Welcome to my blog. My name is Sean Locke from Norwich and I am autistic. But this does not stop my passion for nature and wildlife. I am a volunteer for RSPB Strumpshaw Fen and I also help out at Mousehold Heath with surveys and I birdwatch whenever I can. Since 2011, i have been writing a wildlife diary filled with my adventures, drawings and photos. Now i have decided to go online to share with you all.
A chill in the air grips the morning. Frost lay on the ground. I felt alone as I explore the reserve during my usual walk before my shift began. It is Halloween and though there was an eerie silence in this frosty cold scene, it was far from haunted. In fact, it was rather beautiful. If last week was dominated by redwings, this week, it were fieldfares that were the most numerous bird that I saw this morning. Flocks of them passed me by with a chorus of chuckling calls as they went in search for fruit bearing trees. A pair of them landed in a tree along Sandy Wall in clear view. I pointed my camera at them for a couple of shots. But at that moment, I noticed something moving in the corner of my vision. I looked down and saw that it was a stoat running along the wooden border. As always with me and stoats, it was gone in seconds before I could even react.
The Moon
Frosty Nettle
Fieldfare
Pink-footed Geese
Chinese Water Deer
Fen Hide was fairly quiet, though the swans, a hiding snipe and three Chinese water deer kept me occupied as well as spotting distant birds passing over the reserve and trying to put a name to them using their flight patterns and calls as clues to their identities. Eventually, the cold was getting to me and I had to leave in order to warm up. With opening time at Reception Hide now 10am, I still had plenty of time to kill. So I went to investigate the state of the river trail up to as far as the sluices. It was muddy in places, but still manageable. More fieldfare could be seen here, most likely tempted by the many apples littered along the path before I showed up. Reed buntings were less fussed about me being around that they continued to be busy feeding on the reed heads metres from where I stood.
Snipe
Buzzard
Mute Swan
Cobber the Black Swan
Reed Bunting
Siskin
View from Reception Hide today
Reception Hide was a much quieter place this week. With half term over, there were very few children making a lot of noise and the door wasn't constantly slamming every couple of minutes. It was utter bliss! We still had plenty of visitors, but no where near as busy as last week. I was busy myself, though, as I kept pointing things out to visitors until I provided them a decent sized list of bird names before they left the hide for their walk on the reserve. Marsh harrier, kestrel, buzzard, gadwall, mallard, coot, shoveler, mute swan, black swan, moorhen, fieldfare, lapwing, snipe, little grebe... The list just grew. It was definitely a more enjoyable week compared to the stress of the week before.
Its that time again! Its time for the annual visit to Holkham Hall for the rutting season. We left it a little bit late this year, so there was no chance of seeing the red deer in action as they've now seemed to have finished. However, the fallow deer were still going, making it worth the ride out here in the end. A large herd of them congregated by the edge of the wood on the north side of the estate like they've been doing every time we visit this place at this time of year. You could hear the bucks grunting and bellowing with the sound of antlers clashing as we made our way towards them. We had reached a small cover of trees adjacent to the woodland edge when suddenly the vast majority of them were flushed out from there. A stampede of over a hundred or so deer ran passed us and back down the way we were. They soon were back to business like nothing happened just in a different spot.
Fallow Deer
While at their new location on the open field, it gave me the chance to get a clearer view of them. A pair of bucks were in full battle mode as they clashed their antlers over and over with the fight raging on for several minutes. Other bucks continued to patrol the masses of does for potential mating sessions, sniffing them to check if they are ready while also continuously grunting to warn rivals from claiming their prizes. The does, on the other hand, were more interested in feeding and getting out of their way. Then, in reverse to earlier, most of the herd decided to stampede their way back to the woods creating a moving band of galloping deer bodies with the odd pair of antlers poking out.
Two bucks fighting!
Egyptian Geese
Cormorants and Black-headed Gull
Black-headed Gull
The new 'donut' building at Holkham Pines
After spending time with the deer, we then moved on to Holkham Pines for lunch. We wanted to check out the new donut-shaped building that had recently been open to the public. Inside are the public toilets, information panels and displays about the site and its wildlife and, the main reason why we're were here for, a café. It is quite an interesting café as not only was the food possibly locally sourced and produced, its the things they were contained and served in that really had to be praised for during this time of war against plastics. There's very little plastic here. Everything is bio-degradable, including the plastic wrappers for some of their products. Straws are made of paper and disposable cutlery are made of wood. However, though I am pleased about their anti-plastic method, the food is pretty expensive and if you want crisps with your meal, prepare to pay over £2 for a cup of them with slices of ham and hard boiled eggs on top! The cake slices are pretty good though.
The centre of the 'donut'
Pink-footed Geese
Out on the reserve itself, there were plenty of great wildlife on offer today. I was told that a yellow-browed warbler and a black redstart were seen earlier, but they were too far to get to before our car park ticket ran out. Thankfully, at the first hide (the only one we could reach in time for) I saw a great white egret land at a pool, several marsh harriers and buzzards, a sparrowhawk and a red kite all circling high in the sky as well as curlews feeding on the field. The best part of our visit, though, was when we actually arrived at this reserve witnessing hundreds, maybe thousands of pink-footed geese fly down to the field adjacent to the car park.
While at their new location on the open field, it gave me the chance to get a clearer view of them. A pair of bucks were in full battle mode as they clashed their antlers over and over with the fight raging on for several minutes. Other bucks continued to patrol the masses of does for potential mating sessions, sniffing them to check if they are ready while also continuously grunting to warn rivals from claiming their prizes. The does, on the other hand, were more interested in feeding and getting out of their way. Then, in reverse to earlier, most of the herd decided to stampede their way back to the woods creating a moving band of galloping deer bodies with the odd pair of antlers poking out.
