A day in Cambridgeshire - June 16, 2018

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.