Winterwatch

It's been a great week for wildlife on the fen as temperatures steadily rose through the week.

We all tuned into Winterwatch on BBC2 on Wednesday for the feature on short-eared owls. The Beeb spent a whole weekend filming the owls on Burwell Fen a few weeks back which was condensed into a few seconds clip of an owl hunting. Although numbers of short eared owls have decreased in recent weeks, there are still frequent sightings of up to six owls being reported.

Their are daily sightings of hen harriers coming into roost on Sedge Fen but as the days draw out the best time to see them appears to be between 1715 - 1750. Three marsh harriers and a merlin have also been recorded on the reserve this week.

There have been plenty of bittern sightings this week with sightings of bittern in flight from the Tower Hide and close to West Mere Hide.

Plentiful sightings of Bull, Green and Goldfinches and Redpoll have been reported from the Roger Clarke Hide. Elsewhere 9 whooper swans were reported on the mere and a pair of pintail ducks on Baker's Fen.