Good morning.I will begin by tying up some loose ends from last week. Firstly, here is a photograph of our resident leucistic wren that was taken here last Thursday:
Image credit: Garth Peacock
Thank you very much to Garth for sharing this lovely image with us.
It is incredible that this bird has been here for so long, as it has been present since last September. If you haven't seen it yet, its territory is along the interior track from New Fen viewpoint. Please ask in the visitor centre for more detailed directions.
Secondly, I mentioned in Saturday's blog post that there would be a piece mentioning the reserve on ITV Anglia News on Monday. In the event, it didn't go out until Tuesday but here is a link to it if you didn't see it. It includes an interview with our Site Manager Dave Rogers and it is well worth watching!
Despite the fact that it was raining on Saturday, we were treated to some wonderful sightings from the visitor centre window. A bittern appeared at the edge of the visitor centre pond mid-morning and was present for the majority of the rest of the day and even fell asleep in full view at one point! A water rail was also skulking at the edge of the pool and a sparrowhawk flew over.
It did brighten up slightly in the afternoon and the following was seen from the Washland viewpoint:
There was plenty to see on Sunday and I spent some time up at the Washland viewpoint first thing. I saw:
Shortly after we opened, a water pipit made a brief appearance at the edge of the visitor centre pond. Two great white egrets were seen in flight over the far end of the reserve and a woodcock was seen at the edge of East Wood. A later common darter dragonfly was also on the wing near the Washland viewpoint.
We have all being pretty busy this week but Warden Alan took this lovely photo of the sunset at New Fen viewpoint yesterday evening:
Image credit: Alan Kell
I spent some time up at the Washland viewpoint before work this morning and saw the following:
Volunteer Steve went up to the Washland viewpoint shortly after we opened and saw a flock of 50 redwings near the viewpoint. He also saw a weasel near the pond dipping platform.
If you are planning to visit the reserve, please note that there are currently cattle grazing on the riverbank Public Footpath between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint.
Also, you may be interested to hear that steam locomotive 60103 "Flying Scotsman" is due to be coming past the reserve on Saturday afternoon. It will be heading towards Ely and should pass us here at around 15.10-15.15 if it is on time.
We hope to see you soon!