Good morning. One of the great things about October is that so much changes during the month. I will start off where I left off with some images and sightings from Thursday:
Brandon Fen:
Highland cow in the grazing marsh:
The washland:
Image credits: David White
I walked round Brandon Fen and at least 35 redwings flew south over the reserve. Two goldcrests were feeding at the edge of the car park and a grey wagtail flew over. There were eight little egrets showing in front of the Washland viewpoint and shortly after we opened, volunteer Darren spotted a kingfisher at the edge of the visitor centre pond.
As the morning went on, volunteer Steve heard a chiffchaff singing in the staff car park and Suzanne walked around the 10k route of our Race for Wildlife. On the way round, she saw good numbers of bearded tits at the far end of the reserve, totaling at around 25 birds. She also saw a sparrowhawk near Joist Fen viewpoint.
There was some excitement late afternoon when volunteer Alan spotted an otter feeding in the visitor centre pond. It was around for at least five minutes so it provided great views to those lucky people who were in the visitor centre at the time.
On Friday, local birdwatcher Steve found a ring ouzel on the Public Footpath at the far end of the reserve. Sadly, it was very elusive and it didn't stick around for too long. He also saw a Chinese water deer and two willow emerald damselflies near the pumping station at the edge of Botany Bay.
He went as far as Joist Fen viewpoint and saw four cranes in flight, two adults and two juveniles. While he was at the viewpoint, nine swallows flew south along with nine redwings.
Yesterday, volunteer Roy went down to Joist Fen viewpoint and there were plenty of birds of prey around. This included six common buzzards and three marsh harriers. One lucky visitor also saw a goshawk later on in the day which is a great record for here.
While I was locking up the visitor centre, I spotted this late red underwing moth roosting on the back of the visitor centre:
Image credit: David White
I had a pleasant surprise as I drove in this morning: a tawny owl flew across the entrance track in front of me! I walked along the riverbank and the light was quite dreamy:
I had a lovely view of a perched up kingfisher and two stonechats seemed to be following me along the Public Footpath. A grey wagtail was feeding in front of New Fen viewpoint and a chiffchaff was singing near the visitor centre.
As our FULLY BOOKED Race for Wildlife is now only a week away we will be very busy with preparations for the event so apologies if there aren't as many updates as usual. The event will take place at 11am next Sunday so if you are planning to come and visit on that day, we recommend you either come earlier or later in the day as car parking may become an issue with so many people taking part in the event.
There is plenty to see so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!