Wow

Driving up to the reserve today I caught a glimpse of a large bird ahead. Thinking it an odd place to see a heron I quickly realised that was because it wasn't a heron: I was in fact getting my most amazing view of a juvenile sea eagle! I pulled in and watched it calmly fly right by, and off towards where I'd just come from.

Not happy with that as the sighting of the day, I made a quick detour to check a local nest site for osprey - sure enough I saw one straight away - now that was enough to make me happy for the day.

In the hides a visitor had kindly written a log of his/her visit and the list included a pair of osprey and a male marsh harrier. Both these were seen again later in the afternoon. I always find it incredible that not only have these birds safely navigated their way to Africa for the winter, but they've made the return trip! It's also uplifting to think that we will now be treated to almost daily visits from the ospreys in the area, so there is a good chance of seeing them fishing between now and September.

The reserve is full of the sounds of spring now too, with redshank, lapwing and water rail all making their distinctive calls from time to time.

It seems there may still be time to catch a last glimpse of the whooper swans. Many have obviously started their journey back to breeding grounds, however there is still a good number on the site. Other wildfowl include tufted duck, a few wigeon, a pair of goosander, teal, two pairs of gadwall and still many more male shoveler than female!

The mystery of the day though is that 3 teal were diving under the water in much the same way as tufted duck do. They seemed to be able to stay under for quite a long time, and didn’t always come up where they’d gone down. I have never seen this before, and can only assume there is something very tasty growing in the silt.

All in all a great day.