It is quietening down on the reserve at the moment, it feels like we’re at that awkward point near winter’s end, but not quite the beginning of spring.
Having said that there’s still been some really nice sightings this week. On Tuesday the volunteer team witnessed a couple of brown hares in definite breeding behaviour with one chasing the other. This has been spotted fairly regularly at the moment and seems to be best spotted from the fields just behind the Saltcot or the field behind the Folly pond. Hen harrier has also been spotted a couple of times this week which is always a treat, with little egrets basically a guarantee on the Back pond area at the moment. Finally on Saturday a brent goose was spotted amongst the barnacle geese from the Newfield hide. Unfortunately it didn’t stay for long before before being flushed but worth keeping an eye on.
Brent geese overwinter in the UK and are our smallest goose species. Birds that breed in northern Russia and Siberia have darker bellies, and migrate to the coasts of East Anglia and southern England. Those that nest in Svalbard and Greenland have lighter bellies and mostly winter around North East England and Ireland.
Feature photo by James Lees.
