It is Wednesday and I am at Strumpshaw. However, I am not here as a volunteer, but as a visitor. This was because the Reception Hide was closed for the morning as there was a scheduled power cut that prevented us from using the till and other electronics inside the hide. I was told that I didn't need to come today. But, as being at Strumpshaw on a Wednesday morning is now fully embedded into my weekly routine, I decided to come to the reserve anyway as a visitor.
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| Starlings leaving their roost site! |
I got up at my usual time and travelled to Strumpshaw as if it was like any other Wednesday morning. When I arrived, a new day was still dawning with a dimly lit sky as the sunlight was gradually creeping through the darkness. Rooks and jackdaws flew over me en masse in their thousands from their famously large roost at Buckenham. It reminded me on how early I was and that the starlings could emerge from their roost in front of Reception Hide at any moment. I got to the blind next to the hide just in the nick of time as the starlings were starting to get restless, popping in and out of the reed beds like some tropical fish at a coral reef. I was not the only one to see them leave as there was a married couple who were here earlier than I was. Unfortunately, for the wife, when the starlings finally made their move, she got so excited that she accidently knocked her small digital camera off the blind and onto the ground on the other side. Once the starlings were gone, flying over our heads, her husband had to climb over to rescue it.
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| Cobber the Black Swan |
With the starlings and the camera drama over, I made my way to Fen Hide. When I got there, it was pretty quiet, though I did see two sleeping mute swans, Cobber the black swan and four Chinese water deer grazing on the reed stubble on the opposite side of the pool. There was also the odd stonechat and marsh harrier, but that was about it. There wasn't much else about from Fen Hide, so I decided to continue with my walk. Walking back up the path leading away from the hide, I noticed a Cetti's warbler foraging in the reed margins in front of me and I ended up following it as it moved up along the path, but it was too well hidden to get a clear shot of it.
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| Sleeping Mute Swans |
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| Chinese Water Deer |
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| Stonechat |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Otter |
Walking along the river trail towards the pump house, the river Yare looked still and undisturbed without a single boat or duck on it. As reached halfway of the river trail, I suddenly noticed that the river's surface had a narrow wake being formed by something and that something was heading right towards me. It was an otter! Tall stems of vegetation was obscuring my vision as the otter vanished behind it. For a moment, I was expecting it to stroll up onto the path with me. But it didn't and I ended up spotting it back in the centre of the river again and following the far bank down towards the direction of the Tower Hide. This turned out to be my other highlight of the morning, though I also had glimpses of a bearded tit, a kestrel, a song thrush, siskins and I heard some bullfinches as well.
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| Feral Pigeon |
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| The Pump House |
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| Highland Cow |
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| The woodland trail |
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| Robin |
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| Mallards |
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| View from outside Reception Hide |
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| Teal |
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