I am pleased to say that luckily, the reserve weathered the storm that came on Sunday night and Monday morning and there is no damage (thank goodness!). The increment weather did alter the reserve staff's plans somewhat yesterday though. The plan was for our new hide to be delivered yesterday but because of the weather forecast, the big moment was postponed until today! As I type, Katherine, Phil and Nigel are busy supervising the installation of Mere Hide! Therefore, it will not look like this for much longer:
Image credit David White
As Ali said last Thursday, it will not be open straight away as we need to build a section of boardwalk up to it. Rest assured, when it is open we will let you know.
It has been an eventful morning. The excitement started when Simon saw two great white egrets on the washland. They are both still present but don't seem too pleased to be in each others company as they kept chasing each other around!
Also, Simon has been ringing in Brandon Fen this morning and has caught what can only be described as a baffling array of redpolls! They are notoriously difficult to identify, even in the hand so here goes!
Here is our "nominate" British race lesser redpoll (subspecies cabaret):
Here are a couple of common or mealy redpolls (subspecies flammea):
...And a really big individual that was showing possible signs of being the Greenland race (subspecies rostrata):
Image credits: David White
However, the measurements were so borderline that Simon couldn't completely rule out the possibility of it being a larger lesser redpoll.
In other news, a woodcock was flushed behind the visitor centre on Sunday afternoon and a muntjac deer was skulking around at the edge of the visitor centre pond at dusk. An otter was seen on the washland yesterday afternoon and a barn owl was hunting over Brandon Fen.
Dave went down the reserve early this morning and he saw a bittern in flight in front of Joist Fen viewpoint. There were also bearded tits pinging in front of both New Fen and Joist Fen viewpoints. We hope to see you soon!