Lakenheath Fen and Cavenham Heath

2nd July 2021

The day stared at Lakenheath Fen where the target species were Bittern and Hobbys, many of which had been seen in the last couple of days. Not much doing around the feeders by the veranda, just a couple of Goldfinches queuing up in the trees. Also very quiet along the trail to the New Fen viewpoint with just a male Reed Bunting singing away from one of the Sallows.

As we approached the viewpoint I peered over the bank and saw something for the first time here, a Kingfisher perched right in front of the viewpoint. I have seen Kingfishers here before but normally just flashing across the mere. At first just a back view, but it did eventually turn its head to reveal that it was a male.

Also on the mere was a Grey Heron throwing a magnificent reflection in the water.

A couple of Common Terns were fishing on the mere and one caught a small Pike only to drop it again. Here you can see it diving down to retrieve its catch.

And for the Bitterns and Hobbys? Well, we only saw one distant Bittern flight and not a single Hobby, in fact the only species in abundance were Black-tailed Skimmers and Four-spotted Chasers.

So now on to Cavenham Heath where the dragonflies were replaced by good numbers of Small Heath.

Just one Yellowhammer was singing from the top of a Hawthorn, although a couple more could be heard further down the track.

A lot less Sky Lark activity compared to my last visit, but I did try my hand for the first time at photographing them in flight. Not a bad first effort but I need to try again in better light.

But once again the stars of the show at Cavenham were the Stonechats, especially this cute little juvenile.

The male was also performing on heather, fence posts, wire fence, Silver Birch and dead bramble giving a wide range of backgrounds. Just how good is that?