Feb 11th Strumpshaw Fen

Female Mallard

It is a rather quiet, overcast morning at Strumpshaw today, but I did manage to see a bullfinch and some goldcrest (still trying to photograph one but I am getting close to that clear shot I'm after) and the woodpeckers are still drumming away in the background in the woods. The sky also came alive with the sight and sound of hundreds of greylag geese flying over the reserve towards Buckenham Marshes. At Reception Hide, I saw marsh harriers, mallards, gadwall, coot, greylag and Canada geese, two cormorants and a single shelduck.

We get many visitors every year to Strumpshaw (both migrant birds and people), but it is not every day that a giant red squirrel makes a visit to us. Bob the red squirrel is here to promote his campaign to make nature a more talking matter in the Houses of Parliament and he wants your vote by the General Elections in May. Vote for Bob! Anyway, Bob got his hands dirty with a spade in the flower garden and posed with me and my colleague for today (also called Bob!) outside Reception Hide.

Me and Bob

Vote for Bob!!

Bob does a bit of gardening

Cobber the Black Swan

Apart from Bob, there was another character making a visit to Reception Hide today. Cobber the resident black swan was named recently as part of a fundraiser and I haven't seen him for a few months until now. Cobber is an escapee and has actually been at Strumpshaw for many years. He did have a mate, but sadly she went missing a few years ago. He is on his own now, but you will usually see him somewhere on the reserve, harassing the mute swans. He is quite a character, a typical Aussie (black swans are native to Austrailia if you didn't know)!


Male Blackbird

Turkeytail