Well it feels like spring really arrived this week with at least three days of sun giving the first proper warmth. As expected insects and reptiles emerged and enjoyed the warmth, as did quite a few visitors.
The highlights of this week have included a great white egret at Buckenham and Cantley, a drake garganey at Fen Hide as well as the jack snipe continuing its stay in front of Reception Hide. The upper photo will win no prizes, but does show the relative size of a great white egret, and the general scene of the marshes.
The garganey on Thursday was the first of the sub Saharan birds to return to the fen this spring, although on Monday there was a definite arrival of chiffchaffs singing in the woods. A martin (house or sand?) was seen looking into the sun on Thursday, showing that other migrants are also on the move. A female blackcap was seen on Thursday too, this could also be a returning migrant as the blackcap present throughout winter was a male.
Other notable sightings have included regular kingfishers, bearded tits and marsh harriers. The bitterns are beginning to exercise their vocal cords with a bird giving a single weak boom as well as various grunting noises. The wildfowl numbers are starting to increase on the broads with 24 pochard and 18 tufted ducks present on Sunday afternoon from Tower Hide, we generally do not see these species throughout winter on the reserve, so these are likely to be returning breeders.
The insects responded well to the warm conditions with brimstone, small tortoiseshell, comma, red admiral and peacock butterflies all flying in good numbers, next to emerge will be orange-tip, but next week is looking cool so we may have a little pause in emergence. Other insects have included a large number of mining bees on the bare ground as well as honey and bumble bees feeding on the cherry blossom. Moths have increased with the condition too, a trap on Thursday night saw 45 moths of 11 species from a relatively cool night. Grass snakes and common lizards certainly were very obvious on Wednesday and Thursday with good numbers seen throughout the woodland and sandy wall.
I would hope that the migration will slowly trickle on throughout the next week, with increasing numbers of chiffchaffs, blackcaps as well as the first few sand martins passing through. There is a possibility of other early migrants returning; however the weather for the week ahead looks sunny, but cold with westerly winds, which may slow down the migration a little.
All trails are open and with the dry weather, the mud is slowly disappearing. It is currently possible to get to Tower Hide without having to trudge through wet mud, however the Lackford Run is still quite muddy in places, so I would still recommend wellingtons for this section of the reserve.
This weekend sees our first family event of the year, which will be looking at signs of spring, so if you are looking for something to do with the family on Sunday afternoon 1-4pm then come along, no need to book.