Hello and welcome to the first blog of 2022! We have had some very mixed weather- New Years Day was sunny, mild and very pseudo-Spring, but since then each day has got a little colder and today we arrived at work in -4c conditions! However there was a beautiful sparkly frost adorning every surface and there was plenty of activity on the balcony bird feeders as they filled up after a cold night- long-tailed tits joined dozens of blue tits, great tits and chaffinches. There were robins, dunnocks and lots of goldfinches in attendance too.Out on the reserve, today has brought sightings of our first bearded tits of the year, spotted at around 10am by the work party in 'New Fen Triangle'- this is the patch of reedbed shaped like a triangle that sits south of West Wood, and is bordered to the north by the grass track and to the south by the hardcore track, both of which lead west to Joist Fen Viewpoint. Today's conditions were ideal for bearded tits- cold, calm, clear mornings when they are easier to see as they feed on the tops of the reedbeds. We had a record count of marsh harriers flying into roost across the reserve on the evening of 4 January- a local birder reported a minimum of 46 but it could have numbered dozens more. The weather conditions were ideal- breezy and chilly- that evening which might explain why we didn't spot quite so many when the two wardens went down the reserve to count them last night (5 January) when we were back to our usual numbers of 15 or so. So if we get an evening with a bit of wind about it, that would be a good time to visit if you'd like to see the harriers going to bed! A peregrine and great white egret were spotted too.This morning (6 January), when I arrived there were three fieldfare feeding on the entrance track and we have continued to see them pass overhead today along with dozens of redwing. As usual they are flying westwards, and they often pause in the poplars outside the Visitor Centre before continuing on. We also have regular visits from siskins at the Visitor Centre- they tend to sit at the very tops of the alder trees, feeding in the ripe catkins, and twittering as they go. If you aren't familiar with them, they are beautiful little birds- not much bigger than a blue tit but the males are canary-yellow and the females a mossy green, both streaks and barred with black and with forked tails as with many of the finch species.Up on the Washland we have had some action too- with our regular volunteer and birder Paul finding five pintail yesterday (5 January). He also saw 8 shoveler, 3 shelduck and 3 teal up there on the same visit, as well as one each of marsh harrier, little egret and a merlin. Today there were 10 common gulls in amongst black-headed gulls, which was an unusual record for us- they were all clustered together over the area of un-frozen water and so were easy to pick out! When I visited during darkness on 3 January to do a few odd jobs at the Visitor Centre in the evening, I could hear teal, whooper swans and wigeon on the Washland although interestingly the latter two species haven't been reported during the daytime up there this year...Nearby at the Photo Station our water rail has been putting on a show for visitors who stop to watch it pick through spilt seed under the feeders, and he or she has been a daily record for us so far this year. You may also see a female great spotted woodpecker using these feeders, as well as one or two shier greenfinches that avoid the relative hustle and bustle of the Visitor Centre feeders! Three kingfishers were seen by a pair of lucky visitors on 28 December which was a super end to the year- three in one day is quite unusual for us!We also had a sighting of a pair of common cranes on 2 January, distantly from Joist Fen- these could be nomadic birds passing through the reserve on their winter roamings, or it could be one of our pairs making a brief visit to their breeding territory, which they often do during winter, just to check all is in order.I would like to finish with a selection of beautiful photographs from one of our regular visitors, Emma Nunn, who took them over the New Year weekend (1-2 January). They get us off to a very good start and I hope you enjoy looking at them!
From top: Long-tailed tit, blue tit, goldfinch, great spotted woodpecker, water rail (with worm!!) and reed bunting, all taken and kindly shared with us by Emma Nunn.As a final note, I will mention that we do have some spaces left on tomorrow's guided walk- the first Friday Foray of 2022- with more info and tickets available here. Tomorrow's walk will be a casual wander and look to see what we can find in terms of wildlife in the New Year- hopefully we can add to the list of our guests and the reserve itself and provide some memorable experiences! The walk will be from 11am to 1pm, and booking is essential.With best wishes for 2022,Heidi.