Good morning. We have been treated to some lovely weather over the last couple of days (until this morning anyway!)

On Thursday afternoon, a male great spotted woodpecker was showing well on the visitor centre feeders. Site Manager Dave went up to the Washland viewpoint  after work and counted at least 192 whooper swans coming in to roost which is a good count. 

Local photographer Matt Walton was here early on Friday…

Good morning. There has been plenty to see over the last couple of days so here are some more recent sightings:

On Sunday morning, four cranes flew over the Washland viewpoint. A peregrine flew over New Fen viewpoint and a curlew was showing well from the Washland viewpoint in the afternoon. 

Fast forward to yesterday, there were four male tufted ducks on the washland along with three shelducks. I walked around Brandon…

Good afternoon. Plenty has been going on here over the last couple of days so without any further ado, I will begin:

On Thursday afternoon, a goldcrest was singing in front of the visitor centre and two jack snipe were reported along the riverbank.  A total of nine cranes were also seen from Joist Fen viewpoint over the course of the day.

I went for a walk around Brandon Fen first thing on Friday morning and saw three…

Good morning. Here are some more sightings from Sunday onwards:

I went up to the Washland viewpoint first thing on Sunday morning and saw the following:

• Great white egret: 1
• Shelduck: 4
• Whooper swan: 1
• Water pipit: 1

I then led a very successful "Winter Ramble in the Fens" guided walk. Highlights included seeing at least four great white egrets, three cranes and a female merlin between Joist Fen viewpoint…

Please note that our Winter Ramble in the Fens guided walk on Sunday 4 February is FULLY BOOKED. Unfortunately, we can only accommodate those who have booked places in advance. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

Hello there! There have been plenty of sightings of cranes on the reserve over the last couple of days so here are some more recent sightings:

A total of nine cranes were seen in flight from Joist Fen viewpoint on Thursday which is a great count. Several bittern flights were seen and volunteer Roger took this photograph from what we have christened Nigel's Bridge:

Image credit: Roger Horton

This common buzza…

Good morning. Well, February has started off with a lovely day so here are some recent sightings from Tuesday onwards:

I was working elsewhere for most of the day on Tuesday but I did pop in briefly early in the morning. As I drove in, there were six roe deer on the entrance track which was a nice start to the day. 

Later on in the morning, local bird ringer Simon saw eight shelducks on the washland and heard a reed…

There have been plenty of people enjoying the reserve this weekend so here are some more recent sightings from Thursday afternoon onwards:

Visitor centre volunteer Steve got lucky on Thursday when a merlin flashed across the visitor centre pond. A mistle thrush was singing in Brandon Fen and volunteer John W saw three cranes north of the river. 

On Friday, volunteer Roy saw a woodcock along the entrance track and a

Good morning. The weather has again been very patchy this week but there has been plenty to see nonetheless:

Starting where I left off on Saturday, a total of five cranes were seen from Joist Fen viewpoint. This included a family of four and another single bird. I went up to the Washland viewpoint at lunchtime and spotted a peregrine perched up in West Wood. 

Local birder Paul saw a brambling near the visitor centre…

As many of you will know winter is a very busy time for us as we do much of our key habitat management on the reserve.  This winter has been no different and I'm sure if you have visited recently you will have seen we have been undertaking further reed cutting in New Fen North.  We have now finished cutting the final third of this large reedbed as part of rejuvenation works to keep the reedbed in tip top condition. 

Good morning. After posting some photographs that I took earlier on in the week, I will launch into quite a long list of sightings from the last couple of days.

Fungi growing on one of the raised beds in front of the visitor centre:

The Little Ouse river:

An indication of how muddy the riverbank Public Footpath is at the moment:

Some of the recent reed cutting work in New Fen North, the first area of reedbed…

Good afternoon. Before I launch into some more recent sightings, here are some lovely photographs that have been taken on the reserve recently:

Silhouetted marsh harrier: 

Long tailed tit:

Silhouetted swans:

Image credits; Nigel Wallace

Thank you very much to Nigel for sharing these great images with us.

Volunteer Pete led a very successful "Raptor Watch" guided walk on Sunday afternoon. The group saw the following…

Good afternoon. I will begin with some late news from Tuesday: Ex-Site Manager Norman saw a single pink footed goose in amongst a flock of around 300 greylag geese north of the river. It will therefore be worth looking through the goose flock over the next couple of weeks as pink footed geese are pretty scarce here.

Moving on to Friday, two fieldfares flew over the visitor centre shortly after I arrived. I also saw two…

Good afternoon. Things are finally back to normal now after the festive season so here are some sightings from the last couple of days:

I will start though with a couple of pictures that I took on the reserve on Ne Year's Day:

Visitor centre pond late afternoon:

The moon over the car park:

Image credits: David White

I hope you like them! 

Suzanne walked around Brandon Fen on Monday lunchtime and saw a

Please note that the Raptor Watch guided walk on Sunday 14 January 2pm-5pm is FULLY BOOKED. Unfortunately, we can only accommodate those people who have booked places in advance. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

Good afternoon. Apologies for the lack of updates recently, I haven't been at the reserve much. Here is a short update of what has been seen recently:

A group of four cranes have been seen fairly regularly over the last couple of days from Joist Fen viewpoint. Here is a photograph of them in flight yesterday:

A strange looking goose has also appeared in amongst the greylag geese. As you can see, it stands out…

Happy New Year!

I will start with the results of the 2017 staff and volunteer year list challenge. Just in case you aren't familiar with our year list challenge, the aim of the game is to see as many different species of bird on the reserve in a year as possible. You can only count a bird species if you see it (as opposed to just hearing it) and as long as you are on part of the reserve when you see something, you can…

Although it is a bit cliched as it is New Year's Eve, I thought I would write up a short review of the 2017:

Breeding season

We had a record number of booming bitterns on the reserve in the spring, with eight booming males being recorded. Eventually, four nests were found on the reserve.

There were 11 marsh harrier nests on the reserve. Although this was down on previous years, it is not bad considering that back…

Good morning. Well, the weather has improved (a bit!) so here is my last recent sightings blog post of 2017.

I will start with some late news from Boxing Day: Volunteer Paul Holness saw at least 450 whooper swans feeding north of the river which is a good count for here.

I went for a walk at lunchtime on Wednesday and saw a single roe deer in Brandon Fen. A great white egret was showing well from the Washland viewpoint…

Good morning. We hope you have all had good Christmases!

It is really rather wet outside today so I will start with some pictures of bearded tits that were taken on the reserve on 19 December in better conditions:

Image credits: Dave & Liz Knowles

Thank you very much to Dave and Liz for sharing these great images with us.

Here are some sightings from the last week and a half:

17 December

Local birder Steve…

Good morning. After we said a very fond farewell to Warden Alan Kell whose last day it was on Friday, it is now time for my last blog post before Christmas.

Dave and I had a meeting down the reserve on Friday and we saw four whooper swans on the pool just west of Joist Fen viewpoint. There were at least six marsh harriers hunting over the far end of the reserve and on the way back through the reserve, two common buz…

Good morning. Over the course of this blog post, I have a fond farewell to make so I will get to that below.

I went for a walk at lunchtime on Monday and I saw a kingfisher shooting along the river. There were also two stonechats feeding near the Washland viewpoint.

There was also an awesome sunset at the end of the day and here was the view across the visitor centre pond:

On Wednesday, volunteer John saw around…

Good morning. We have been treated to some wintry weather over the last couple of days so here are some more sightings:

A kestrel was hovering over the visitor centre pond on Friday morning and a kingfisher was fishing at the edge of the pond. A merlin was seen several times over the course of the day near Joist Fen viewpoint which is a good record for here.

At the end of the day, a Chinese water deer appeared at the…

This is a quick reminder that the Wildlife Explorer's Club "Swan Lake" trip to WWT Welney is FULLY BOOKED. Unfortunately, we can only accommodate those who have booked places in advance. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

I have attached the Wildlife Explorer's Club programme for 2018 to this blog post. We hope to see you in the New Year!

Good morning. Here is a short(ish) blog post to let you know what has been going on here this week

I will start off though with a great image of a Chinese water deer that was taken here back in November:

Image credit: Steve Holloway

Ex-Site Manager Norman spent some time down at Joist Fen viewpoint on Monday evening and he saw at least 30 marsh harriers which is a great count for here.

There was some excitement…