Largely overcast conditions and foggy periods this week. On the bright side the water in the river has finally gone down and with that, the fen level has also reduced. I am pleased to report that finally the riverbank path to Tower Hide and beyond is open again.
The wildlife has remained largely similar to recent weeks, although believe it or not there are subtle signs of spring already happening. The main signs of spring have been the shelducks returning to the valley, they spend the majority of winter nearer the coast and return here to breed. Other signs have been a noticeable increase in bird song, this week I have heard song thrush, treecreeper, great tit and chaffinch all singing very well.
The usual suspects have been showing with otter sightings coming near daily from Fen and Reception Hides, kingfishers marsh harriers and bitterns have been seen from the same locations too. Tower hide has seen up to 650 teal in front of it along with two shelduck, 12 shoveler, 25 gadwall and two snipe. Also between the Tower Hide and Lackford Run I saw four water pipits fly into the fen from the opposite side of the river. At least three chiffchaffs are overwintering along the riverbank this year, a sign of the mild winter we have had so far.
Throughout the woodland and the scrub surrounding the fen we have seen good numbers of goldcrests, bullfinches and tit flocks containing all resident species. The goldfinch flock has moved to the newer pond dipping platform and has attracted a handful of siskin and a couple of lesser redpoll. Woodcock have been seen on a number of occasions from the reception area at dusk flying over the workshop.
At Buckenham and Cantley the 17 taiga bean geese remain just about viewable, but have been harder to track down in the past couple of days at least eight white fronted geese have been seen with the 800 pink footed geese. A green sandpiper flew over Cantley on Thursday.
As mentioned previously, the riverbank path has now been reopened, it was closed for a relatively long period due to successive high river levels, with a lot of water in the upper reaches of the river system too. The river levels dropped on Monday and the path is now in a better condition, although still very muddy in places. The woodland