Day 3 of a 3-day Summer Tour. Much better weather today, after a cloudy start there were some nice sunny spells and it felt much warmer. The wind was a rather gusty W/WNW first thing but dropped during the morning. We spent the day down in the Brecks and into the edge of the Fens.
We travelled in convoy half way down this morning and left several cars in Swaffham for those who wanted to make a quick getaway at the end of the day. From there, we went straight on to Lakenheath Fen. It was still rather breezy in the poplars as we arrived and made our way to the Visitor Centre to check in.
Out at New Fen Viewpoint, we had barely had time to sit down before the first Bittern flew in. It was a nice long flight across, giving us plenty of time to get a good look at it, before it eventually dropped down into the reeds. This was followed very shortly after by a second Bittern which did the same thing, landing further back towards West Wood. Both females bringing food back for hungry young.
There was lots of Bittern activity this morning, the same two females made a couple more short flights, before first one then the other flew back out towards the river. A great start to the day!
A Hobby came in very low, skimming the tops of the reeds, and dipped down low over the back of the pool. In the wind, the insects were keeping low and it was looking for dragonflies over the water’s surface. We watched it flying back away over the reedbed towards West Wood. There were Marsh Harriers up too. A female came in with food and circled over the nest site but the juveniles didn’t come up and she ended up dropping in.
On the pool were two pairs of Great Crested Grebes, both with young. There were several Little Grebes too, and one laughing at us from somewhere in the reeds.
We walked down along the bank, so we could continue to scan over the reeds. This is normally a good area for dragonflies and butterflies but there were few insects at first. We were about half way down when the sun came out, and instantly several Common Blue Damselflies, Four-spotted Chasers, Ruddy Darters and a couple of Brown Hawkers appeared. A bright fresh Comma fluttered ahead of us as did a tattier Red Admiral.
Both male and female Marsh Harriers circled up, closer views than from the viewpoint. Then we picked up the Bittern flying back in. It came in past us and landed in the edge of one of the channels but went straight into the reeds out of view. We waited to see if it would come out onto the channel, but it flew up the other way. It dropped down again but was impossible to see behind the reeds.
As we carried on along the main track up past West Wood, a Scarlet Tiger moth flew round in front of us. A bronze-coloured ground beetle (Carabus granulatus) scuttled across the path. Several white butterflies were fluttering round the vegetation on the bank and we had good views of both Large White and Green-veined White.
Someone coming the other way proceeded to tell us about everything they had seen this morning, but we did pick up amongst everything else that there were some Cattle Egrets visible from up on the river bank. We climbed up to the top by the gate and looked across to the cows the other side of the river. The Cattle Egrets were hiding behind the cows at first but eventually they came out. We could see there were two bright adults and a fresh dark-billed juvenile, possibly a family party from the Ouse Washes.
Over to Joist Fen Viewpoint, we sat down in the shelter. It was quieter here, surprisingly no Bittern activity, but it was late morning and warmed up now. A Hobby flew in from behind us, and made several passes over the reeds. At one point it drifted in closer, then stooped quickly and swept up to catch a dragonfly. We watched it eating it, bringing its feet up to its bill, before discarding the wings.
A Common Crane bugled from somewhere over by the railway. We walked over and scanned the paddocks but the vegetation is very tall now and there was no sign. As we were about to leave, one appeared briefly between the bushes. But it could only be seen from the end of the main track and only one of the group was in the right place to see it before it disappeared back behind the bushes and dropped down. We scanned the paddocks again from back out by the viewpoint but there was no further sign.
Several of the group were keen to get back for lunch now, the prospect of the ice cream at the Visitor Centre was just too tempting. We were walking away when the Cranes started bugling again, taunting us.
As we made our way back along the path past West Wood, another Bittern flew in over the reeds. Much closer views now and as it flew across in front of us we could see it was the regular ringed female Bittern. We have mentioned it here before, but it is the bird which was found moribund in Stevenage in 2016 and has alternated between summers at Lakenheath and winter in Hertfordshire ever since. We see it in almost exactly the same place every time.
A Large Skipper was nectaring on a thistle as we got back to the main path. We had planned to make a quick stop in Mere Hide to see if we could find a Kingfisher but an advance party had found it was standing room only, another group just ahead of us had the same idea. We carried on. As we walked past New Fen, we heard a Kingfisher calling so we called in again for a quick look from the viewpoint. There was no sign and the Bitterns had gone quiet too now, so we decided to head back for lunch.
We made good use of the picnic tables by the Visitor Centre for lunch. Surprisingly, only one of the group succumbed to the ice cream temptation. Afterwards, we drove round to Weeting Heath.
As we made our way out to West Hide, we could already hear several Stone Curlews calling. From the hide, we had good views through the scopes of two standing up in the cultivated plot and another five in the longer grass behind. Even though we couldn’t see their thick knees in the vegetation, we could see their staring yellow eyes.
While we were checking in at the Visitor Centre we had seen a Marsh Tit on the feeders down at Woodland Hide on the big screen. It doesn’t count on TV, so we walked on down to the hide now. There were lots of young Blue Tits and several Great Tits, Goldfinches and one or two Chaffinches. We didn’t have to wait too long before one or two Marsh Tits made a couple of typically brief visits, shooting in and grabbing a seed before darting back to cover.
Back at the Visitor Centre, we stopped to use the facilities. When two of the group came back out with ice creams, most of the rest cracked too. The Gooseberry and Rhubarb & Ginger flavours were particularly popular!
There was still time for one last stop this afternoon. On our way back, we called in at Lynford Arboretum. It is never a great time of day, in the middle of a summer’s afternoon. There are works going on and the car park is closed at the moment, and they have taken down the feeders by the coffee hut. We did find a smart male Siskin on the top of a birch tree in the walled garden, with some Goldfinches.
As we walked down to the bridge, we could hear Goldcrests calling. The feeders at the bridge were full of food but surprisingly no birds were coming in, just a rather fat-looking Grey Squirrel which had taken up occupation on one. We continued on round by the lake, where we found several Little Grebes, including an adult feeding a juvenile. Several Mallards swam over to see if we had any food but left disappointed.
It was quiet in the trees here too, so we walked back to the bridge and up through the middle of the Arboretum. We did eventually find a Goldcrest in a fir tree, but otherwise surprisingly not even a Coal Tit today.
It was time to call it a day and head back. A very exciting three days of Summer Tour, we had seen lots of birds and other wildlife, despite what had seemed beforehand to be distinctly unpromising and unsummer-like weather. It just goes to show, you never know what to expect.
