We are still awaiting our first swallowtail butterfly of the season, they are currently running late, but that’s not too surprising given the recent cool weather conditions. You can almost always set your calendar to the 14th May for Swallowtail emergence so fingers crossed next weekend should see a few of these beauties on the wing.
Birds at the reserve have continued to make the reedbed a lively place with all the expected warblers singing from the reedbed and scrubland surrounding it. These include reed, sedge, grasshopper, cetti’s, willow, chiffchaff, blackcap and garden warblers. Cuckoo can be heard along the riverbank as it sings and flies to its next song post, one male is covering the area from Buckenham to Surlingham so the chance of hearing it is high. Bitterns are booming, with one particularly strong individual being heard in the Tower Hide area. Bearded tits can be seen from all three hides, however they can be distant and fleeting as they head back and forth to their nests carrying food to feed their young. Kingfishers are also back and forth feeding their young, the top spots at present are reception, fen hide, the riverbank and Lackford Run. Otters have been seen with increasing frequency, however as far as I’m aware there have been no young seen yet. Marsh Harriers are feeding their young now and can be seen food passing over the fen in almost all weathers now. Swifts, swallows and martins are still a prominent feature of the sky, with the odd hobby thrown in for good measure.
The tally of breeding birds at Buckenham, and Cantley has really been excellent this year with 80 lapwing, 92 redshank and up to 18 snipe calling the marshes home. These are exceptional numbers for a relatively small reserve and shows us that the management is spot on for these species which are of high conservation concern. Lapwing broods can easily be seen from the track to Buckenham hide, they do provide a certain ‘ahh’ factor. The escaped white stork was seen again on Wednesday as well as two migrant ringed plovers and a drake garganey.
The warm spells have caused many damselflies and dragonflies to emerge now. If you find a sheltered spot it is possible to see large red, common, azure, red-eyed and variable damselflies, as well as hairy hawker, broad bodied and four-spotted chasers. This week if the sun shines I would expect the first scarce chasers and banded demoiselles to be on the wing.