This weeks stand out highlight is fairly hard to choose, but it is either the stunning male hen harrier that passed beside Reception Hide on Friday lunchtime or the female hen harrier passing close to Reception Hide on Thursday evening while chasing 1000+ starlings coming into roost just in front of the hide. A tough choice, I would have settled with seeing either of these, but luck was not on my side!
Also seen on Friday, a beautiful sunny day, but a cool wind blowing; two different bitterns were seen from Reception and Tower Hides, Kingfisher seen from Tower, Fen and Reception Hides, otter at Tower Hide along with 500 teal, three snipe a stonechat and a few marsh harriers too. The first green woodpecker and little grebe reports for a month or so also came on Friday so it was certainly a day to be out and about.
Other news from the fen include an increase in marsh tit activity, with plenty of other common species showing well throughout the woodland including treecreepers, great spotted woodpecker, goldcrest, redwing and fieldfare. The last report of Jack snipe on the reserve was on Saturday, from Reception Hide once again.
Buckenham and Cantley have seen a slow increase in goose and wildfowl numbers, although we have had our first reports of taiga bean geese from the area, with three being seen at Cantley on Friday morning along with up to 40 white-fronted geese. Also on the marshes are the resident peregrines, lapwing, teal, buzzards, marsh and hen harriers also have been seen passing through.
I have just seen the above common darter, perhaps the final one of the year? We rarely get any sightings in December, partially due to fewer sunny days, but its always worth looking out for the late flying insects to remind us of warmer times.
The reserve is fully open and the riverbank path is not too muddy at the moment, this changes quickly if there is heavy rain or flooding from the river, but at present it is passable with good footwear. The Lackford Run is also currently in good condition, but is prone to flooding much more frequently than the riverbank.
The starling roost has been on and off over the past week, but the past two nights have been very good, so it is certainly worth coming late afternoon to see what is happening.