Good morning. Here is a short(ish) blog post to let you know what has been going on here this week
I will start off though with a great image of a Chinese water deer that was taken here back in November:
Image credit: Steve Holloway
Ex-Site Manager Norman spent some time down at Joist Fen viewpoint on Monday evening and he saw at least 30 marsh harriers which is a great count for here.
There was some excitement on Tuesday when a group of nine cranes were seen on the reserve. They have been out in the Fens for most of the autumn so presumably, they just popped back to check whether the reserve is still here!
Here are a couple of photos of four of them:
Image credits: Matt Walton
Thank you very much to Steve and Matt for sharing their great images with us.
The reserve team saw four cranes beyond Joist Fen viewpoint on Wednesday. However, there were reports of up to 20 birds seen which is intriguing!
Sadly, no cranes were seen on the reserve on Thursday which is a shame.
A mistle thrush was singing close to the visitor centre when I got here this morning. I popped up to the Washland viewpoint before I opened up and saw four greylag geese and seven wigeons.
As I was opening up the visitor centre, a chiffchaff was calling close by. Shortly after we opened up, a Chinese water deer appeared at the edge of the visitor centre pond which was nice to see at this end of the reserve.
As the morning has gone on, a lesser redpoll has been feeding on the visitor centre feeders A group of redwings have also been feeding in the poplars in front of the visitor centre.
If you are planning to visit, please note that there are still cattle grazing on the riverbank Public Footpath between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint. This path is also very muddy so wellies are recommended to negotiate it at present!
We hope to see you soon!