Thanks to volunteer Graham for his lovely photos from the weekend.
Graham's first picture, taken in the meadow between West Mead and Redstart Corner, features some rather magnificent parasol mushrooms. These dinner-plate-sized mushrooms pop up regularly in the pasture fields on the reserve.
At Winpenny Hide a few gadwall were just about within range to show the fine vermiculation in the plumage of the males.
Whilst the gadwall are not the most colourful of the dabbling ducks that we see here in the winter the beautiful details within their subtle plumage is well worth a look through binoculars or, better still, a telescope.
Find out more about the different species of wildfowl on the RSPB's guide here.
If you don't have binoculars, we do hire them out from our visitor centre and every day we have volunteers (like Graham) who are out on the trails and happy to show you wildlife through their telescopes.
The regular pair of stonechats also put on a nice show.
The first picture is of the female and the second of the male who has the darker head and more prominent white collar. You may notice that the female has a metal ring on her leg - metal rings, each with a unique number, are used by bird ringers to learn more about bird populations and their movements.
We managed to read the ring number and track 'our' stonechat. She was ringed on 28 November 2021 in Hardham (just 3 kilometres from the reserve) and was thought at the time to be 3 years old.
To counteract the rather misty conditions which made photography of the wetland species tricky, Graham focused on the splash of autumn colours at ground level.
The water levels on the reserve are looking pretty high now and with a few puddles around the trail we'd certainly suggest walking boots or wellies.
Despite the heavy rain yesterday morning volunteers Gary and Miles had a successful day of wildlife sightings including the 2 white-tailed eagles having a bath, merlin, peregrine and marsh harrier. The number of black-tailed godwits is now in the hundreds and, unusually, a female goosander put in an appearance in front of West Mead hide.
You can find out more about the white-tailed eagle reintroduction project here.