Brief Evening at Wicken Fen (1 Viewer)

[Evan Atkinson]

Hello all, a quick report over my weekend in Cambridge. I visited Wicken Fen twice over last weekend with a combined total of time at about an hour and a half. Visited very, very briefly on the Saturday in between the small showers to watch the harriers come in to roost. I only had bins with me and I was viewing from the bridge left of the visitor center as I got there at 4:30 which I later found out was too late for my main target, hen harriers. I got itchy feet and had a walk around the public footpath and had a look out onto Sedge Fen, where there was a lot of wildfowl, but not short eared owls. I decided to try and come back on the Sunday to see if I could get there earlier and into the Boardwalk Hide. Thankfully, my grandma agreed to take me, and she dropped me off at about 3:30. I paid for her coffee and I grabbed a Coke before going through the visitor center. I hotfooted it to the Boardwalk Hide and near enough the first bird I got on to was a ringtail hen harrier, the first time I had seen a ringtail, having only seen males before. I was very happy that I brought my scope and I had some fantastic scope views of the bird as it battled around in the wind. Then it was joined by a second, and I managed some distant photos before they both dropped into the roost. Time was running out for me as I needed to head back to the car park and leave at 4:30 to go home. A couple minutes before I had to leave, someone got onto a male hen harrier as it came out from the east side of the forest, powering its way into roost. It actually decided to land on a dead branch behind a large bush, but it was nearly dark and viewing was quite difficult with the scope. Overall, it was a great time there and I think I might have seen a few more birds if I was able to stay beyond 4:30. On Saturday I missed a pair of cranes that dropped in, but I was not fortunate enough to see them. A couple of ok images attached, along with some phone scoped ones.


Dodgy phonescoped image of the male in the tree

Thanks for reading

Evan

 

[wolfbirder]

Love Wicken Fen. Try and get there once a winter to see the hen harriers. You probably need to go to Burwell Fen for the Short eared Owls and Little Owl by the farm.

 

[Evan Atkinson]

Love Wicken Fen. Try and get there once a winter to see the hen harriers. You probably need to go to Burwell Fen for the Short eared Owls and Little Owl by the farm.

Good to know for the future, thanks! I think the best time to see them would be on a cloudy day, as the sun makes scoping very difficult as its right in your face from the boardwalk hide if its a sunny day, like I found out a week ago. Also, the marsh harriers seem to roost on the right side and the hen harriers drop into a pocket of reeds just left of the tower hide from what I have seen and heard.

Evan

 

[wolfbirder]

Good to know for the future, thanks! I think the best time to see them would be on a cloudy day, as the sun makes scoping very difficult as its right in your face from the boardwalk hide if its a sunny day, like I found out a week ago. Also, the marsh harriers seem to roost on the right side and the hen harriers drop into a pocket of reeds just left of the tower hide from what I have seen and heard.

Evan

Hi Evan

Yes I've often battled to discover the best spot to watch the Hen Harriers there. Its often a bit better when there is a bit of a breeze as they fly around more before dropping in to roost. Obviously it varies each time somewhat as they are entirely unpredictable. The gorgeous males seem to drop in last thing, though occasionally one comes in earlier if its fed well.

I tried Tower Hide about a month ago, having enjoyed crippling views of Hen Harriers from there about fifteen years ago, but this time I think the boardwalk would have been best, especially where it is furthest out from the centre but towards the hide to the right of the centre. The reeds are often just too high but they sometimes do get to the patch to the right. Used to be Barn Owls near the centre too but not seen them this year.

For the Shorties, you would have to drive round to Burwell village, where you can access a drove that takes you to a farm at Burwell Fen. Little Owl is usually perched near the farm and then you cross the footbridge and circumnavigate the path. I usually go to Burwell about 2pm and then get to Wicken for the harriers about 3.30pm.

 

[Evan Atkinson]

Hi Evan

Yes I've often battled to discover the best spot to watch the Hen Harriers there. Its often a bit better when there is a bit of a breeze as they fly around more before dropping in to roost. Obviously it varies each time somewhat as they are entirely unpredictable. The gorgeous males seem to drop in last thing, though occasionally one comes in earlier if its fed well.

I tried Tower Hide about a month ago, having enjoyed crippling views of Hen Harriers from there about fifteen years ago, but this time I think the boardwalk would have been best, especially where it is furthest out from the centre but towards the hide to the right of the centre. The reeds are often just too high but they sometimes do get to the patch to the right. Used to be Barn Owls near the centre too but not seen them this year.

For the Shorties, you would have to drive round to Burwell village, where you can access a drove that takes you to a farm at Burwell Fen. Little Owl is usually perched near the farm and then you cross the footbridge and circumnavigate the path. I usually go to Burwell about 2pm and then get to Wicken for the harriers about 3.30pm.

Yes having some wind seems quite good, when I saw the male a few weeks back it was almost fully dark, and it went straight into the roost without any hesitation. I actually had a barn owl a few weekends ago and I thought it was a woodpigeon before the penny dropped and I realised that it was a barn owl. Quite close too, just at the sign for the boardwalk hide at the very beginning, it was sat in a birch on the right and showed lovely before moving off. Thanks for the directions for the shorties and the little owl, very much appreciated!

Evan