Wicken Fen

On Monday the 2nd we slept in after watching the first episode of the new season of "Sherlock" live to air. It was a good episode, but I will not discuss it here for spoiler reasons. After an uneventful morning at home, we decided to visit Wicken fen nature reserve, a beautiful waterland nature reserve half an hour by car out of Cambridge. We used to visit it occasionally when we lived in Cambridge. I had read on the website that at Winter, Wicken fen was supposedly the best place in England to see elusive Short Eared Owls. However, upon arrival, we learnt at the visitor centre that the owls could only be seen at the other side of the vast reserve, half an hour by car away from the visitor centre. However, the road looped away from the fen, the only way back to the other side of the nature reserve being a desolate lane. It was getting dark now, the sun was dipping closer towards the horizon, and the muddy road was leading further and further away from the nearby villages. A huge electricity plant loomed ominously on the Left, casting long shadows onto the boggy road. The road became uneven. There was a large risked of becoming bogged down on this barely used track. However, we soon discovered the road was not quite as disused as we thought. The road turned, and a shabby caravan, with a scratched and dented car loomed out of the dusk, blocking half the road. A strange pile of out of  place objects lay beside a ditch. Prams, machinery, and other things. A fire smouldered halfway down. A shady looking man strode out from behind the caravan, with a short, bristly beard and olive skin. He looked at us, then smiled, and hopped in his car, moving out of our way. We were all relieved that we had not been mugged, but soon discovered that the road became even more treacherous. Our parents began to panic. Had the strange wanderer drawn us into a trap? I remained mostly oblivious to what was going on, face pressed to the window as I watched a few deer graze placidly in a field. Eventually we made it through to the fen, with only 5 minutes until the sun began to set, and visibility would plummet. At the end of the road, a dozen serious looking men in camouflage gear, brandishing Enormous cameras, similarly coated in camo. They were professional
Photographers, all here to photograph the short eared owl. We were in the right place. It wasn't long before we saw an owl, swooping low over the reeds. I was ecstatic, never having expected to really see the owls. More and more owls circled around the fen, swooping to catch prey. Their feathers glowed gold in the setting sun, and their blood curdling shrieks broke the awed silence of the spectators. Soon the sun sank below the earth, and it was time to leave. Unfortunately, we did not manage to capture any satisfactory photographs of the birds. Thankfully however, Google came to the rescue and we found some professional wildlife photographs of short eared owls taken at the same part of Wicken fen we visited.

Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl vs Kestrel

On the way home Lydia asked us all progressively harder questions, from' "why does the sun set?" to "what is the meaning of life?" We were tired, and still recovering from the stress of the journey, but we had all enjoyed what lay at the end, and drove home smiling.