The sun continues to shine on us and lots of our local wildlife have been taking advantage of it over the last couple of days. Although there have been plenty of species of birds showing themselves (more about them later!), a special mention has to go to the fantastic variety of insects showing themselves.
A male banded demoiselle was whizzing about outside the visitor centre on Friday and several more were on the wing near Joist Fen viewpoint. There were plenty of blue tailed damselflies on the wing and the first brown hawkers of the year where lumbering around.
We were pond dipping yesterday and we were kept entertained by a couple of four-spotted chasers that kept landing on the vegetation in front of us. We also saw good numbers of azure damselflies and a single brown hawker that was patrolling over the visitor centre pond. A red admiral was sunning itself outside the visitor centre and there were plenty of ringlets feeding on or around the visitor centre mound. This morning I managed to get a picture of one:
Image credit: David White
I also got this picture of this meadow brown that was obviously trying to hide from me. See if you can spot it!:
There were plenty of small tortoiseshells on the wing between East Wood and the visitor centre. Just before I got back to the visitor centre, I couldn't resist photographing some marsh woundwort that was in flower alongside the path:
A kingfisher visited the visitor centre pond on Friday morning and a large grass snake swam across the pool in front of New Fen viewpoint. Some cranes were bugling from deep in the reedbed and a hobby was over Joist Fen viewpoint. Several bitterns were also seen in flight over the course of the day from both viewpoints.
Yesterday morning, a barn owl was hunting over the riverbank near Joist Fen viewpoint and two common terns flew over the visitor centre, calling noisily as they went. A kingfisher was also showing well in front of New Fen viewpoint.
This morning, a grasshopper warbler was in full voice between Trial Wood and West Wood and several bearded tits were pinging in front of the Trial Wood viewpoint. A juvenile marsh harrier was hunting over the railway line and a kingfisher flew out of East Wood and into New Fen North.
Its going to be another week of lovely, sunny weather so why not come and visit? We hope to see you soon!
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