I decided to take a break from the Lee Valley CP today and headed to Lakenheath for a change of scenery. The reserve is open but the hides and shop are still closed. I walked up to the Washland viewpoint but couldn't find anything of note. On the next pool I found two drake Garganey six Avocet and three Redshanks. A Barn Owl was seen quartering the fields and as I walked along I saw a couple of Marsh Harrier and then a single Bittern flew up and back down into the reeds. I reached Joist Fen and was told by the volunteering work party that one of the IOW Sea Eagles had roosted over night and hadn't yet left. I waited for about thirty minutes before continuing east on my long walk along the public footpath.
About 200 yards into the extended walk I had Common Crane and then noticed a lot of excitement towards the far end of the reed bed and sure enough the cause of that was the Sea Eagle ( yes I'm counting it on my year list for now 😉) leaving the roost. It flew high and over my head, crossing the river and then heading north over the farm. I turned to get the work party on it but they had left moments before. Introduced or not it's still a spectacular sight. There was no sign of the presumed escaped White Stork that's been hanging around for a month now and surprisingly I didn't see or hear a single Bearded Tit.
On the way home I added Stone Curlew and Wheatear at Cavenham. Here I also saw Woodlark, Skylark and Stonechat. A nice day out with the added joy of finally connecting with one of the introduced Eagles after missing one that flew over the Lee Valley earlier this week.
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| A White tailed sea Eagle |
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| Garganey |
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| Mallard |
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| Sea Eagle over Lakenheath |
Year list now 140
NB: I reported the Eagle sighting to the IOW team and it appears to be a female from 2020 numbered G466 and she's now on the east Norfolk coast (Saturday)
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