More Fenland birding

Having spent a couple of evenings watching Starling murmurations with hundreds of thousands of birds, it was time to seek out some Aves in smaller numbers. I had a quick look in at RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith) as it was bright and sunny on Saturday morning. I was hoping to that there would be a chance that the Cranes would be showing. They weren’t but there was a Great White Egret, as ever, and a Chinese Water Deer, I had only fleeting, distant views of a solitary Marsh Harrier. I headed out to Chain Corner to check on the Whooper Swans, a few on the water and one that flew right over me. Next on to a patch of flooded farmland, often used for fen skating historically, it had lots of waterfowl, but no Glossy Ibis there this year, despite their having bred not far from here in 2023. Then on to RSPB Berry Fen, which is just a short hop further up the road. Chiffchaff calling, lots of Widgeon whistling but no Black-tailed Godwit, there were several hundred earlier last week, apparently. A Wigeon pair in flight, there were many more on the water of the flooded fen There was also a distant piping Redshank and the Merlin app picked up the sound of a Green-winged Teal (it’s perhaps the same American vagrant we’ve seen here over the last two or three years; previously, there has also been a Blue-winged Teal). There had also been Dunlin and similar species there but I couldn’t see them. There was a Sparrowhawk, known affectionately as a Sprawk to birders, that flew r...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Birds Source Type: blogs