There was a Great Reed Warbler reported at Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
yesterday and so David, Malcolm, Roger and I decided to go and hopefully see
it. We left David’s just after 06:30 and
headed to Malcolm’s in Market Harborough, who then drove for the day.
We arrived at Fen Drayton at around 07:50 and after checking the bird’s
location yesterday we drove to a parking area on the south side of the
reserve. There was a Common Whitethroat
where we checked the location and a Green Woodpecker flew over the road as we
drove to the parking area.
We heard two Common Chiffchaffs and two Blackcaps and saw a birder who
said the Great Reed Warbler hadn’t been seen or heard before we reached the
area where we could view Elney Lake and the surrounding reedbeds. As we walked towards and old bench a female
Cuckoo called and there were twelve Common Terns over the lake. We spent a good thirty minutes overlooking
the area without success and decided we would go on further to try our
luck. We walked along the path and
turned north towards Moore Lake seeing a Common Chiffchaff and hearing two
Great Spotted Woodpeckers, another two Common Chiffchaffs, six Eurasian Reed
Warblers, seven Blackcaps and a Garden Warbler before we reached a gap in the
hedge where we could view Moore Lake.
There were a few islands on the lake where I counted thirty-six Common
Terns and as we walked on I found a Eurasian Treecreeper amongst a party of
young Great Tits and a little further on we came to a hide giving us better
views of the lake. However other than
seeing a couple of Common Kestrel we were seeing what we had seen in the gap
and with a Birdguides tweet indicating that the Great Reed Warbler was still
being seen and heard we made our way back to the view point on Elney Lake.
As we made our way back I looked at the full message and realised that
the sighting was at 07:00 and there hadn’t been any sightings since. When we got back a small crowd began to
develop but all we saw new were a couple of Hobbies. There were a few Eurasian Reed Warblers
occasionally singing but we eventually decided to go to the main car park,
seeing a Painted Lady as we made our way back to the car.
Painted Lady
Yellow Shell
We saw another Common Whitethroat and heard a Green Woodpecker, a Common
Chiffchaff and two more Blackcaps before reaching the main car park. There wasn’t a great deal on the information
board as so we decided to go to Ouse Fen.
It wasn’t too far to Ouse Fen and we were parked at the site by 11:10 and
walked out along a track to view the fen.
We hadn’t gone too far before we saw our first of four Western Marsh
Harrier, two males and two females and shortly afterwards we picked up a
Eurasian Bittern in flight. We had also
heard a Willow Warbler and two Blackcaps and seen two distant Little Egrets as
we walked out. We walked along the path
until we could overlook Cuckoo Fen, seeing a Common Whitethroat and a few
Black-tailed Skimmers as we did so, and a Four-spotted Chaser and a Brown
Hawker as we stood overlooking the fen.
A male Western Marsh Harrier provided some excellent views and Malcolm
and David saw a second Eurasian Bittern as we walked back.
Female Western Marsh Harrier
Male Western Marsh Harrier
Male Western Marsh Harrier
Male Western Marsh Harrier
After some lunch and with news of the Great Reed Warbler being heard
again we went back to Fen Drayton and arrived back at 13:00. We walked back down the path hearing a Lesser
Whitethroat and when we left the site almost two hours later there had been no
further sighting, or song, of the Great Reed Warbler. Whilst at the view point we did have a
Eurasian Sparrowhawk, a Common Buzzard, a Eurasian Jay and at least four
Eurasian Reed Warblers and a male Common Cuckoo was heard on numerous
occasions.
We were now at a loss of what to do next but finally decided to go to
Needingworth at the RSPB Ouse Fen site.
We arrived in the small car park and then walked quite some distance to
reach a view point overlooking a lake, hearing a Common Chiffchaff, two
Blackcaps and a Little Grebe. There
wasn’t a great deal on the lake just a few Mallard and a Grey Heron with eight
Common Terns over the water but there was a male and two female Western Marsh
Harriers towards the north and a Eurasian Jay flew over.
With Roger needing to get back early we left Needingworth and headed back
picking up the A14 at Huntingdon and seeing a couple of Red Kites and a Common
Buzzard near Kettering.
Disappointed we hadn’t connected with the Great Reed Warbler but having
good views of Eurasian Bittern and Western Marsh Harriers made the day
worthwhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment