May 16th Strumpshaw Fen

Common Lizards

 It was dull and grey this morning with a chilly breeze that made me feel rather cold. This nippy wind was enough to ground many of the insects from taking to the air and making them sluggish. Amazingly, though, it was not enough to put off the lizards from sun bathing (well, as they're cold blooded it is essential for them to do so) despite the lack of sun. It was really a day for the birds.

Drinker Moth Caterpillar

Some kind of bee

Cuckoo

I was trying to listen for the Savi's warbler that had been singing somewhere between Reception and Fen Hide this week, but I could not hear it at all. I think you need to be here at dawn and dusk to really get a chance of hearing it. The cuckoos, on the other hand, were stealing the limelight on this occasion as I saw one fly to a bare branch of a tree, while others were calling from various points along the river. Various species of warbler were also making themselves heard within the reeds accompanied by the odd pinging from bearded tits.

Goldfinch

Black-headed Gulls nesting on an old Swan nest

Great crested grebes were seen swimming together as a pair on the river as I made my way to the Tower Hide for a rare, yet brief visit. I lifted up a flap to view out and the sound of many wings and the sight of fleeing waterfowl greeted me as I unexpectedly spooked them from their slumber along the bank beside the front of the hide. Peace soon returned and the birds settled back to their daily routine with breakfast being the main thing on the mind after their rude awakening. The broad was dotted with pochards and tufted ducks, shovelers, 2 great crested grebes and a pair of shelducks, while black-headed gulls crowded their makeshift colony on top of an abandoned swan nest (complete with abandoned swan eggs) adjacent to the front of the hide, making quite a raucous.

Great Crested Grebe

Pochard

Tufted Duck and Shoveler

Tufted Ducks

Shelducks

Greylags, Cobber the Black Swan and House Martins

Back at Reception Hide, the landscape felt more and more bleak with the sky looking more like it was going to threaten to rain, while the wind made it feel as if it was April rather than May. Swarms of house martins, swifts and swallows dominated the view of the broad, as swirled and swooped over the water and high into the grey skyline. I was mesmerised by them as they became blurs as they whizzed pass at speed. Lapwings and marsh harriers joined them now and then with aerial performances of their own. And if that wasn't enough to take your mind off the cold, then there was also a few appearances from a kingfisher, too.

Marsh Harrier

Kingfisher