Winter Wonders at Wicken Fen

An afternoon trip to Wicken Fen turned out to be one of the highlights of the winter so far. Wicken Fen is one of the UK’s oldest nature reserves and is situated around 15 kilometres north east of Cambridge. At precisely this time last year, just before dusk, two male hen harriers flew in to roost. It had to be worth another try.

Walking around on a dark and grey midwinters day, the Fen seemed quiet aside from a flock of redwings gorging on the many berries to be found in the wooded areas. From the muted landscape a streak of dazzling blue ruptured through the delicate mix of greys and browns. A kingfisher was sitting on a reed stem in the distance. With an all black beak this individual was a male. He appeared to be roosting and sat still for some time, then made a single dive and caught something too small to discern. A female sparrowhawk flew through but the kingfisher seemed unfazed and sat tight. He then tried fishing from two more reeds, both times grasping onto the vertical stem causing it to bend down to an appropriate angle. On the one reed he landed too far near the top, causing an alarming bend, and then had to reposition further down near the base.

At around 3.30 pm the marsh harriers were building up into their roosts. They were coming from all directions and dropping into the reedbeds, save for four individuals that sat in trees. It is difficult to say how many had come in but I had seen at least nine when two large birds caught my attention flying over the trees on the horizon. I lifted the binoculars to my eyes and was elated to see that they were cranes! They slowly flew towards us with their long necks held straight out in front and lengthy legs trailing behind. It was an amazing sight and it had been far too long since I had last seen any cranes.

The action didn’t stop for the cranes as the marsh harriers kept rolling in. Still in post-crane excitement I noticed one of the harriers was in a disagreement with another bird, a short-eared owl! We watched the owl hunt at close range for several minutes, fortunately there was still enough light to see every small detail on this owl. These are possibly my favourite winter visitors, a real joy to see. This winter it appears that fewer short-eared owls are wintering in England, and there had been a notable absence of these charismatic birds in my usual haunts.

View over the Fen.

Two more pairs of birdwatchers joined us and we all recounted with excitement our crane sightings. One of the couples we had met the previous year at the Wicken Fen harrier roost, we were having a catch up when an obviously close tawny owl hooted behind us.

There was a sense of completeness to the trip after seeing the short-eared owl, but nevertheless the harriers kept coming. The already well-iced cake was bordering on the ridiculous when a grey ghost of a male hen harrier flew from left to right, truly stunning. This rounded off a half-hour to remember! I don’t know how many marsh harriers we saw but 20 would be a safe minimum number.

- Hugh Baggaley