A very mixed bag of weather once again this week with some bright sunny spells along with a fair amount of rain, particularly on Wednesday when it didn’t appear to stop all day.
The fen speciality species are still showing well from around the fen, these include kingfishers, bitterns and bearded tits. Kingfishers have been showing quite reliably all week from reception and Fen Hide. Bearded tits have been seen from sandy wall and the riverbank with some regularity, the flock is yet to perform well for any consecutive days as they did last year, but there is still time for the flock to get brave. Bitterns have been seen regularly in flight from Reception and Fen Hides, one even walked out on the spit in front of Fen Hide on Tuesday morning allowing some nice close views.
The otters must have read this blog last week and have responded by showing far better this week, two were seen together from Fen Hide this morning, with a third possible, they were also seen on Thursday and Tuesday too. Hopefully they are back to the reserve for the winter now and once again sightings may start to increase.
Tower Hide still has good numbers of duck present, I counted 112 shoveler, 146 teal, 37 gadwall and three garganey on Monday morning. I would hope that this number will continue to rise as post breeding duck species gather before heading off to their wintering grounds, which could well be just next door at Buckenham and Cantley marshes.
The small stream of overhead migrants are continuing with small numbers of meadow pipits, two redpoll on Wednesday and a grey wagtail on Tuesday. This week has seen a fairly constant stream of siskins passing overhead going south, it is difficult to estimate numbers as they are just moving in flocks of five to fifteen but I would imagine well over 200 have passed through the fen and woodland this week.
The feeding station has had an update, I have taken away the central feeding pole and attached the feeders to wires as well as adding a couple of stumps to the area. The idea is that it will provide a more natural background to view birds in as well as create better background for photography. The stumps are already attracting nuthatch, marsh tit and even a treecreeper so it is looking successful so far.
Willow emeralds are still on the wing and should be visible as long as there is some sun in the day, as always the best areas are along the path between the boardwalk and the railway crossing.
The paths were flooded on Thursday as a high tide topped the banks, all paths are currently open, but they may be a little muddy. The Meadow Trail is still open at present, but is due to be closed by the end of the month.
I am away for the next two weeks so there is unlikely to be an update until the week of the fifth October, apologies.