Good morning. I will begin by posting a nice photograph of a roe deer that was taken near New Fen viewpoint on Friday morning:
Image credit: Matt Walton
Thank you very much to Matt for sharing this great image with us!
As Friday afternoon went on, three cranes were seen in flight from Joist Fen viewpoint. There were a couple of interesting waders around on the washland early evening including two curlews, a whimbrel and a green sandpiper.
Although the weather wasn't ideal for the bat night on Friday night, we still heard plenty of bats in sheltered spots on the western edge of East Wood. This included several loud noctules and lot's of pipistrelles. We also saw a barn owl hunting along the riverbank and heard a grasshopper warbler reeling on the other side of East Wood. If you are interested, our next bat nights will take place on Saturday 2 September and more details can be found here.
I did my latest Common Bird Census (CBC) around Brandon Fen yesterday morning and as well as hearing plenty of common birds singing, I saw two roe deer near the reserve entrance. Once I had finished my survey, I went up to the Washland viewpoint. I saw a the glossy ibis and two common snipe.
Just as I was about to retreat back to the visitor centre, a small wader, which I had initially assumed to be a dunlin small across the pool, showing a lot more white on its wings than dunlins do when they fly. When it landed, I got my telescope on it and found that it had a rufous head. It was a sanderling in summer plumage! This is only the second time one has been seen here. The only other record came in mid-May 1994 so I was pretty chuffed to find it!
Sadly, the sanderling didn't stick around for long and had disappeared by 10am. There was plenty of movement going on throughout the day though and here are the maximum counts of various species from the Washland viewpoint:
There were plenty of hobbys around during the afternoon and the highest count of the day was of 38 individuals from Joist Fen viewpoint. Site Manager Dave was out and about with his camera and he took these photos of them:
Image credits: Dave Rogers
Volunteer Pete lead the dawn chorus walk this morning and there was plenty to see. They saw a bittern from Joist Fen viewpoint along with at least 80 swifts. They also saw the following from the Washland viewpoint:
Meanwhile, further down the reserve, a total of seven cranes were seen in flight which is a good record for here. A black tern has also appeared in front of the Washland viewpoint in the last hour which has been an added bonus.
Please note that if you are planning to visit the reserve, there are currently cattle grazing on the riverbank.
We hope to see you soon!