Good afternoon! The recent settled weather has meant that things have started to happen here. Here are a couple of pictures from the last week:
A male marsh harrier:
A pair of great crested grebes:
Image credits: Matt Walton
Thank you very much to Matt for sharing these images with us.
The sunset at Joist Fen viewpoint:
Image credit: David White
Our first common lizard of the year was found near the visitor centre on Sunday. A family also found a bronze carabid in Brandon Fen. This is a rather smart looking species of beetle.
A male blackcap was singing at the far end on Tuesday of the reserve and a brimstone butterfly was on the wing in Brandon Fen. A sedge warbler was also heard near Joist Fen viewpoint.
A great white egret was on the washland yesterday morning and there were two bramblings singing in Brandon Fen. Two avocets also flew over the washland, which is a good record for here.
Later on in the day, I went for a walk with some children and we saw three species of butterfly. These were: peacock, small tortoiseshell and green veined white.
A water vole swam across the visitor centre pond and a curlew was bathing in the pond which was lovely to see. We had our staff and volunteer start of season social in the evening and we heard two species of bats over the visitor centre. These were common pipistrelle and Daubenton’s.
I came in early this morning to help out with a bittern survey and I spent a great hour and a half down at very chilly New Fen viewpoint. There were seven roe deer grazing alongside the entrance track and a common whitethroat was singing at the edge of East Wood as I walked down.
A bittern was booming intermittently in front of the viewpoint and another individual also flew out of the reedbed and onto the washland. There were two kingfishers fishing in front of the viewpoint and three marsh harriers were cavorting high in the sky.
There were a few surprises when a red legged partridge appeared on the railway line and a grey wagtail flew over. The biggest surprise came when I got back to the visitor centre: a nuthatch was calling in the staff car park. Believe it or not, this is only the third record of this species on the reserve.
As the day has gone on, a great white egret appeared on the washland and I had to rescue a jack pike that was stuck in some pond weed near the pond dipping platform (all a day’s work as they say!) An orange tip butterfly was outside the visitor centre and our first house martin of the year has just been spotted over the washland.
The weather forecast for the next couple of days isn't looking too bad so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!