A fine mid August week with a good amount of sunshine, overcast humid conditions and a small amount of rain on Thursday night.
This weeks star bird was a great white egret, this grey heron sized egret came in from the east on Monday morning and spent three days fishing at tower hide. It was seen very well with little egrets as a superb size comparison, many people commented on just how big it was, or should that be how small little egrets are!
Staying at Tower Hide, the water levels have now been reduced and there is a good amount of mud on show, this week the peak counts have included five green sandpipers, three common sandpipers, 26 ruff and a brief dunlin. A total of nine little egrets have been feeding well with the great white egret and four grey herons, water rails can be seen on the reed edge too. A young Chinese water deer has made the point its home and can be seen with luck feeding on the reed edge. There are still a good number of ducks present form Tower Hide, including gadwall, shoveller, mallard and a garganey if you are lucky, these are all in eclipse plumage so are always a bit challenging.
Fen Hide has produced fairly regular bittern and bearded tit sightings throughout the week. When calm the kingfishers have performed well on the perches in front of the hide. The juvenile water rail has gained some adult feathers and can be seen feeding mainly to the left of the hide, however every now and then it runs as quickly as it can across the mud to the right side, this roadrunner impersonation is quite amusing, its amazing how fast its legs go!
Other points around the trail have produced sightings of marsh harrier, it looks like there are just two juveniles being fed by a male now, all of the others have fully fledged and are currently exploring the wilds of Norfolk. On the warmer days Hobby has been seen catching dragonflies from all of the hides.
In the non avian news; the willow emerald damselflies have now emerged and are building in number, these are best seen between the boardwalk and the railway crossing from the cut viewpoints, but they are spreading fast and were seen near reception last year too, so keep your eyes peeled. An emperor dragonfly has been seen at Fen Hide on a number of occasions, while the small pool by reception has some small red eyed damselflies on it. Migrant hawkers have emerged in numbers and they can be seen all over the reserve when the sun is shining. We have had no further signs of a second brood of swallowtails so it looks likely that we will now have to wait until next May, all known caterpillars have now pupated too.
Buckenham and Cantley are attracting waders to the scrapes, these have included green and common sandpipers, redshank, lapwing, dunlin, whimbrel and snipe. The viewing into the pools is quite difficult due to long vegetation and a telescope is advised.
The Meadow Trail is closed due to cattle grazing at the moment. The Highland Cattle are doing a very good job of removing the coarse growth including reeds in the meadows. The removal of this vegetation keeps the meadows in good condition for the smaller more sensitive flora such as orchids. We hope the trail will be open again in about three weeks.
In the next week, depending on the weather, the willow emerald numbers will continue to rise as will the number of migrant hawkers. Waders will continue to pass through and touch down for a quick fill up before heading off again. Bearded tits are slowly beginning to feed on the reed seed heads, where they are far more visible, but they are still favouring the small black flies at the base of the reeds at present, so it may be another couple of weeks before sandy wall becomes a hive of pinging activity.