WkWT Brandon Marsh :: 02 June 2018

Last day before I head off to Venice to deliver some training, and Charlotte suggested we go further afield to see some birds. We decided just to stay in our normal range and opted for a visit to WkWT Brandon Marsh - we haven't been for a while and Charlotte does like the tearoom!

We arrived just after 10.00am and went out between grebe and swallow pools and then through New Hares Covert. We soon picked up lesser and common whitethroat, chiffchaff, garden and willow warbler.

Overlooking Newlands Reedbed we could hear and see sedge and reed warbler darting around. After a short sit-down Charlotte announced she was going to head round to the Wright hide; almost as soon as she'd gone, a pair of cuckoos appeared in the distance, chasing each other around a dead tree. This was to the first of a few encounters during the day.

From the Wright hide we spotted little ringed plover and ringed plover [#127]. We could hear cuckoo calling but didn't see them. We opted for an early lunch and from the tearoom saw great spotted woodpecker and nuthatch.

Back on the reserve we walked round to the Jon Baldwin hide and were lucky enough to see a kingfisher dart across in front of us. In the trees looking back past the Wright hide, we saw a cuckoo who hung around for quite a while.

From the East Marsh hide we saw a fleeting glimpse of a jay on the opposite bank and two redshank with a single chick - the adults appeared quite mobile and the chick ran back into cover as they left.

Onto the Carlton hide and as we reached halfway there another cuckoo sighting on a sea tree stump - I had to climb through the trees to get any view at all. From Carlton we saw cuckoos in a couple of other trees and then a heron catching a tench and watched in swallow it down.

Final stop was the Ted Jury hide and there we were treated with views of male and female cuckoos, plus hobby in the air and in trees. Some good photos from one of the other birders in the hide - a real treat to finish the day.

As we left the hide a cuckoo dropped into a tree ahead. They appeared to be phenomenally active all day - they are perhaps getting ready for the off back to Africa?

Sightings (51) included: black-headed gull, blackbird, blue tit, buzzard, canada goose, carrion crow, chiffchaff, common tern, coot, cormorant, cuckoo, dunnock, gadwall, garden warbler, goldfinch, great spotted woodpecker, great tit, greenfinch, grey heron, hobby, jackdaw, kestrel, kingfisher, lapwing, lesser black-backed gull, lesser whitethroat, linnet, little ringed plover, magpie, mallard, moorhen, mute swan, nuthatch, oystercatcher, pied wagtail, redshank, reed bunting, reed warbler, ringed plover, robin, rock dove / feral pigeon, sand martin, sedge warbler, shoveler, stock dove, swallow, tufted duck, whitethroat, willow warbler, woodpigeon and wren.