Good morning. After having to close the reserve on Tuesday and Wednesday for safety reasons, I am pleased to say that we are fully open once again!
I will begin with some photographs that were taken on the reserve on Monday morning, courtesy of Richard Gannon:
A buck roe deer:
A cormorant perched in front of Joist Fen viewpoint:
A presumably partially leucistic Egyptian goose:
A sedge warbler:
Image credits: Richard Gannon
It was a lovely day on Monday and there were plenty of people out enjoying the reserve. An osprey flew over Joist Fen viewpoint before returning with a fish and three Arctic terns flew over Joist Fen viewpoint. There were also two otters playing in the river near the same viewpoint. Here is a picture of one of them:
Image credit: Matt Walton
Thank you very much to Richard and Matt for sharing these great images with us.
As the day went on a red kite was over Joist Fen viewpoint and a turtle dove flew over nearby. At least 35 hobbys were over the viewpoint during the afternoon and a lesser whitethroat was singing near the Washland viewpoint.
There were also plenty of insects on the wing. This included a four spotted chaser and several azure damselflies alongside East Wood, the first poplar wood.
There weren't many sightings from Tuesday and Wednesday due to the weather. However, I popped down last night once the wind had dropped (a bit anyway!) I was rewarded with the sighting of two Arctic terns zipping across the reserve, wind assisted. There were also at least five house martins over New Fen North, the first area of reedbed.
As the weather was so nice this morning, four out of five of us staff were out doing our Common Bird Census’. Suzanne and I did our usual walk around Brandon Fen. We saw a grasshopper warbler out in the open and were pleasantly surprised when two grey partridges flew in to the grazing marsh.
As the day has gone on, a common sandpiper was seen on the washland north of East Wood and a probable male Montagu’s harrier flew north over the visitor centre.
There is plenty to see at the moment so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!