I have been away for two weeks and it looks like autumn has arrived in my absence! The trees have started to get a bronzy tint and leaves are starting to fall in the wind already. Yesterdays grey sky and showery rain compared to today’s bright blue sky and chill in the air confirms the autumnal feel.
Since my last update there have been a few changes with regards to the wildlife at the reserve; the bearded tits have been showing well along sandy wall, mostly showing on calm sunny days and usually before 11am. Otters have made a welcome return to the fen after relatively few sightings throughout the summer period; whether they were laying low or disappeared for summer is largely unknown, but there is now a sighting just about daily so they are back for now. Bitterns have also been on show either in flight or on the ground from the usual points, today I saw one in flight from reception on two occasions and I was only there for 2 minutes each time! We may be starting to see an influx of continental bitterns over the next month or so, which should further increase sightings. Marsh harrier numbers are still good at the fen, they are seen throughout the day, however at dusk many more individuals come in to roost. On Wednesday the green tagged male ‘DZ’ returned to the fen for his third winter, this bird was tagged at Haddiscoe in 2013. If you see any tagged birds please let reception know and we’ll report the sighting and find out where it is from. Kingfishers have been seen daily from all around the fen this week, regularly fishing from the islands in front of reception and on the perches at the ditch edge at Fen Hide.
Snipe have also returned to the fen in good numbers with 14 seen at Tower Hide on Tuesday. Also at Tower Hide on Tuesday were 332 teal, 393 shoveler, 16 wigeon and 70 gadwall, which is certainly a good increase in duck numbers.
On bright still days like today visible migration takes place throughout October. Today there was a light passage of meadow pipits, a grey wagtail, a flock of siskin and a redpoll or two, there were also yellowhammers passing overhead, this is an uncommon bird at the fen so always good to see.
The woodland and riverbank areas are certainly alive with the sounds of migration, on Tuesday I bumped into two different tit flocks which contained chiffchaffs, blackcaps, good numbers of goldcrests as well as blue, great and long tailed tits. The new feeding station is attracting nuthatch, marsh tit and all the other usual woodland species, offering good views and photographic opportunities.
I have not had a chance to see what is happening over at Buckenham and Cantley just yet, but I would imagine the build up in duck numbers will also be evident there, hopefully the first retuning wigeon will be back grazing the marshes soon. I will update the progress of autumn on the wet grassland sites next week.
The meadow trail is now closed for winter, but all other trails are fully open, the riverbank has flooded recently but is not that muddy yet. The grass on the trails has not been cut recently as our mower is out of action, I recommend wearing wellingtons on the path beyond Tower Hide as the long grass can make other footwear quite wet.
With autumn marching on I hope duck numbers will continue to increase, overhead passage to increase when the weather is good, hopefully we will get more otter sightings as well as bittern numbers rising. The first frosts should decrease the green blanket weed from in front of reception and with that kingfishers should return to their favoured perches. Good weather is forecast for the next week so get out there and enjoy the autumn sun and associated species as well as the feel of fallen leaves underfoot.