Duration of visit: 2hrs 30min
Number of Species seen:47
No work today so up and off for a walk around the lower end of Burwell Fen and a quick round of Tubney. Now after the holidays both, especially Burwell Fen, were nice and quiet. The 'haystack' only turning up sometime after 10 am.
Maybe I should explain the 'haystack'. For a number of weeks, certainly since Christmas a photographer with a very large lens has taken up position in one of the fields near the lower public footpath. His camouflage consists of what seems to be sacking and straw. Not sure how long he spends in his lonely haystack but enough to be nicknamed by the other birders as the Haystack. I can only wonder how many photos he requires of the Short Eared Owls and Hen Harriers as he is there an awful long time!
By the time we crossed the bridge a Ring Tailed Hen Harrier cruised by, quartering the fields by the car park and then off over Tubney Fen. The close proximity allowed for excellent views but sadly I was too slow to capture a photo. Must get better at this!
Decided to walk along the bottom path and so check out the small pools as well as the fields. Large number of Goldfinch on the move from one source of seed to another. As we approached the cattle grid a Short Eared Owl cruised over the top of us no more than 5 feet away. Sadly still haven't mastered the art of having a camera handy when needed! As the Short Eared Owl made its way over the fen two more appeared from the ditch on our right hand side. With all three in the air I was able to note that none of them had the missing P feathers on the right wing as did the owl seen the other night. As soon as appeared all three melted away across the fen and I did not see them again.
No sooner had the Short Eared Owls gone but another Ring Tailed Hen Harrier was spotted down towards the factory units. This soon disappeared towards Burwell village.
Throughout the walk groups of Golden Plovers passed over softly calling as they went. A large number had gathered on a recently ploughed field just off Factory Drove. (Thanks to Palomar Audubon Org I will from now on be referring to groups of plovers by their collective noun of a Congregation and as I read more into collective nouns for birds I think I shall expand my usage further). As the walk progressed further congregations of Golden Plovers passed over some in their hundreds as did charms of Goldfinches and a many deceits of Lapwing.
Very little to report on the way back. The usual waterfowl were present but the numbers have not been great for sometime. However as we moved along the path from the barns to the Reach Bride a Bearded Tit called just the once but sadly could not be found! I checked out the swans on Tubney Fen but could not find any of the Bewick Swans that were reported.
The following photos were taken on Burwell Fen using a Blackberry attached to a Nikon EDG scope.
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