Firstly, please excuse me if I don’t sound completely coherent this morning, I have lead two dawn chorus walks in the last two days! As you will hear later though, they were both rather good! I will begin though with a quick summary of the end of last week:
The weather was distinctly patchy on Friday but it was rather bright in the morning. I couldn’t resist going to take some photos of the water violet that is currently in flower alongside Trial Wood:
While I was out, I heard a grasshopper warbler in New Fen North and there were at least 20 swifts over the reedbed. A garden warbler was also singing in East Wood which was rather nice.
A crane was seen from Joist Fen viewpoint and a bittern flew between New Fen North and Joist Fen viewpoint. A ringtail Montagu’s harrier also flew west along the river just north of West Wood (the furthest poplar plantation.)
The male red footed falcon appeared over New Fen North at around 1.30pm and spent a happy afternoon tearing around the sky with around eight hobbys. Les took this record shot of it:
Photo credit: Les Bunyan
I did dawn chorus number one yesterday with our Wildlife Explorers club. As we didn’t start until 6.30am, I sneaked out for a little walk beforehand. It was a good job that I did, as I saw my first turtle dove of the year flying over the visitor centre. A cuckoo was perched at the edge of the car park and a barn owl was over the washland.
We had a very pleasant dawn chorus walk and we heard a bittern booming in New Fen North. We were also entertained by the antics of two common terns that were feeding at close quarters in the second washland pool.
When we got back, a muntjac deer was wandering around at the edge of the visitor centre pond and our first female hairy dragonfly of the year was seen alongside Trial Wood. The red footed falcon appeared over the washland at around 10.30am before relocating to the skies above New Fen North. Once again, it was tearing around the sky with at least 10 hobbys for most of the afternoon. A water vole was seen in a ditch alongside the railway line and three arctic terns flew over Joist Fen viewpoint.
I lead dawn chorus number two bright and early this morning and things started rather well: A bittern flew over East Wood and landed almost in front of us just west of the visitor centre. Another bird was booming in New Fen North and a male marsh harrier was hunting over the reedbed.
A cuckoo was calling just south of Joist Fen viewpoint and a single crane was north of the river just north of Joist Fen viewpoint. We counted at least eight marsh harriers over Joist Fen. As we walked back along the riverbank, a hobby flew out of West Wood and a barn owl was hunting over the washland. We retired back to the visitor centre for a well deserved continental breakfast shortly after! We hope to see you soon.