Hello and welcome to this weeks' blog. If you have visited us today or plan to do so in the next few weeks you should notice a big difference at Mere Hide- all the reeds surrounding it have had their autumn haircut! This is one of the tasks we leave until the breeding season for birds has well and truly passed- reed and sedge warblers as well as whitethroats often have late broods and can be raising young into September. The cutting brings several advantages- not least a clear view from the hide for visitors, but it encourages regrowth of the reed and having areas of reed at different levels of maturity attracts a wider range of wildlife as we have more habitat types. For example, whilst bitterns love to hide and roost in a well-grown reedbed which affords them a lot of privacy, they, along with herons, little egrets and great white egrets, find freshly-cut areas irresistible for a spot of hunting. This reedbed cut follows on from more harcuits at the viewpoints, all the benches, fen plant bed pools (on your left as you leave the Visitor Centre on the hard track). Phil is one of our volunteers and over the course of the summer you may have seen him out on our ATV, pulling a mower behind him. Yesterday (29 October) was his last session of 2020 and his 16th day of mowing this season. When we reopened to the public in June, Phil toiled away for 2.5 days getting all the paths presentable and useable for visitors, as well as wide enough- after a whole spring in lockdown, there was an awful lot to cut. When it is longer, Phil has to mow more slowly for the cut to be effective, so it took longer back then!In terms of wildlife, we had our first short-eared owl of the autumn/winter- one bird was seen by warden Katherine flying over Joist Fen North on 28 October, as well as up to fifteen marsh harriers using the reserve as a roost site that evening. It is getting to the time of year when barn owls become more visible- while we haven't had many sightings yet, do try sitting on the benches at The Mound (just off the path between the Car Park and the Visitor Centre) as the scrubby habitat of Brandon Fen and also the Washland are popular with the owls year-on-year. Talking of the Washland, the whooper swans continue to delight with the latest count of 1,027 birds this morning (30 October). The best time to see them is early morning, especially if you can get here before 07:00. They take off in noisy droves from about 06:30 but often several birds remain all day, so visiting later in the day just means you won't see as many. Below is a lovely photo taken by a visitor on 25 October of the swans doing their graceful thing! Most of the autumn passage waders have moved through by now but we did have a small flock of 24 ruff in flight over the Washland on 27 October. Other waders to look for will be redshank, lapwing and snipe. Photo credit: Whooper swans by Sharon Rayner
This morning, whilst having a cup of tea on said Mound, I had about eight siskin and one fieldfare in flight overhead, and these are two birds whose numbers have increased dramatically in the past week, along with redwings. They are once again a common sight here- to see the winter thrushes, keep an eye out in scrub anywhere on the reserve (especially berry-bearing bushes) and for siskins, the tops of the alder trees at the Visitor Centre are reliable. On 25 October I also had a mistle thrush in the same area and this is a bird we will begin to see again during winter as they become more obvious, and more vocal, often singing from December onwards. At the bird feeders at the Visitor Centre we have had several chaffinches, a couple of marsh tits and a long-tailed tit party visiting regularly. Highlights here recently have been a single brambling on 19 October and a redpoll on 26 October- although the brambling might have been a single bird, we know there are more redpoll as our local bird ringer keeps catching them! If you would like to see one, keep an eye on the feeders but also on the siskin flocks if you latch onto any with binoculars- they will mix together but there are always several siskin for every redpoll in a flock!Our otters have had a bit of a quiet week but a sighting of two together on the pool at New Fen this morning (30 October) shows us they are still around and a visitor kindly sent over photographs of an otter in the river on 26 October- see below. We also had a sighting, again in the river, the day before. They are always more conspicuous here in winter and are fond of fishing in the rain!
Photo credits: Both by Graham Joyce on 26 October
Another mammal highlight of the week was a stoat spotted on 25 October, by a visitor who got this image:
Photo credit: Stoat by Sharon Rayner, taken on 25 October.
Autumn is well and truly underway on the reserve and some of the trees, especially the silver birches on Brandon Fen, are looking very beautiful. Did you know that a deciduous trees' colours in autumn are the product of the tree ceasing production of chlorophyll? The low light intensities of winter mean it just isn't worth it for many trees to produce this green pigment, so it stops producing it and the yellows and oranges created by carotenoids and anthocyanins show through instead- these pigments have always been there, but the green of spring and summer obscures them. Our willows, poplars, birches and eventually the oaks will lose their leaves whilst the evergreen conifers and holly (mainly in Brandon Fen and around the Visitor Centre) will keep their deep green hue through the winter- they become vital refuges for birds and small mammals needing shelter from harsh winter weather. Keep an eye out especially for goldcrests treecreepers and coal tits, as well as mixed tit flocks, moving through them and searching the foliage for insects.To finish, here's a beautiful photograph taken by Site Manager Dave of sunset over Botany Bay on 27 October: Photo credit: Dave Rogers.As a quick reminder of what facilities are open here at the reserve:
Hope to see you on the reserve soon!With best wishes,Heidi Jones (Visitor Experience Officer, RSPB Lakenheath Fen).