Nov 1st Strumpshaw Fen

Black-headed Gull

Halloween is over and a new day has begun. I watch the sunrise shine over the Norfolk countryside with trees, bridges and buildings whizzing past my window as my train takes me part way to start another shift at Strumpshaw. With the clocks recently changed back an hour, so too has the opening times for the Reception Hide. Though the hide now opens half an hour later than it had been during the summer (10am instead of 9:30am), I still wanted to be at the reserve early to spend some extra time watching the wildlife that I love. With more free time before starting my shift, I made my way to Fen Hide. I had the place to myself for the majority of the time while I was there.

Snipe

A sleepy snipe was hiding amongst the stems of green, brown, yellow and beige reed stubble, close to where two mute swans were just waking up. Cobber the black swan was also beginning to stir from his slumber at the centre of the pool, stretching a leg out from his wings, while a small party of mallards and gadwall dabble for their breakfast around him. The marsh harriers made sure everything was awake as they swooped low over the reserve, startling everything beneath them as they soared by. As time went on, more things were visiting in front of the Fen Hide. This included a couple of herons, pheasants, a brief appearance from a kingfisher and a Chinese water deer grazing in the open areas of stubble between the reed beds.

Mute Swan

Cobber the Black Swan

Gadwall

Grey Heron

Kingfisher

Chinese Water Deer



Pheasant













Mallard

By the time I walked back to Reception Hide to open up, Cobber and his two mute swan friends had found their way from Fen Hide to join the small mass of coot, mallard and gadwall and an even smaller number of teal and wigeon that gathered on the surface of the broad and surrounding banks of land in front of this hide. Many of these ducks continued to snooze the day away, while others started their morning with a good refreshing bath. We also had a flock of about 34 shovelers arriving onto the scene much later on after lunch. Of course the harriers were here too and continued to spook most of these ducks up into the air, causing them to circle the broad before landing back down again.

Wigeon

Shoveler

Marsh Harrier

Great Tit

Blue Tit

Red Kite

I was watching the harrier's movements for a while. There were several about, so I kept switching from one harrier to another. But then I noticed something. One looked completely different to the other harriers. In fact, it wasn't a harrier at all. It was a red kite! Not just one, but two! However, only one of them was close enough to see those unmistakable features that makes a red kite a red kite, forked tail and all. And just like on Monday at Sculthorpe Moor, this one individual treated everyone that was present with a display high above our heads! It seems that Strumpshaw is not short of these birds either. Shortly after these magnificent raptors disappeared, my colleague and I were then treated to a bittern plunging into the reedy islands, which then made two more brief flights into two of the surrounding reed beds. Before my shift was about to end, a kingfisher made a very brief visit on one of the perches adjacent to the front of the hide.

Red Kite being mobbed by a Carrion Crow

Kingfisher