Good afternoon. There was plenty to see over the weekend so here are some recent sightings:
On Saturday, Warden Alan counted nine ruffs on the washland. A kingfisher was also making regular visits to the visitor centre pond.
There was plenty going on yesterday and local birder Mo saw a curlew sandpiper on the washland. He also saw a flock of around 40 bearded tits near Joist Fen viewpoint and peregrine flew over the far end of the reserve.
Wardens Alan and Emma did a Wetland Birds Count (WeBs Count) yesterday. Before they headed out, they saw a grey wagtail at the edge of the visitor centre pond.
They saw a few waders on the washland, including:
A great white egret also appeared on the washland shortly afterwards.
Meanwhile, I made a brief visit to the far end of the reserve where I took a couple of pictures of Botany Bay SSSI:
To be honest, I was mainly waiting to photograph steam locomotive 70013 "Oliver Cromwell" passing the reserve:
Image credits: David White
Although this was actually taken from south of the railway line, the poplars behind the train are part of the reserve!
I saw a green woodpecker on the "reserve" side of the railway line and a group of redwings flew towards the reserve. There were also large numbers of common darter dragonflies on the wing near the railway line.
There have been some interesting wader records so far today and here are the maximum counts:
Volunteer Paul saw two bearded tits near the Washland viewpoint and a kingfisher at the edge of the visitor centre pond.
Suzanne went for a walk around Brandon Fen at lunchtime and saw a stonechat. She also saw a group of four bearded tits in the reedbed.
Please note that the reserve is likely to be very busy on Sunday 15 October as our Race for Wildlife will start at 11am. If you are planning to visit the reserve on Sunday, we recommend you either visit early in the morning or after 2pm, once the event has finished.
We hope to see you soon!