Jan 10th Strumpshaw Fen

View from Fen Hide this Morning

I arrived at Strumpshaw this morning as the darkness gradually faded as a new day dawned without any spectacular sunrise. The light remained dim and seemed not to brighten any further for the rest of the morning. As the dull dawn was still occurring, I spent most of my free time inside Fen Hide, where not a lot really happened. A small gaggle of greylags were awake and were finding their breakfast in the last of the remaining darkness, while a pair of mute swans continued to sleep with their heads tucked under their wings at one corner of the pool partially hidden amongst a cover of reeds. Marsh harriers were also around, but as the light was still poor to really hunt in, most of them were sitting in trees. Only a few were on the wing, testing their luck and experience to hunt in these dim conditions.


Greylag

Marsh Harrier

Grey Heron

 

Blue Tit

As the light quality improved, I could finally see the bullfinches that were calling in the woods. Annoyingly, though, they played hard to get as they gave me the run around while I was trying to get a photo of them. As soon as I managed to get them in shot, they decide to fly off! The winter dawn chorus was still in affect, but this is a much subdued and melancholic chorus than that produced in the spring. It was as if someone turned the volume on the robins and wrens and only the song thrushes were singing louder than everything else. Under a log, I found a smooth newt still slumbering in hibernation, waiting for the warmer days of spring to arrive. However, I did also see a pair of blue tits already thinking of spring as I watched them checking out a nest box.

Smooth Newt

Greylags

It was nice to watch wildlife from Reception Hide again without any strong winds dispersing them like it has done in the previous two weeks. Now that the white horses are gone, the ducks have returned to the broad. They mainly consisted of mallards, shovelers and gadwall with a few teal joining later on, but it was nice to see them back, though their numbers are nowhere near as plentiful as they were back in the autumn. There was also a large gaggle of greylags making a visit to the broad. They arrived in two separate groups, but soon combined into one single group, despite a few disagreements in the process. It feels like several months since I last saw geese swimming about in front of this hide. Meanwhile, the marsh harriers were now more active and up to 7 of them were flying together over the reed beds. Also seen today were jays, a few flying snipe and a buzzard sitting in a tree.

Shoveler

Gadwall

Mallard

Female Teal

Male Teal

Coot

Cormorant

Black-headed Gull

Marsh Harrier

Buzzard