A largely pleasant week with warm weather to begin and much needed rain by the end of the week.
The headline sighting this week was a swallowtail butterfly on Thursday afternoon near Fen Hide. This marks the beginning of our swallowtail season once again! However looking out of the window today and looking at the short range forecast it does not look overly likely that we will see a large emergence in the next few days as the temperatures are set to drop as well as the rain and cloud due to continue, but as we know forecasts can be misleading! For your best chance of seeing swallowtails, a visit on a day with 20 degrees or higher and full sun or sunny spells will maximise your chance of seeing this magnificent butterfly.
Bird wise we completed our full set of expected summer migrants with the arrival of a singing spotted flycatcher from reception on Wednesday morning. It was not seen on Thursday, but it is very likely to still be around, the usual favoured areas are between the reception and the end of the sandy trail in the woodland.
The warblers are still singing from all over the reserve, however there is a slight lull in the numbers, most probably due to the fact that the majority are feeding young now so have less time and need for singing, the chorus will rise again in around two to three weeks when many species will be singing again for a second or even third brood. Of note there are currently three separate garden warbler territories along the riverbank in coppiced scrub as well as a couple of whitethroat territories near sandy wall.
The resident species are still performing well; as the marsh harrier young are hatching more food passes can be seen over the reedbed as the males start their busiest time of the year having to find food for the female (who stays with the nest), the young within the nest and himself, add to that the fact that males can have more than one nest and you can understand why they have a busy time ahead of them. It is worth pointing out that male marsh harriers can be a very pale grey colour with black wing tips, some can even show a hint of white rump, so please double check before reporting hen harriers at this time of the year.
Kingfishers have also been performing well, especially from Reception and Fen Hides with regular sightings of birds perched and hovering. The fact that we have had a sudden increase in sightings indicates either a successfully fledged nest, however no young have been seen so it is possible that a nest has failed, we know of two nests in the local area and both appeared to be feeding young well, so hopefully it is the former.
Bitterns have been seen flying over the reedbed from various locations and two birds have been heard booming well at dawn and dusk.
Non avian sightings have increased with the nicer weather including lizards and grass snakes, butterflies seen this week; swallowtail, large white, small white, green veined white, orange tip, brimstone, red admiral, peacock, painted lady, small copper, speckled wood and comma.
Dragonflies; banded demoiselle, large red, azure, variable damselflies as well as scarce chaser and hairy dragonfly.
The trails are all open and in good condition, the meadow trail is due to be opened very soon. The first meadow currently has cattle in it, they are eating the coarse vegetation such as reed and rush, this is essential management to keep the ancient hay meadows in good condition. I hope that the first meadow will be open very soon, however with all this recent rain it is currently very wet underfoot.