The forecast for our visit to Wicken deteriorated as the day approached and most people decided to give the trip a miss. But, as of the morning of the 9th December, we still had a party of around 6 aiming to be at the Burwell end of Wicken from 9 am.
However the forecast was an underestimate of the heaviness of the rain so I was not surprised when Members phoned to say they wouldn't join me- especially hard for Mary and Bill who had driven up from Kent and stayed overnight.
As I was already at Wicken, I continued the morning plan by hurrying between hides while the rain was a bit lighter and fortunately the wind was behind me. Lots of atmospheric shots of Coots, moorhens and ducks of various types battling the wind and horizontal rain.
Four hides later I made the visitor centre, enjoyed a hot meal before returning by the shorter route to await the Short-eared Owls etc (6 are known to be on the Fen at the moment). The rain had stopped and the sky started to clear but the wind was much stronger and, at times, was strong enough to make remaining upright a difficulty. Amazingly Kestrels, Marsh Harriers and Short-eared Owls were in the skies but mainly at a distance.
As I was departing, at the height of the gale. john arrived and stayed through to sunset though by then the wind was too strong for much aerial activity.
Lots to photograph including Herons, Goldfinches, Jackdaws, Kestrels and, of course, the iconic Ponies.
(Images Ann Miles and John Kirkelionis
The Galleries with many more images from other field trips are viewable on the Galleries tab at RPSNature.org
