Winter has finally arrived! As I write this sightings blog the sky is blue, the air is crisp and Reception Broad is covered in ice apart from a 15m hole containing over 50 ducks of varying species. A cold snap has come as quite a shock to the system, but a welcome and quite needed shock.
The avian highlight of the week came on Friday when 4 cranes flew over reception hide, these birds’ territories are edging slowly towards the Yare Valley, each year there are slightly more sightings than the previous year. Bitterns have been seen occasionally throughout the week, mostly in flight over the reedbed. Marsh harrier numbers have taken a slight dip with around 15 being seen most evenings. A drake pintail was busy displaying to the mallards on Thursday morning, its whistling call seemed just a little louder and deeper than the similar sounding teal. A woodcock was seen on Wednesday flying out of the woodland and past Reception Hide.
My highlight of the week was an otter swimming about in front of the Reception for ten minutes, at one point it was as close as it could be in the channel just left of the hide, giving stunning views, residential volunteer-Emily Irving-Witt shared this sighting with me and took the fantastic photo above. Bearded tits have been seen in small numbers from Fen hide and the river end of Sandy Wall as well as kingfisher on the river frequently. Water pipits are still at the fen but have been quite illusive in their appearances, as have jack snipe.
The wet grassland at Buckenham has seen a response to the cold weather with some increases; 964 golden plover, 2034 lapwing and 1361 wigeon. The taiga bean geese were still present on Wednesday, but just two birds remain. 117 White-fronted geese and 863 pink footed geese were also present throughout the week at Buckenham and Cantley. A grey plover was seen on Saturday 9th this is a bit of a rarity for the reserve as they rarely stray far from the coast.
The riverbank has been quite muddy recently due to rain and the river overtopping as well as a lot of boots walking on the wet surface, so wellies are recommended for your visit. On a more positive note, we have put sand down on the majority of the fen hide, creating a sandy (rather than muddy ) walkway. The riverbank between the pumphouse and sandywall will be closed for essential Environment Agency flood defence works from Monday for about two months, there will be a temporary path through the meadows for the duration of the works so the woodland circuit can remain open. Once again wellies will be recommended for this route.
The cold weather is set to continue into next week so there’s still time for some cold weather bird movements. With frozen water bodies, there is always the chance of smew, goosander or scaup, but the more likely winter species to occur are fieldfare, redwing, redpoll and perhaps a waxwing or two.