked around the back of Trial Wood, I photographed this splendid four-spotted chaser at the side of the path:
Image credit: David White
At this point, I have to confess that the main reason why I came down was to photograph three steam engines coming past! While I was waiting along the southern edge of Trial Wood, there were two marsh harriers soaring high over the railway line. Suddenly, the peace was momentarily shattered by these three chugging past:
All I will say about this photo is that if you have been watching BBC Springwatch Unsprung recently, then you will know that there has been a lot of talk about "wildlife photo fails". Well, this is my entry for a "non wildlife photo fail on a nature reserve!" Anyhow, on the way back to the car park, I saw three cuckoos chasing eachother over Brandon Fen and a hobby zoomed over the visitor centre.
In contrast to my shocking photo above, here is a lovely picture of an azure damselfly that was taken by Matt Walton on Sunday (which is definitely not a "wildlife photo fail" by the way!):
Image credit: Matt Walton
Thanks to Matt for sharing this lovely photo with us.
Simon was ringing down in Brandon Fen on Monday and he saw two barn owls hunting over the grazing marsh. He trapped a reed warbler that had been ringed previously in France and saw at least one crossbill near the river bridge. He also saw a bittern flying west over Brandon Fen from off of the reserve which is a rather unusual location for this species.
On Wednesday, Roy was very lucky to see a bittern swimming in front of Mere Hide. He also saw two grass snakes basking near the pond dipping area.
Yesterday, a large yellow underwing moth was fluttering around outside the visitor centre and took a liking to several visitors by perching on their legs! A barn owl was seen over the washland and at least two cranes were seen in flight from Joist Fen viewpoint. There were also at least four hobbys hunting over New Fen viewpoint.
If you are planning to visit this weekend the weather is not looking too bad at all. We hope to see you soon!