Good morning, its currently 05.45 on Sunday morning and I have spent the last two nights camping on the reserve as part of our Big Wild Sleepout event. With this in mind, I hope that this recent sightings blog post is at least partially coherent!
I will start off where I left off on Friday afternoon. A great white egret flew over the reserve and seven cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint. Site Manager Dave managed to photograph most of them while he was out and about on the reserve:
Image credits: Dave Rogers
There was also a slightly strange incident towards the end of the day: Somebody bought in a grass snake that they had found tangled up in netting in Lakenheath village. After some delicate trimming, I am pleased to say that we freed the impressive creature and here it is in the capable hands of volunteer Roy before it was released out on the reserve:
Image credits: David White
Our event began with a walk around the Brandon Fen family trail. We saw a barn owl hunting distantly from the Washland viewpoint and a bittern flew over the large pool. A hobby was also hunting in the same area. We went to look for signs of badgers and we did manage to spot a recently used track through the long grass towards one of the setts on the reserve.
Overnight, I could hear a tawny owl calling near the visitor centre and a muntjac deer was also barking nearby.
I wondered down the entrance track bright and early yesterday morning to open the entrance barrier. On the way down the track, I saw a smart buck roe deer at the edge of the car park and found some fresh badger droppings. There was also a blackcap singing which was lovely to hear this late in the year.
As it was such a lovely morning, I took a walk around Brandon Fen and I found a doe roe deer. I also saw two common buzzards leaving their overnight roosting spots at the eastern edge of the trail. I walked along the riverbank and I was very pleased to see five black tailed godwits in flight over the washland. Sadly, they didn't land though. I heard a kingfisher near the Washland viewpoint and shortly after I left, one of my fellow campers found a garganey in front of the viewpoint.
Katherine went through the moth traps with the campers and the highlights included a poplar hawk moth and a garden tiger moth. I wondered down to the pond dipping platform at lunchtime and a large grass snake slithered across the path in front of me. We went for a walk down to New Fen viewpoint and heard some bearded tits calling in the reeds in front of the visitor centre.
We then had a very successful pond dipping session in the afternoon. We found three common newt tadpoles and a water scorpion amongst a lot of more typical pond dipping fare.
As the day went on, our grazier saw a bittern just west of Joist Fen viewpoint. A goldcrest was feeding in front of the visitor centre along with a coal tit and several long tailed tits.
Our main theme yesterday evening was bats. Although we had to endure a slow start to the evening feeding frenzy, we heard a couple of common pipistrelles alongside East Wood. We stopped at New Fen viewpoint and a late cuckoo flew over. As we walked back through the reserve, we heard several loud noctules alongside East Wood feeding with small numbers of soprano pipistrelles. When we got back to the visitor centre, we were treated to the sight and sounds of a Daubenton's bat "trawling" over the visitor centre pond.
So there you have it! We still have some more moths to go through this morning before everyone departs so Warden Emma is currently busy going through the traps in advance of the arrival of lots of very excited (and probably very tired!) children. As for me, I think I am just going to find a quiet corner to curl up in!
I will return later on in the week with some more recent sightings so until then, have a good week and we hope to see you on the reserve soon!