The Autistic Naturalist: Sep 27th Strumpshaw Fen

Wednesday 27 September 2017

Sep 27th Strumpshaw Fen

Bearded Tit

A bit of a delay to my arrival to Strumpshaw this morning due to a cancelation to my usual 6:52am train, which meant I had to get a much later train. But despite this delay, I still managed to spend enough time at Fen Hide before my shift began and saw plenty of great things. The main highlight here was the brief visit of an otter, which was so obscured by reeds that I was unable to get a photo of it. No worries, though, as there were other things around that would make most people jealous. There were a few snipe hiding in some short growth along the edge of the spit of land adjacent to the hide, a water rail making a brief cameo, a flock of bearded tits with some posing for the cameras atop of the heads of reeds, and a female kingfisher arrived to get her share of the limelight. I also saw a camera shy lizard on the way back.

Water Rail

Snipe

Kingfisher

Mute Swan

Mallard

Shaggy Inkcap

Common Darter

Spindle berries

Little Egret

After all that liveliness at Fen Hide, it was rather quiet when I got back to Reception Hide to start my shift. Though I did see another kingfisher making a couple of quick flybys, a little egret (which was apparently catching dragonflies, but I wasn't paying attention and missed the egret doing it), several cormorants and the odd marsh harrier, there wasn't much else that really gripped me like at Fen Hide. I was more busy talking to visitors and listening to my colleagues getting a lesson about the new till and coffee machine that's been installed recently. There's been a lot of new additions to the Reception Hide lately including new food and drink products, a new pricing system and a secret hole for the bin, which many visitors can't seem to find for some reason. Half the hide looks rather modern now. Let's just hope the RSPB doesn't replace us with robots next. Only kidding, they would never do that.