Springtime wildlife in the fens
Out among the fields of swelling beans, potatoes and wheat, often hidden away in deep, green, plant packed ditches, or patches of thorny scrub, there’s been some wonderful fenland wildlife to see this spring. A very early morning visit to Cam Washes, a wild place just north of Waterbeach, revealed a hotspot of waders, warblers and waterfowl. Gadwall, shelduck and redshank foraging among the wet grassland, pools and scrapes, while serenaded by melodic choirs of greater whitethroat, willow warbler and blackcaps, buzzed by 50 plus sand martins and swallows. A vibrant kingfisher darted back and fore along the river, and canary bright yellow wagtails bounced through overhead. But perhaps the highlight… a glossy ibis, an unusual vagrant more usually seen in north Africa and the Mediterranean.
A visit to a wild patch of Great Ouse washlands near Aldreth resounded to the call of 3 cuckoos echoing from different directions; rather like being stuck in a Swiss clockmaker’s workshop. Here the tall vegetation fringing the river was alive with the guttural scrambled song of sedge warblers, occasionally to be seen with their distinctive pale eye stripe, or supercilium, climbing to the top of their chosen perches.
Broad-bodied chaser dragonflies & myriad common blue damselflies provided colour, beautiful orange tip butterflies flitted through an adjoining area of woodland. The males have eponymous orange tips to their wings; females are less showy and less often seen, with a beautiful patchwork pattern to the underside of their wings. Later the same day, a short walk along the river outside Ely revealed the distinctive calls of Cetti and grasshopper warblers from the river banks, all a mere 10mins walk or so from the train station.
There’ll be lots of opportunities to pick up some new wildlife identification skills through the project – our new website will be going live soon, and there we will share details of guided walks and training covering birds, dragonflies, ditch dwelling beetles, otters and water voles among others. Keep an eye here and on our Twitter account for updates – and do message us, as we’d love to hear about any of your sightings.
Some useful wildlife websites to help identify what you see:
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/
https://british-dragonflies.org.uk/
https://butterfly-conservation.org/
https://www.wildlifebcn.org/wildlife
And absolutely brilliant for bird songs, check out https://www.xeno-canto.org/
