Other wildfowl (ducks, geese and swans) are building up in number including teal, tufted duck and also some shoveller. Not surprisingly there is plenty of water about, and levels continue to rise in the ponds and meres, and snipe and jack snipe are appearing in larger numbers; all good news as next month we have our annual walk celebrating World Wetlands Day.

Our (annual) Christmas-time Raptor Count went well last month, with 21 volunteers and staff joining in the count to cover 13 vantage points across the Fen, and recording 37 birds of 6 species of raptor (but no short-eared owls). There has been little in the way of short-eared owl sightings this winter, so far, so no recommendations for viewing as yet, other than checking out the Great Fen Information Point at New Decoy

Large numbers of fieldfare have now joined the other winter thrushes, such as redwing, and large flocks of finches are out and about in the Great Fen at the moment, in some cases flocks of over 800 birds; a recent survey at Froghall recorded 2060 linnet, on the Northern Loop of the Last of the Meres Trail. Chaffinches are also appearing in big numbers, on the Last of the Meres Trail, accompanied by their stunning relative the brambling; orange-breasted and yellow-billed birds. Both brambling and chaffinch have been seen up at Engine Farm on the Last of the Meres Trail.

Henry Stanier (Great Fen Monitoing and Research Officer)