Lazy Winter Afternoon on the Fen

At last! A calm sunny day after the gales and cloud of the previous two, so off to Lakenheath Fen hoping for raptors and maybe even a bittern... Fantastic light, very sharp and clear, and great visibility. First up were a couple of redpolls on the visitor centre feeders, followed by a marsh harrier spooking the gulls on the washland and then a flock of 30 or so teal whirring about. I walked down to the Joist Fen viewpoint along the track – the poplars in the oriole plantations were looking superb against the winter sky.

A short-eared owl was hunting on the other side of the river near the viewpoint, looking great in the low sunlight. It dropped down at least four or five times, but no luck - seems their success rate is not that high, as the one I saw a while back down Ferry Road dropped down at least ten times and came up empty-footed! From the viewpoint itself there were several distant marsh harriers sailing about in beautifully golden light.

I then walked back along the riverbank, where had brief views of a couple of bearded tits "pinging" away along the reedy ditch there and then heard the "krok krok" of a bittern, catching it in the bins as it flew over the reedbed and then dropped down, those gangly green legs extended for landing. Great first sighting for 2012! Just afterwards flushed a snipe, saw two little egrets and then spotted a group of birds in the top of one of the hawthorns, getting them in view just before they flew off and joined another group flying overhead: corn buntings! 14 in total. Not an easy bird to see around here these days, although there's a regular winter roost on the reserve apparently. Lots of gulls massing on the washland and then a flock of 60 lapwings overhead, a great afternoon's birding!