This week has seen some good birds at the site again; the penduline tit has been busy keeping people waiting throughout the reserve. It has now been seen either side of Tower Hide, half way along the riverbank and from the river end of Sandy Wall, so it does get around a lot, but it is possible to see. Other good bits included a firecrest briefly along the riverbank, remember that male goldcrests also have orange crowns and female firecrest have yellow crowns, the real difference between the two species is that firecrests have a white eye stripe, many people regularly confuse the two. Also on Friday a pair of garganey flew into the broad next to the sluice and later relocated at Reception Broad, these migrants have flown all the way from Africa! Another migrant seen flying over the reserve on Friday was a swallow and the first wave of chiffchaffs have arrived with up to 8 birds singing across the reserve now.
Big numbers of redwings have been observed all week with birds presumably being held back from migrating north due to the north-easterly winds; on Friday alone at least 480 birds were seen flying over the reserve in one flock too!
Bitterns have started to grunt and have been seen chasing each other over the reedbed throughout the week. Marsh harriers are still busy pairing up and sorting out their territory disputes. The Jack snipe is still outside Fen Hide, but requires a lot of patience before finding, there have also been three common snipe in the same area too. Buzzards were on the move on Tuesday with at least 15 birds seen passing overhead often having a little tussle with the sky high marsh harriers enjoying the same thermals.
Three otters were seen feeding together on the river on Tuesday , while Chinese water deer have regularly been seen too. The warmth on Tuesday brought out peacock, small tortoiseshell and brimstone butterflies and there was a noticeable buzz around the reserve with many hoverflies, bees and other insects flying freely.
All trails are open, the riverbank path from the pumphouse to top of sandy wall has been reopened and is nice and flat. The riverbank is drying out nicely and it is possible to do the full loop in sturdy shoes at the moment, although the forecast rain may change the conditions quickly.
We have an Easter trail running in the woodland area near to reception for the Easter holidays and there is plenty of wildlife to see across the reserve so don’t let the bank holiday weekend weather put you off!