A pleasant week with temperatures slowly climbing and the sunshine certainly feels like it has more warmth in it now.
The above as well as daylight hours lengthening has meant that the bird song has really increased. It seems that almost all resident birds have one thing on their mind. The wildfowl have now paired up, song birds are singing and woodpeckers are drumming, at the other end of the scale, wigeon and pink footed goose numbers are decreasing. A sure sign of spring out at Buckenham is the return of the shelduck, they are absent for the whole of winter in the Mid Yare Valley, but return in late winter/early spring, followed by black tailed godwits and other passage waders. This is a great time of the year to be out and about as, to me, it feels as if the wildlife is all waking up and telling us that spring is just around the corner. The snowdrops have put on a very nice display around the education area, while the daffodils are also begging to bolt from the ground.
The highlights this week have included three bitterns together from fen hide on Tuesday, a pair of pintail from reception on Monday and fairly regular kingfisher sightings around the fen. Friday saw a good number of birds of prey take to the sky in clear and warm conditions, the male marsh harriers were displaying while at least eight buzzards were circling over the wood. A large female sparrowhawk was keeping an eye on a displaying male over the meadows, the males go high into the air and drop like a stone only to rise sharply again as if on a bungee cord.
A blackcap was seen again in the wood on Friday, this bird has been around all year, but has been very secretive. Goldcrests on the other hand have been very easy to see at various places throughout the fen trail. These charming little birds are often found in ivy or coniferous trees at this time of the year, the males have a lovely reddish orange crown while the females have a very golden yellow colour on their crown, see if you can see what sex they are when you see them next.
The water has now reached a suitable level as far as salt is concerned so I have closed the sluices, we should have slightly more stable water levels over the coming months. Stable water levels at this time of the year encourages the reedbed species such as bittern, marsh harrier and water rail to nest; these species need deep water to protect their nests from predators, however if water continues to fluctuate they would not nest as they would fear their eggs would be inundated. We balance the water levels here so they are deep enough for nesting water birds but not too deep for fen plants to thrive.
All paths are open. The riverbank is quite muddy in places so wellingtons are still recommended for Tower Hide and beyond.