Here’s a lovely photograph taken on 28 December by a visitor of a stunning male stonechat perched in vegetation along the riverbank:
Photo credit: Guy Pracy
There’s a few conspicuous absences, as there would be I expect if you did this on any day of the year- we are still waiting for an appearance from our regular great spotted woodpecker and any of our coal tits! Perhaps they are on an outing for New Year’s Day. There may be a pair of cranes on site- they were here on at least the 23 and 29 December so they may well be around. They have returned quite early (last year’s first record was on 31 January- so these birds are likely to come and go a fair bit between now and February, which is when any birds attempting to breed will really settle down).
Tawny owl was heard early in the morning too, calling from West Wood, but we are trying to keep the list to just birds which we’ve seen. We plan to put a date next to all of the sightings so that the list can double up in keeping a record of the arrival dates of spring migrants such as swallow and willow warbler too. It feels a way off now, but when we get our first butterfly, dragonfly and damselfly we’ll have them on a list too! Bye for now then- watch this space for a further update to our list in the coming days!
By Heidi Jones
Visitor Experience Officer
RSPB Lakenheath Fen.