Sep 28th Strumpshaw Fen

Great Tit

I have returned to Strumpshaw, but this time as a visitor. Mum and I have brought my 2 year-old niece Ava for her first ever bird watching trip. We hired a pair of binoculars that's suitable for children for her, though if she's actually seeing anything out of them is anyone's guess. At least she's figured out how to use them, sort of. It makes us laugh when she places them over her eyes for everything, even when the thing she's looking at is right in front of her.

Ava testing out her binoculars

Common Darter

I took Ava to the family 'base camp' area in the woods, where she really enjoyed rolling around in the large tri-hammock. As for wildlife, she was fascinated and interacting with the plants and insects that I pointed out to her. Of course, I had to simplify the things I was showing her with words like dragonfly, flower, butterfly and toadstool as she repeats the words back to us in her toddler way of talking.


Another Common Darter

Shaggy Inkcap

Common Lizard

Along Sandy Wall, I spotted 2 lizards basking on the wooden borders of the path. When Ava eventually saw what we were trying to show her, she couldn't help but approach them in curiosity and the lizards made a dash to cover when they saw her coming. A great spotted woodpecker perched on a dead tree behind us, which alerted me with its loud 'jep' call, but I was the only one to see it before it flew away. With her small legs, Ava was soon getting tired from walking, so I had to carry her the rest of the way to the Fen Hide. While we were there, a kingfisher showed up. It was perching on the post on the far side of the pool. If Ava could see it or not through her binoculars, I have no idea, but I did show it to her via my camera.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Kingfisher

Gadwall

Walking back, I gave Ava a piggyback ride. Along the way with Ava on my shoulders, we came across a couple looking at a Chinese water deer. Again, not sure if Ava saw it, but she surely must have had a better view of it than I did at that moment. We also spotted a third lizard basking on the wooden borders. Finally, we ended her first outing with an ice cream inside the Reception Hide, while watching the ducks on the broad outside. All in all, if I was Ava, I couldn't have asked for a better first birding trip than the one she had. A kingfisher, 3 lizards and a Chinese water deer, not bad at all!

Coot

Mute Swan

Cobber the Black Swan

Sep 26th Strumpshaw Fen

Kingfisher

Skeins of pink-footed geese flew over me in the fresh rays of the rising sun this morning as I made my way to Strumpshaw on foot. A flash of white of a bullfinch's rump caught my eye in the woods as if to greet me further after getting my binoculars and camera out of my bag and setting out for the Fen Hide. Taking my place on a bench alongside two to three other people inside the hide, I sat and waited for something, anything, to show up. First, a stock dove came down, partially hiding in the blades of short grass of the spit of land poking out into the pool in front of us. Then, the bird that most people who come here desire in seeing more than anything else appeared. A kingfisher! A female one at that. She made a few appearances during the 50 minutes I spent in this hide. The best of these was when she sat preening herself on one of the closest perches. Blue and orange contort into various poses as the bird scratched and realigned her colourful feathers with both foot and bill.

Stock Dove

Greylags

Little Grebe

Jay

The new alternative entrance to the Meadow Trail

Between kingfisher showings, I watched other bird species come and go. Little grebe, jays, two kestrels mobbing the marsh harriers, while flocks of greylags and gadwall stream over the reserve. Once I had my fill of the birding action from Fen Hide, I moved on. Just nearby along the Sandy Wall path, you may have noticed a recently built ramp protruding from the pathway. This is a brand new alternative entrance to the Meadow Trail. This means that if the main entrance is closed off due to grazing, you can use this entrance instead which can lead you to a different route through the meadow. It was time for me to test it out. At the moment, the route takes you to the usual main entrance with the second field closed off. Other than pheasants and two herons scaring the living daylights out of me, there was not much to see. In this entire section of the trail, I only found one single flower, a thistle. I expect this trail will be more interesting when spring returns next year.

Grey Heron

Marsh Thistle

Red Admiral

Marsh Harrier

Back at Reception Hide, it was a bit of a raptor fest. Though they were either fairly distant, high up or fast moving for my camera to pick out, I saw plenty of marsh harriers and buzzards and also a few kestrels and hobbies. One hobby even made several circles above the hide and the courtyard outside. I expect it was busy hunting the dragonflies that were still in good number in this area. Every now and then, you'd catch a glimpse of it before a tree hides it from view. These small falcons will soon depart for Africa, where the swallows and house martins seem to be already as they were nowhere to be seen over the broad today. Meanwhile, more and more wildfowl are arriving in force, especially gadwall. Migration is in full swing now it seems.

Wigeon

Gadwall

Mallard

Cobber the Black Swan with a Mute Swan

Pheasant