May 30th Strumpshaw Fen

Dull day at Strumpshaw

I still haven't seen a swallowtail butterfly! The weather is just not on my side. It has been dull and overcast all morning. Over night, there was a heavy downpour with a few flashes of lightning. Though it was muggy enough in temperature to tempt them and other butterflies out from hiding, they just chose not to. In fact, it has been a rather quiet day all round wildlife wise. The view from outside the hides were lacking of birds. Apart from the odd flash of a kingfisher, a heron, a couple of marsh harriers and a few coots, swifts and swallows, it was not the most eventful of days.

Grey Heron

Coot

Coot Chick

Marsh Harrier

Black-headed Gull

Jay on one of the feeders

Four-spot Chaser

Dog Rose

Blue Tit

The real entertainment came in the form of a pair of blue tits that were busy feeding their chicks within the nest box at the blind beside Reception Hide. This particular nest box is built in to the post which is part of a back panel behind the blind's main wooden frame. Many visitors don't even notice it until one of the adult birds fly over their heads. They seem to be very active and once I point out their movements to the younger visitors that are off school this week, they soon became transfixed on them. They watched as the blue tits enter the box with a beakful of juicy caterpillars and leave with a faecal sac. Each time they enter, a chorus of cheeping can be heard from the hungry chicks inside. Neither of the blue tit parents seemed bothered by their human audience watching just outside.