Happy New Year to you all! Unfortunately, we have had a damp start to 2017 and is currently raining persistently outside.
If you read our blog posts regularly, you will know that we have an annual reserve year list challenge each year. The idea is simple: To see as many species on the reserve in a year. This includes species that are seen north of the river or south of the railway line (as long as they are seen from the reserve!) The rules are very strict and the only species that you can count if you hear them bit don't see them are spotted crake and quail.
With all of that being said, the results of the 2016 bird list challenge are as follows:
I have attached the combined list of all of the six of ours sightings to this blog post, which comes to 142 species. The most notable omissions that were seen on the reserve but none of us managed to see were a wood sandpiper in September and a hen harrier in December.
Special mention must also go to Nick Moran, who works for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), who used the reserve as one of his sites for his 2016 Patchwork Challenge. He managed a very respectable 121 species on the reserve in 2016. This is especially impressive considering he had another Patchwork Challenge site in Thetford and he also works full time for the BTO!
Although it was not a very good start to the day this morning, my father and I were down at Joist Fen viewpoint for first light which looked like this:
Image credits: David White
Despite the murky conditions, we saw:
2 bitterns
150+ whooper swans
1 woodcock
It was therefore well worth getting up early for! Right, I am now off to tot up my 2017 reserve year list so far! I will post some more recent sightings over the next couple of days so until then. have a good start to 2017!