Linda's last day of freedom before the start of a new term, so we decided on a walk around the Fen...
Almost as soon as we arrived we realised we'd made a good decision: there was a Kingfisher and a Little Egret right in front of Reception Hide and lots of Southern & Migrant Hawkers as we walked through the woods. Fen Hide produced another really close Egret, a couple of Water Rails and a 'straight through' Otter. After a pleasant chat with Brendan Ollett, we moved on to Tower Hide, hoping for an unusual wader...
In the event, there were a few Snipe and Ruff and a couple more Water Rails, but not the hoped-for Yank. Ben Lewis arrived, and we chatted about coming developments at the Fen (all of which sound really exciting!) and the results of this year's breeding surveys. The man has the eyes of a hawk and it isn't surprising that it was he who picked up a distant immature Osprey (coming from the direction of Blofield Heath!) Although the light and heat haze were unhelpful, I managed a few shots of this, a couple of Marshies and of some of the six Buzzards that accompanied it!
Last surprise: on the way back to Reception, we stopped at the dipping pool - to our surprise a pair of Willow Emeralds were 'enjoying the sunshine': never seen WEs this end of the reserve!
Almost as soon as we arrived we realised we'd made a good decision: there was a Kingfisher and a Little Egret right in front of Reception Hide and lots of Southern & Migrant Hawkers as we walked through the woods. Fen Hide produced another really close Egret, a couple of Water Rails and a 'straight through' Otter. After a pleasant chat with Brendan Ollett, we moved on to Tower Hide, hoping for an unusual wader...
In the event, there were a few Snipe and Ruff and a couple more Water Rails, but not the hoped-for Yank. Ben Lewis arrived, and we chatted about coming developments at the Fen (all of which sound really exciting!) and the results of this year's breeding surveys. The man has the eyes of a hawk and it isn't surprising that it was he who picked up a distant immature Osprey (coming from the direction of Blofield Heath!) Although the light and heat haze were unhelpful, I managed a few shots of this, a couple of Marshies and of some of the six Buzzards that accompanied it!
Last surprise: on the way back to Reception, we stopped at the dipping pool - to our surprise a pair of Willow Emeralds were 'enjoying the sunshine': never seen WEs this end of the reserve!
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