Good morning. This reserve has never been well known for waders but they have been quite prevalent here this week (for us, anyway!)
I will start where I left off on Tuesday. A great white egret flew over the visitor centre and there were four oystercatchers on the washland. Two common curlews flew over the visitor centre, which was a reserve year tick for most of the staff! Two whooper swans were also photographed on the washland.
I went for a walk on Wednesday morning and saw a great white egret on the washland. I flushed seven meadow pipits from the riverbank and a barn owl was hunting in front of New Fen viewpoint.
Meanwhile, further on down the reserve, all five cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint and presumably the same partially ermine stoat that featured in my blog post from Tuesday was seen alongside Trial Wood.
I was working elsewhere for most of the day on Thursday but managed to sneak out for 10 minutes before I left. A great white egret was on the washland along with a whooper swan. A common curlew also flew over.
There was a three way sing off between three species of thrushes near the visitor centre. This included a blackbird, a song thrush and a mistle thrush. This was great to hear!
Later on in the day, Emma and some of the volunteers did a snipe count. They found at least 36 common snipe in Botany Bay and another six slightly closer to Joist Fen viewpoint. They also saw a bittern in flight from Joist Fen viewpoint.
Volunteer Emma saw 10 common curlews on the washland yesterday. This may well be a reserve record! She also saw 21 lapwings over Brandon Fen.
I saw nine roe deer alongside the entrance track as I drove in this morning and there was a muntjac deer feeding in East Wood. A great white egret was on the washland along with a shelduck, which was the first sighting of this species on the reserve this year.
I took two pictures which just about summed up the seasonality of the reserve:
A mouldy giant puffball, symbolising that winter is almost over:
Some alder catkins, symbolising that spring is on its way:
Image credits: David White
For all of you steam engine fans, you may be interested to hear that B1 class locomotive “Mayflower” is due past the reserve tomorrow just before Midday on its way to Norwich. Full timings can be found here.
We hope to see you soon!